Hanukkah
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- For other uses, see Hanukkah (disambiguation). "Hanaka" redirects here. For the village Hanaka, in Iran, see Honeg-e Pain.
| Hanukkah | |
|---|---|
A Hanukkiya or Hanukkah Menorah
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| Official name | Hebrew: חֲנֻכָּה or חנוכה English translation: "Establishing" or "Dedication" (of the Temple in Jerusalem) |
| Observed by | Jews |
| Type | Jewish |
| Significance | The Maccabees successfully rebelled against Antiochus IV Epiphanes. According to theTalmud, a late text, the Temple was purified and the wicks of the menorah miraculously burned for eight days, even though there was only enough sacred oil for one day's lighting. |
| Celebrations | Lighting candles each night. Singing special songs, such asMa'oz Tzur. Reciting Hallel prayer. Eating foods fried in oil, such aslatkes and sufganiyot, and dairy foods. Playing the dreidel game, and giving Hanukkah gelt |
| Begins | 25 Kislev |
| Ends | 2 Tevet or 3 Tevet |
| 2012 date | Sunset, December 8 to nightfall, December 16 |
| 2013 date | Sunset, November 27 to nightfall, December 5 |
| 2014 date | Sunset, December 16 to nightfall, December 24 |
| Related to | Purim, as a rabbinically decreed holiday. |
Hanukkah (/ˈhɑːnəkə/ hah-nə-kə; Hebrew: חֲנֻכָּה, Tiberian: Ḥănukkāh, usually spelled חנוכה, pronounced [χanuˈka] in Modern Hebrew; a transliteration also romanized as Chanukah or Chanukkah), also known as the Festival of Lights and Feast of Dedication, is an eight-dayJewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple (the Second Temple) in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire of the 2nd century BCE. Hanukkah is observed for eight nights and days, starting on the 25th day of Kislev according to theHebrew calendar, which may occur at any time from late November to late December in the Gregorian calendar.
The festival is observed by the kindling of the lights of a unique candelabrum, the nine-branched Menorah or Hanukiah, one additional light on each night of the holiday, progressing to eight on the final night. The typical Menorah consists of eight branches with an additional raised branch. The extra light is called a shamash (Hebrew: שמש, "attendant")[1] and is given a distinct location, usually above or below the rest. The purpose of theshamash is to have a light available for practical use, as using the Hanukkah lights themselves for purposes other than publicizing and meditating upon Hanukkah is forbidden.[2]
Contents
[hide]- 1 Etymology
- 2 Historical sources
- 3 Story of Hanukkah
- 4 Hanukkah rituals
- 5 Symbolic importance
- 6 Hanukkah music
- 7 Hanukkah foods
- 8 Dreidel
- 9 Hanukkah gelt
- 10 Judith and Holofernes
- 11 Alternative spellings
- 12 Historic timeline
- 13 Dates
- 14 Hanukkah in the White House
- 15 Green Hanukkah
- 16 See also
- 17 References
- 18 External links
Etymology
The name "Hanukkah" derives from the Hebrew verb "חנך", meaning "to dedicate". On Hanukkah, the Jews regained control of Jerusalem and rededicated the Temple.[3]
- The name can be broken down into חנו כ"ה, "[they] rested [on the] twenty-fifth", referring to the fact that the Jews ceased fighting on the 25th day of Kislev, the day on which the holiday begins.[5]
- חנוכה (Hanukkah) is also the Hebrew acronym for ח נרות והלכה כבית הלל — "Eight candles, and the halakha is like the House of Hillel". This is a reference to the disagreement between two rabbinical schools of thought — the House of Hillel and the House of Shammai — on the proper order in which to light the Hanukkah flames. Shammai opined that eight candles should be lit on the first night, seven on the second night, and so on down to one on the last night (because the miracle was greatest on the first day). Hillel argued in favor of starting with one candle and lighting an additional one every night, up to eight on the eighth night (because the miracle grew in greatness each day). Jewish law adopted the position of Hillel.[citation needed]
Historical sources
Maccabees, Mishna and Talmud
See also: Mishna Omissions
The story of Hanukkah, along with its laws and customs, is entirely missing in the Mishna apart from several passing references (Bikkurim 1:6, Rosh HaShanah 1:3, Taanit 2:10, Megillah 3:4 and 3:6, Moed Katan 3:9, and Bava Kama 6:6).
