Meet Hanukkah - Holiday History, The Menorah, Dreidel And customary Hanukkah Gifts

Hanukkah or the Romanized rendering, Chanukah, also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the re-dedication of the Jewish Holy Temple (the second one) in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century Bce. It is observed for eight nights, starting on the 25th day of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar; this occurs at any time from late November to late December in the Gregorian calendar.

A remarked into history:

Yiddish

When the Second Temple in Jerusalem was looted and the services stopped, Judaism became outlawed. In 167 Bce the evil Antiochus ordered an altar to Zeus to be built inside the Temple. He banned circumcision and ordered pigs to be sacrificed at the temple's altar. Antiochus's actions proved to be something of a miscalculation as they were disobeyed by the Jews and provoked a large-scale revolt. Mattathias, a Jewish priest, and his five sons Jochanan, Simeon, Eleazar, Jonathan, and Judah led a rebellion against Antiochus.

Meet Hanukkah - Holiday History, The Menorah, Dreidel And customary Hanukkah Gifts

Judah became known as Yehuda HaMakabi ("Judah the Hammer"). By 166 Bce Mattathias died, and Judah took his place as leader. By 165 Bce the Jewish revolt against the Seleucid monarchy was successful. The Temple was liberated and rededicated. The aged Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus narrates in his book Jewish Antiquities Xii, how the Jewish warrior, Judas Maccabbeus ordered lavish annual eight-day festivities after rededicating the Temple in Jerusalem which had been profaned by Antiochus Iv Epiphanes, the Syrian Hellenist enemy of the Jewish Country:

"Now Judas notable the festival of the recovery of the sacrifices of the temple for eight days, and omitted no sort of pleasures thereon; but he feasted them upon very rich and marvelous sacrifices; and he honored God, and deLighted them by hymns and psalms. Nay, they were so very glad at the revival of their customs, when, after a long time of intermission, they unexpectedly had regained the relaxation of their worship, that they made it a law for their posterity, that they should keep a festival, on inventory of the recovery of their temple worship, for eight days."

The Menorah:

This holiday is observed by the kindling of the Lights of a very extra candelabrum, the nine-branched Menorah or Hanukiah. One further Light is lit on each night of the holiday, progressing to eight on the final night. An extra light called a "shamash" is also lit each night for the purpose of lighting the others, and is given a inevitable location, above or below the rest, or in the center. The Hanukkah menorah, in discrepancy to the biblical seven-branched menorah used in Holy Temple services, is a nine-branched candelabrum. In the English-speaking diaspora - that means Jewish population surface the land of Israel - the Lamp is all the time known as "menorah," whereas in modern Hebrew it is exclusively known as "Chanukkiyah". The term chanukkiyah was coined at the end of the nineteenth century by the wife of Eliezer Ben Yehuda, notable for reviving the Hebrew language in making ready for the founding of the modern State of Israel.

The Dreidel:

The holiday of Hanukkah is also marked by the playing of a extra game called, "Dreidel". The dreidel is a four-sided spinning top. Each side is imprinted with a Hebrew letter. These letters are an acronym for the Hebrew words meaning "A great miracle happened there", referring of policy to the miracle of the oil that took place in the Beit Hamikdash. In Israel, the sides of the dreidel rehearse the acronym for, "A great miracle happened here" - alluding to the return of the Jews to their homeland.

Customs and Hanukkah gifts:

One of the most popular holiday customs is eating foods fried or foods baked in oil (preferably olive oil), because the miracle of the Hanukkah menorah complicated the discovery of a small flask of pure olive oil used by the Jewish High Priest. This small batch of olive oil was only supposed to last one day, and instead it lasted eight. In the Yiddish, Ashkenazi tradition, latkes are potato pancakes, fried in olive oil. They are Great with apple sauce. Similarly Sephardic Jews eat jelly-stuffed doughnuts which are fried in oil. Hanukkah, like Christmas, is also a time to give and receive gifts. The archetypal gift to give children is Hanukkah "gelt" which is Yiddish for money. Then the Kids may play dreidel and gamble with their gelt. If you prefer a gift that doesn't encourage gambling at a young age, you can all the time find candies gift wrapped in the shape of a dreidel, and for Bar Mitzvah boys a new silver Hanukia is a very common present.

Meet Hanukkah - Holiday History, The Menorah, Dreidel And customary Hanukkah Gifts

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