In the midst of the holiday season, the one holiday that is overlooked the most is probably Hanukkah. This makes sense, the Jewish community in America makes up a small portion with only 2 percent, so Hanukkah isn't as publicized as Christmas.
Hanukkah, or as Adam Sandler would say, "the festival of lights, instead of one day of presents, we get eight crazy nights." While people know of it through movie starts and other advertisements, no one really knows the background. In fact Hanukkah isn't even that important a holiday in the Jewish culture, but nonetheless, it is interesting to know the story of Hanukkah.
Hanukkah means dedication in Hebrew. It is a time when the Jewish people came together to overthrow a Syrian ruler and take back their land. It was a mighty victory that lead to the impossible, and proved that miracles can exist.
Around 200 B.C. Jews were under the rule of the Egyptians in Jerusalem where they were free to worship their own faith. Then 25 years later the ruler of Syria, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, invaded Egypt and took over Jerusalem.
Epiphanes forced the Jews to worship Greek Gods and outlawed Judaism. However, he was not done destroying the Jewish religion and culture, and in 168 B.C. he took over the Jewish holy temple and dedicated it to the Greek God, Zeus.
It looked hopeless for the Jewish people; their holy land was being desecrated. However, a Jewish High Priest named Mattathias (mah-tah-thee-us), had seen enough destruction of Jerusalem and knew something needed to be done. Mattathias sparked a revolt among the Jewish people to take back their temple.
This idea spoke to the Jews; they needed their religion and lives back. However, the only flaw in this revolt was that while they Jews were dedicated to getting their religion back, they seemed like they were no match for the superior Syrian armies.
For three years the war raged on. Surprisingly, the Jews, led by Mattathias's son, Judah Maccabee managed to do the improbable and defeat the Syrian army. Judah Maccabee and the Jews liberated the holy temple in 165 B.C.
To celebrate the return of the temple, the Jewish High Priests planned to light the menorah, the eternal flame, in the name of God. However, the Syrians destroyed all the oil needed to light the menorah. All that was left was enough to light for a single night.
The single night turned into days and, once again, the improbable happened and eight days later the menorah was still light, giving the Jews enough time to get more oil.
Thus a menorah turned into a symbol of the Jewish faith.
The menorah has nine candles. The shabas (shaw-bus) candle, the middle candle, is used to light each other candle for each night of the holiday.
During Hanukkah, the game dreidel is also played. This game is played with a top that has four different Jewish letters on each side that represent a rule. Players play with gelt the Hebrew word for money, but the gelt today are chocolate. It is said that dreidels were actually ways for the Jewish people to communicate to one another when they were under the rule of Syrians. Because they were not allowed to practice Judaism, they made dreidels to look like they were simply playing a game.
When I was a little kid I did not know the meaning of Hanukkah. I learned all I knew about Hanukkah and what to expect from the movie "A Rugrats Hanukkah," featuring Tommy and the Macababies. I only thought it was an eight day period where I got eight gifts. All my friends who celebrated Christmas were really jealous, and I felt pretty cool. That is what most people think of when they think of Hanukkah, that we get a lot of gifts. However, gifts are not supposed to be given during Hanukkah, in fact. Families are just supposed to celebrate the miracle that happened over 2000 years ago. But over the years the tradition has changed and kids begin to expect gifts.
Stores do not have any ornaments for Hanukkah. There aren't many decorations, and if there are, they are in the corner of the store that no one ever sees; Hanukkah isn't as celebrated as it could be.
Being a member of the Jewish community, it is interesting and cool when people continually ask me questions about Judaism. Most questions are about whether or not I can speak Hebrew, if I have a Christmas tree or if I have "one of those hat things." But no one really asks about Hanukkah. While Hanukkah is not a prominent holiday in Judaism, people should ask because it is an awesome story involving war and miracles.
Have a very Happy Hanukkah.