Rav Nissim Gaon postulates in his Hakdamah Le'mafteach Hatalmud that information on the holiday was so commonplace that the Mishna felt no need to explain it. A modern-day scholarReuvein Margolies[6] suggests that as the Mishnah was redacted after the Bar Kochba revolt, its editors were reluctant to include explicit discussion of a holiday celebrating another relatively recent revolt against a foreign ruler, for fear of antagonizing the Romans.
The story of Hanukkah is preserved in the books of the First and Second Maccabees. These books are not part of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible); they are Jewish apocryphal books instead. The miracle of the one-day supply of oil miraculously lasting eight days is first described in the Talmud, committed to writing about 600 years after the events described in the books of Maccabees. [7]
The Gemara (Talmud), in tractate Shabbat, page 21b, focuses on Shabbat candles and moves to Hanukkah candles and says that after the forces of Antiochus IV had been driven from the Temple, the Maccabees discovered that almost all of the ritual olive oil had been profaned. They found only a single container that was still sealed by the High Priest, with enough oil to keep the menorah in the Temple lit for a single day. They used this, yet it burned for eight days (the time it took to have new oil pressed and made ready).[8]
The Talmud presents three options:
- The law requires only one light each night per household,
- A better practice is to light one light each night for each member of the household
- The most preferred practice is to vary the number of lights each night.
In Sephardic families, the head of the household lights the candles, while in Ashkenazic families, all family members light.
Except in times of danger, the lights were to be placed outside one's door, on the opposite side of the Mezuza, or in the window closest to the street. Rashi, in a note to Shabbat 21b, says their purpose is to publicize the miracle. The blessings for Hanukkah lights are discussed in tractate Succah, p. 46a.
Narrative of Josephus
The Jewish historian Titus Flavius Josephus narrates in his book, Jewish Antiquities XII, how the victorious Judas Maccabeus ordered lavish yearly eight-day festivities after rededicating the Temple in Jerusalem that had been profaned by Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Josephus does not say the festival was called Hannukkah but rather the "Festival of Lights":
- "Now Judas celebrated the festival of the restoration of the sacrifices of the temple for eight days, and omitted no sort of pleasures thereon; but he feasted them upon very rich and splendid sacrifices; and he honored God, and delighted them by hymns and psalms. Nay, they were so very glad at the revival of their customs, when, after a long time of intermission, they unexpectedly had regained the freedom of their worship, that they made it a law for their posterity, that they should keep a festival, on account of the restoration of their temple worship, for eight days. And from that time to this we celebrate this festival, and call it Lights. I suppose the reason was, because this liberty beyond our hopes appeared to us; and that thence was the name given to that festival. Judas also rebuilt the walls round about the city, and reared towers of great height against the incursions of enemies, and set guards therein. He also fortified the city Bethsura, that it might serve as a citadel against any distresses that might come from our enemies."[9]
Other ancient sources
The story of Hanukkah is alluded to in the book of 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees. The eight-day rededication of the temple is described in 1 Maccabees 4:36 et seq, though the name of the festival and the miracle of the lights do not appear here. A story similar in character, and obviously older in date, is the one alluded to in 2 Maccabees 1:18 et seq according to which the relighting of the altar fire by Nehemiah was due to a miracle which occurred on the 25th of Kislev, and which appears to be given as the reason for the selection of the same date for the rededication of the altar by Judah Maccabee.
Another source is the Megillat Antiochus. This work (also known as "Megillat HaHasmonaim", "Megillat Hanukkah" or "Megillat Yevanit") is in bothAramaic and Hebrew; the Hebrew version is a literal translation from the Aramaic original. Recent scholarship dates it to somewhere between the 2nd and 5th Centuries, probably in the 2nd century,[10] with the Hebrew dating to the 7th century.[11] It was published for the first time in Mantua in 1557. Saadia Gaon, who translated it into Arabic in the 9th century, ascribed it to the Maccabees themselves, disputed by some, since it gives dates as so many years before the destruction of the second temple in 70 CE.[12] The Hebrew text with an English translation can be found in the Siddur of Philip Birnbaum.
