HANUKKAH 1

‘Tis The Hanukkah Season – 

 WHAT IS HANUKKAH?

Let’s start with the origins of the “word” Hanukkah.

Hanukkah (also spelled Hanukka, Chanukah, Chanukkah), is from Hebrew and means "consecration, dedication." It was first recorded in English in 1891. Hanukkah is observed somewhere between November 25 and December 26, from 25 Kislev to 2 Tevet, because the original re-dedication was on the 25th day of the Jewish month of Kislev. The celebration is also called the Festival of Lights, Feast of Lights, Feast of Dedication, or Feast of the Maccabees.

The origins of the "word" Hanukkah came about 2,000 years ago, when the Syrian-Greek King Antiochus IV occupied Jerusalem. He forced the Jewish people to worship the Greek gods, and for three years, Judah the Maccabee (also Judas Maccabeus) led a rebellion against the Syrians, and when he finally defeated them in 165 BCE, the Jews could worship freely again. To re-dedicate the temple, they cleaned it from top -to- bottom, and then re-lit the menorah, their special branched candelabrum.

However, there was only enough sanctified oil for one day, and since it took eight days to formulate more oil, the Jews succeeded in making the oil in that one bottle last eight days.

Oops, let’s go back a moment. Who was Judah the Maccabee?  One would need to know this since Hanukkah is a celebration that came about because of this one man’s family’s act of bravery.

When an era of darkness and misery descended upon the Jews of Israel, then came Judah the Maccabee.

The Maccabees, also spelled Machabees, were the leaders of a Jewish rebel army that took control of Judea, which at the time had been a province of the Seleucid Empire. They founded the Hasmonean dynasty, which ruled from 164 BCE to 63 BCE.

Judah was from a family called the Hasmoneans. The Hasmonean family was led by Mattisyahu and his five sons: Shimon, Yochanan, Yehudah (Judah), Elazar and Yonasan.

Mattisyahu was a fervent righteous man who tired of seeing Judaism and the Jewish spirit crushed by the Syrians. It as his valor that provided the original catalyst for the revolt against these powerful Greeks. Though he died soon after the uprising grew into a full-fledged war, the cloak of leadership passed from to his son Judah, and with that the course of history was forever changed.

Judah Maccabee was a fearless leader, who perceived of ways for the Jewish militaries to out-maneuver the superior, better equipped and expert Greek army.

Judah Maccabee fought/rebelled against the heaviness that bear on the Jewish people. There were the women who insisted that their sons be circumcised, and were killed along with their babies. There also were the brides who were forced to sleep with Greek officers before they were ever with their husbands, and were required to eat pork and sacrifice pigs to the Greek gods.

Other examples of torture included the teaching of Torah as a capital crime, and many were tortured and murdered for their defiance.      
                                     …to be continued on Monday, December 26th.

In Christ,

Playwright Janet Irene Thomas

Founder/CEO

Bible Stories Theatre of

Fine & Performing Arts

www.biblestoriestheatre.org

info@biblestoriestheatre.org