The History and Origin of Chanukah

Chanukah, the Jewish festival of rededication, also known as the festival of lights, is an eight day festival that begins on the 25th day of the Jewish month of Kislev. Chanukah usually occurs in December, and because of this timing is one of the most well-known Jewish holidays.

Chanukah used to be regarded as a minor half-holiday, but American Jews in the 20th century began to make much more of Chanukah than their grandparents ever had. While gift-giving was not a traditional part of the holiday, it has been added. The only traditional gift of the holiday is "gelt," money (see dreidel).

Chanukah was established to commemorate the fight against assimilation. It dates back nearly 22 centuries, to the successful Jewish revolt against Antiochus IV, one of the line of Syrian-Greek monarchs who ruled the northern branch of Alexander the Great's collapsed empire. Alexander had been respectful of the Jews' monotheistic religion, but Antiochus was determined to impose Hellenism, with its pagan gods and its cult of the body, throughout his area of rule. When he encountered resistance in Judea, he made Judaism illegal.

Sabbath observance, circumcision, and the study of Torah were banned; violation was subject to a painful death. A statue of Zeus was installed in the Temple in Jerusalem, and swine were sacrificed before it. Some Jews willingly abandoned the G-d and faith of their ancestors. Many of those who wouldn't were savagely punished. One example is the story of Hannah and her seven sons, who were captured by Antiochus's troops and commanded to bow to an idol. One by one, each boy refused; each was tortured to death before his mother's eyes.

The fight to reclaim Jewish religious autonomy began in 167 BC. In, An elderly priest named Mattathias, from the Hasmonaim family, moved his family to the town of Modi'in to get away  from the Syrians. Eventually the Syrians made their way to Modi’in and one day ordered that the Jews offer a sacrifice to an idol. For a while, no one complied. Then an apostate Jew stepped forward to comply. Mattathias killed the man and the Syrian soldiers and tore down the altar. Then he and his five sons escaped to the hills and began a guerrilla war against the armies of the empire.

When Mattathias died soon thereafter, his third son, Judah Maccabee, took command. He and his small group of fighters were impossibly outnumbered, yet they won one miraculous victory after another. In 164 BC, they recaptured the Temple, which they cleansed and purified and rededicated to God (thus the name of the holiday: Chanukas Habayis means dedicating the house/Temple). On the 25th day of Kislev, the menorah, the candelabra in the Temple symbolizing the divine presence, was rekindled.

At the time of the rededication, there was very little oil left that had not been defiled by the Greeks. Oil was needed for the menorah in the Temple, which was supposed to burn throughout the night every night. There was only enough undefiled oil to burn for one day, yet miraculously, it burned for eight days, the time needed to prepare a fresh supply of oil for the menorah. An eight-day festival was declared to commemorate this miracle. However, the fighting went on for years and it was not until 142 BC that the Jews regained control of their land. It is important to note that the holiday commemorates the miracle of the oil, not the military victory.

Chanukah is the only Jewish holiday not found in the Bible and the only one that grew out of a military battle. Yet its religious focus is almost entirely spiritual, not physical. Unlike Passover and Purim, the two other Jewish festivals of salvation, there is no festive meal associated with Chanukah. Its religious observance is concentrated on the flame of menorah, whose lights may not be used for any physical purpose.

The lack of a physical side to the celebration of Chanukah is unusual but appropriate because the Maccabees' war against the Hellenists was really a war against a view that placed the physical above all else, especially above that of holiness and spirituality. The Jews fought to preserve a view of the world with God, not man, at its center.

Because they triumphed, the Jewish religion survived. More than 2,000 years later, the Hellenists and their pagan gods are relics of dust in the annals of history, while the Jewish religion continues to thrive.