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What is Hanukkah & why is it celebrated?
When is Hanukkah in Jerusalem?
Why is Hanukkah called a miracle?
When is Hanukkah in Dubai?
Hanukkah today is often referred to as the Festival of Lights, or chag ha-ooreem in Hebrew. The origins of this term are quite old, going back to the Jewish historian Josephus Flavius. Josephus lived in Jerusalem in the first century of the Common Era.
- Overview
- The origins of Hanukkah
- How Hanukkah is celebrated
Celebrated over eight days and nights, Hanukkah commemorates a people’s uprising and holy miracle from more than 2,000 years ago.
On the walls of Jerusalem's Old City, a colorful menorah lights up the night during Hanukkah.
It's time to celebrate Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights that lasts for eight days and nights in honor of a 2,000-year-old miracle in which light won out over darkness. This year Hanukkah starts on Thursday, December 7.
The holiday's popularity has surged in modern times, but its origins date back to the turbulent centuries following the death of Alexander the Great, the ancient Macedonian leader who conquered the Persian Empire. Here's what you need to know about Hanukkah's origins and how it is celebrated.
After Alexander’s death in 323 B.C., a power struggle broke out among his generals that lasted for more than century. The Greco-Syrian Seleucid kings would emerge victorious and rule many of Alexander’s former territories, including Judea (located in central, present-day Israel).
The Seleucids exerted their influence through Hellenization, the spread of Greek art, architecture, and religion. Local communities, especially in Judea, resisted it. (See also: The plots and conspiracies that ended Alexander's empire.)
In 175 B.C. the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes came into power and tried to force Judeans to assimilate. The Seleucids captured the holy Temple of Jerusalem and defiled it by erecting an altar to the Greek god Zeus inside. Antiochus outlawed the Jewish faith and mandated the worship of Greek gods. Some scholars think he believed that establishing one common religion might unify his fractured empire, but his brutal methods undid those intentions.
Writing in the first century A.D., Jewish historian Josephus recorded the brutal plundering of Jerusalem and treatment of Jewish dissidents who were “whipped with rods, and their bodies torn to pieces, and were crucified, while they were still alive, and breathed. . . . And if there were any sacred book, or the law found, it was destroyed: and those with whom they were found miserably perished also.”
Horrified by the Temple desecration and cruelty toward the Jewish people, a priest named Mattathias and his sons rose up in rebellion. After Mattathias’s death in 166 B.C., his son Judah the Maccabee (the “Hammer”) took his father’s place in the fight and led the Jewish people in many victories over the Seleucids. In 164, Judah won back Jerusalem and restored the Temple, cleansing and rededicating it. The revolt of the Maccabees, as it came to be known, continued on and ultimately drove the Seleucids from Judea in 160.
Hanukkah, which means “dedication,” commemorates the miracle of light that occurred when Judah rededicated the Temple to the Hebrew god. According to the Talmud (one of Judaism’s holy texts), the Seleucids left only one intact vial of oil, just enough to light the Temple’s candelabrum for one day. But it burned for eight days—enough time for the victorious Judeans to secure more oil—and the miracle became the foundation of a beloved holiday to thank God and celebrate the victory of light over darkness.
Although it is traditionally a fairly minor religious holiday, Hanukkah grew popular in the 20th century due to its proximity to Christmas. Hanukkah, writes Tatjana Lichtenstein, director of the Schusterman Center for Jewish Studies at The University of Texas at Austin, “offered an opportunity for Jews to participate in the holiday celebrations complete with gift-giving and merry-making without giving up their distinct religious and cultural identities.” (Why Judaism’s holiest day is actually Yom Kippur, the day of atonement.)
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Every night of Hanukkah, one more candle is lit in the menorah. Some may celebrate at home, while others, like these children in Colorado Springs, may light the menorah during Hanukkah services at their local synagogue.
Every night of Hanukkah, one more candle is lit in the menorah. Some may celebrate at home, while others, like these children in Colorado Springs, may light the menorah during Hanukkah services at their local synagogue.
Photograph by Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette/AP
- Amy Briggs
- 2 min
Hanukkah (Chanukah) is the Jewish eight-day, wintertime “festival of lights,” celebrated with a nightly menorah lighting, special prayers and fried foods. The Hebrew word Chanukah means “dedication,” and is thus named because it celebrates the rededication of the Holy Temple (as you’ll read below).
Also called the Festival of Lights, Hanukkah celebrates events from more than 2,000 years ago. First and foremost, it commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem after a successful revolt of the Jewish people led by Judah Maccabee against their Syrian-Greek oppressors, who had tried to assimilate the Jewish people and, in so ...
Nov 26, 2021 · Hanukkah, also sometimes known as the festival of lights, or the feast of dedication, begins on the evening of the 25th of the Hebrew month of Kislev.
Oct 27, 2009 · Often called the Festival of Lights, the holiday is celebrated with the lighting of the menorah, traditional foods, games and gifts.
Nov 26, 2021 · The winter season heralds the arrival of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, the festival of lights. Dating back to ancient times, Hanukkah is not one of Judaism's most important or holy holidays,...
