Hanukkah kaleidoscope: the history of the holiday

Hanukkah is a holiday of joy, light and victory over the forces of darkness. For many people it is also a celebration of delicious doughnuts. However, let’s leave behind the gastronomic part of the holiday and pay attention to its historical and geographical components.

The history of the holiday. The events, in honor of which today the feast of Hanukkah is celebrated, occurred approximately 2200 years ago. In those days the territory which is now modern Israel was under the control of Greece. If we say now the word ANTIQUE or Ancient Greece, before the eyes immediately stand marble sculptures, huge amphitheatres and stadiums, muscular Greeks, throwing the disc and pensive philosophers like Socrates, Archimedes, and others.

After the conquests of Alexander the Macedonian basically the entire Mediterranean world became Hellenistic and adopted Greek philosophy, the fascination with science and the cult of human body. At the same time the center of the ancient state of Israel, as today, was Jerusalem, and the basis of Jewish civilization was a deep respect for the laws of Torah and serving G-d in the Temple in the capital city of Jerusalem. At the beginning of the reign of Greece in Israel, the Jews had full autonomy regarding the internal organization of State and freedom of religion. Alexander the Macedonian had a great respect to Jewish sages and the Jewish religion.

After the death of the great commander his followers began to try to forcibly introduce Hellenistic values in all the controlled provinces, including in Israel. At first, many Jews considered Greek culture quite beautiful, and not very contrary to the basic Jewish laws; many Jews began to participate in sport competitions, philosophical conversations and Greek feasts. But over time, the Hellenists began to forbid Jews to follow the basic traditions, and imposed the death penalty for Sabbath observance, the lighting of the new month and circumcision.

The Greeks believed that if they destroyed these commandments, all the rest of Jewish traditions would be easily transferred to the Greek cult. Why these very commandments were so hated by the Hellenes? Sabbath is a commandment to commemorate the creation of the world and reminds that this world was created by G-d and only through Him continues to exist. Lighting and counting out months reminds us of the fact, that time by itself has no meaning; it acquires meaning depending on what we fill it with and what actions do. Circumcision in the Jewish tradition symbolizes that man is not born fully perfect and need to constantly work to improve ourselves and the world. And once there was prohibited to observe the basic precepts of Judaism, a revolt broke out.

At the head of the rebels stood Judas Maccabaeus and his brothers. They fought against the Hellenists for the spiritual liberation of the Jewish people. It should be noted that the ancient world was in general quite tolerant of the beliefs of different nations and different gods in different countries and most of the wars of the ancient world were fought for territorial gains or economic advantages. The war of the Maccabees is one of the first wars in history that was fought precisely on the grounds of religious strife.

After a long confrontation Maccabees managed to defeat Hellenistic army and to return the Jews to the Temple in Jerusalem, to bring away the Greek idols, to clear the desecrated altar. According to the Jewish law, in the Temple should always burn a temple lamp, the menorah (which while staying in the Temple of Greeks, of course, was doused). So the first task which the Jews faced was to light Menorah (and it has to burn only a specially refined olive oil). The Jews have long searched for oil among the debris and general mess, and found only a small jug of oil that was only enough for 1 day of burning menorah. But to make new oil they needed at least 1 week. Nevertheless, they lit the lamp, and a miracle happened: the jug of oil was enough for 8 days of burning until the next batch of oil was made!

Source of information: Jewish online resources

Hanukkah kaleidoscope: the history of the holiday

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