What is HANUKKAH

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Hanukkah, also called the Festival of Lights, is a celebration of religious freedom.  This joyous celebration commemorates a great victory won by the Jewish people nearly 2,000 years ago and lasts eight days and eight nights.  The first day of Hanukkah corresponds to the Hebrew calendar and begins on the 25th day of the Hebrew month, Kislev.  This is typically falls at the end of November or beginning of December.

2,000 years ago in Judea, the country today known as Israel, the king of Syria, Antiochus IV, began to persecute the Jewish people who lived there, preventing them from practicing their religious customs and instead forcing them to adopt Greek religious practices.  The Syrians then seized and looted the Jew's Holy Temple in Jerusalem and erected an altar to the Greek god Zeus.  Thus, began the Jewish rebellion. 

A two-year battle ensued between the Syrians and the Jewish army, called the Maccabees, and was led by a Jewish priest named Mattathias and his five sons, one of whom was named Judah Maccabee.  Upon regaining control of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, the Jews believed that the temple needed to be rededicated before they could worship there.  However, the Maccabees discovered that there was only enough consecrated oil to burn the menorah, a candelabra used in Jewish religious ceremonies, for one night.  Miraculously, the oil lasted a full eight days and eight nights, giving the Jews ample time to produce more oil.   Hanukkah, which comes from the Hebrew word meaning “rededicate” or “consecrate” commemorates this miracle and is celebrated by lighting a menorah on eight successive nights.