Rabbi Sam Waidenbaum’s holiday message

Chanukah, or the festival of Rededication, celebrates the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, after its defilement by the Syrian Greeks in 164 BCE.

Although it is a late addition to the Jewish liturgical calendar, the eight-day festival of Chanukah has become a beloved and joyous holiday. It is also known as the Festival of Lights and usually takes place in December, at the time of year when the days are shortest in the northern hemisphere.

Beginning in 167 BCE, the Jews of Judea rose up in revolt against the oppression of King Antiochus IV Epiphanes of the Seleucid Persian empire. The military leader of the first phase of the revolt was Judah the Maccabee, the eldest son of the priest Matituahu or Mattathias. In the autumn of 164, Judah and his followers were able to capture the Temple of Jerusalem, which had turn into a pagan shrine. They cleaned it and rededicated it to Israel’s god.

This event was observed in an eight-day celebration, which was patterned on Sukkot, the autumn festival of huts. Much later rabbinic tradition ascribes the length of the festival to a miraculous small amount of oil that burned for eight days.

Much of the activity of Chanukah takes place at home. Central to the holiday is the lighting of the Chanukiah or menorah, an eight-branched candelabrum, to which one candle is added on each night of the holiday until it is ablaze with light on the eighth night.

In commemoration of the legendary cruse of oil, it is traditional to ear foods fried in oil. The most familiar Hanukkah foods are the European Ashkenzai potato pancakes, or latkes, and the Israeli favorite, jelly donuts or suganiyot.

The tradition developed in Europe to give small amounts of money, as well as nuts and raisins, to children at this time. Under the influence of Christmas, which takes place around the same time of year, Chanukah has evolved into the central gift-giving holiday in the Jewish calendar in the Western world.

Since Chanukah is not biblically ordained, the liturgy for the holiday is not well developed. It is actually a quite minor festival, however, it has become one of the most beloved of Jewish holidays.

In an act of defiance against those in the past and in the present, who would root out the Jewish practice, the observance of Chanukah has assumed a visible community aspect. Jews will often gather for communal celebrations and public candle lighting. At such celebrations, Chanukah songs are sung and traditional games such as dreidel are played.

Like Passover, Chanukah is a holiday that celebrates the liberation from oppression. It also provides a strong argument in favor of freedom and worship of religion. In spite of the human action that is commemorated, never far from the surface is the theology, that the libration was possible only thanks to the miraculous support of the divine.

May the Chanukah lights shine brightly upon the entire world, and let us be filled with a world of brightness and peace.