Once upon a time the greek ruler Antiochus ruled over Judea following the death of Alexander the Great and the divide of his kingdom.
Antiochus declared that the Jews were not allowed to practice Judaism. Any public display of worship of the Hebrew G-d was a serious offense. Jews caught reading from Torah or found to be performing circumcisions on infants were to be killed. The Jews tried to practice in secret, like reading the Haftarah portion from the Nevi-im instead of the Torah. But they could not light the Holy Menorah at the Holy Temple in Jerusalem for the 8 days of Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret, as the Menroah was supposed to be lit every day.
A wise Jew named Matityahu and his son, Judah, lead the revolt against Antiochus, witht he famous call to action, "Mi La[Hashem] Elai," meaning "whoever is for Hashem is with me."
They called themselves the Maccabees, because Maccabee not only has the archaic Hebrew meaning 'hammer' but is also an acronym in Hebrew letters for the Mi Chamocha Prayer, their other call to action.
Through tactical genius, guerilla warfare, and perhaps even some divine intervention, the Maccabees won against the far more powerful army of Antiochus. They recaptured the Temple, claened it up, and did a belated lighting of the Holy Menorah for the 8 days of Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret.
And then, in a great celebration of triumph against assimilation, the Jews created the festival of Chanukah when every year starting Kislev 24th there would be eight nights of lighting the Menorah-based Chanukiah, which is like the Menorah except it has more branches and is still lit today for Chanukah whereas the Menorah has npt been lit since the Temple was destroyed in 70 C.E.
------------If you talk to any Jewish preschooler, however, he will tell you a slightly different reason why we celebrate Chanukah. He will tell you the story of how when the Jews got the Temple back it was desecrated and the oil was all spilled and they didn't have enough to keep the Menroah going day by day, and how they found one tiny jar with one day's amount of oil left in it and it miraculously lasted until they could make enought more oil to keep it going routinely again, because there was a miracle and the Oil actually lasted eight days instead of one. The preschooler will tell you that THAT is why we light the Chanukiah for 8 nights.
This version of the story doesn't actually enter written accounts until centuries after the Jews started celebrating Chanukah, and it is widely believed that it was fabricated by Rabbis under the Roman Rule who didn't want the Jews to look closely at their big military victory holiday against a bigger army and get some dangerous ideas about rebelling against Rome. -----------------
Antiochus declared that the Jews were not allowed to practice Judaism. Any public display of worship of the Hebrew G-d was a serious offense. Jews caught reading from Torah or found to be performing circumcisions on infants were to be killed. The Jews tried to practice in secret, like reading the Haftarah portion from the Nevi-im instead of the Torah. But they could not light the Holy Menorah at the Holy Temple in Jerusalem for the 8 days of Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret, as the Menroah was supposed to be lit every day.
A wise Jew named Matityahu and his son, Judah, lead the revolt against Antiochus, witht he famous call to action, "Mi La[Hashem] Elai," meaning "whoever is for Hashem is with me."
They called themselves the Maccabees, because Maccabee not only has the archaic Hebrew meaning 'hammer' but is also an acronym in Hebrew letters for the Mi Chamocha Prayer, their other call to action.
Through tactical genius, guerilla warfare, and perhaps even some divine intervention, the Maccabees won against the far more powerful army of Antiochus. They recaptured the Temple, claened it up, and did a belated lighting of the Holy Menorah for the 8 days of Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret.
And then, in a great celebration of triumph against assimilation, the Jews created the festival of Chanukah when every year starting Kislev 24th there would be eight nights of lighting the Menorah-based Chanukiah, which is like the Menorah except it has more branches and is still lit today for Chanukah whereas the Menorah has npt been lit since the Temple was destroyed in 70 C.E.
------------If you talk to any Jewish preschooler, however, he will tell you a slightly different reason why we celebrate Chanukah. He will tell you the story of how when the Jews got the Temple back it was desecrated and the oil was all spilled and they didn't have enough to keep the Menroah going day by day, and how they found one tiny jar with one day's amount of oil left in it and it miraculously lasted until they could make enought more oil to keep it going routinely again, because there was a miracle and the Oil actually lasted eight days instead of one. The preschooler will tell you that THAT is why we light the Chanukiah for 8 nights.
This version of the story doesn't actually enter written accounts until centuries after the Jews started celebrating Chanukah, and it is widely believed that it was fabricated by Rabbis under the Roman Rule who didn't want the Jews to look closely at their big military victory holiday against a bigger army and get some dangerous ideas about rebelling against Rome. -----------------