In the Christian Greek Scriptures, it is stated that Jesus was at the Jerusalem Temple during "the Feast of Dedication and it was winter", in John 10:22–23. The Greek term that is used is "the renewals" (Greek ta engkainia τὰ ἐγκαίνια).[13] Josephus refers to the festival as "lights."[14]
Story of Hanukkah
Background
Judea was part of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt until 200 BCE when King Antiochus III the Great ofSyria defeated King Ptolemy V Epiphanes of Egypt at the Battle of Panium. Judea became at that moment part of the Seleucid Empire of Syria. King Antiochus III the Great wanting to conciliate his new Jewish subjects guaranteed their right to "live according to their ancestral customs" and to continue to practice their religion in the Temple of Jerusalem. However in 175 BCE, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the son of Antiochus III invaded Judea, ostensibly at the request of the sons of Tobias.[15] The Tobiads, who led theHellenizing Jewish faction in Jerusalem, were expelled to Syria around 170 BCE when the high priestOnias and his pro-Egyptian faction wrested control from them. The exiled Tobiads lobbied Antiochus IV Epiphanes to recapture Jerusalem. As the ancient Jewish historian Flavius Josephus tells us:
- "The king being thereto disposed beforehand, complied with them, and came upon the Jews with a great army, and took their city by force, and slew a great multitude of those that favored Ptolemy, and sent out his soldiers to plunder them without mercy. He also spoiled the temple, and put a stop to the constant practice of offering a daily sacrifice of expiation for three years and six months."[16]
Traditional view
When the Second Temple in Jerusalem was looted and services stopped, Judaism was outlawed. In 167 BCE Antiochus ordered an altar to Zeuserected in the Temple. He banned brit milah (circumcision) and ordered pigs to be sacrificed at the altar of the temple (the sacrifice of pigs to the Greek gods was standard ritual practice in the Ancient Greek religion).[17]
Antiochus's actions provoked a large-scale revolt. Mattityahu, a Jewish priest, and his five sons Jochanan, Simeon, Eleazar, Jonathan, and Judah led a rebellion against Antiochus. Judah became known as Yehuda HaMakabi ("Judah the Hammer"). By 166 BCE Mattathias had died, and Judah took his place as leader. By 165 BCE the Jewish revolt against the Seleucid monarchy was successful. The Temple was liberated and rededicated. The festival of Hanukkah was instituted to celebrate this event.[18] Judah ordered the Temple to be cleansed, a new altar to be built in place of the polluted one and new holy vessels to be made. According to the Talmud, unadulterated and undefiled pure olive oil with the seal of the kohen gadol (high priest) was needed for the menorah in the Temple, which was required to burn throughout the night every night. The story goes that one flask was found with only enough oil to burn for one day, yet it burned for eight days, the time needed to prepare a fresh supply of kosher oil for the menorah. An eight-day festival was declared by the Jewish sages to commemorate this miracle.
The version of the story in 1 Maccabees states that an eight-day celebration of songs and sacrifices was proclaimed upon re-dedication of the altar, and makes no mention of the miracle of the oil.[19]
Modern scholarship
Some modern scholars argue that the king was intervening in an internal civil war between the traditionalist Jews (Pharisees) and the Hellenized Jews (Sadducees) in Jerusalem.[20][21][22][23]
These competed violently over who would be the High Priest, with traditionalists with Hebrew/Aramaic names like Onias contesting with Hellenizing High Priests with Greek names like Jason and Menelaus.[24] In particular Jason's Hellenistic reforms would prove to be a decisive factor leading to eventual conflict within the ranks of Judaism.[25] Other authors point to possible socioeconomic reasons in addition to the religious reasons behind the civil war.[26]
What began in many respects as a civil war escalated when the Hellenistic kingdom of Syria sided with the Hellenizing Jews in their conflict with the traditionalists.[27] As the conflict escalated, Antiochus took the side of the Hellenizers by prohibiting the religious practices the traditionalists had rallied around. This may explain why the king, in a total departure from Seleucid practice in all other places and times, banned a traditional religion.[28]
DID YOU CATCH IT? AS PROFESSOR SHAI CHERRY ON HIS LECTURES FROM "THE GREAT COURSES" [THE TEACHING COMPANY], ADMITS UNDER SECTION "MINOR HOLIDAYS" IN HIS SERIES "INTRODUCTION TO JUDAISM" ADMITS THERE IS REALLY NO TRUTH IN THE IDEA THAT ONE DAYS OIL LASTED 8 DAYS!! IT WAS AN ADDED ADITION HUNDREDS OF YEARS LATER......ONE MORE OF THE TRADITIONS OF THE JEWS, THAT JESUS SAID THEY KEPT THEIR TRADITIONS WHILE NEGLECTING THE LAWS OF GOD [MARK 7].
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