CHANUKAH

festival facts

נֲח כֻ ָ הּ

Chanukah, or the Feast of Lights, coincides at times with Christmas Day. It falls on 25th Kislev in the Jewish calendar, but not always on 25th December because Jewish months are lunar. Like Purim it is a minor festival but is non-biblical, having originated in the intertestamental period. Chanukah means ‘Dedication’, and commemorates the re-dedication of the Temple after the defeat of the forces of Antiochus Epiphanes (pictured on coin below) by Judas Maccabeus in 165 BC. The Syrian king Antiochus defiled the temple in Jerusalem with idols and on 25th Kislev 168 BC sacrificed a sow on the holy altar. The history is given in the apocryphal book 1 Maccabees 4:41-61, and summarised in 2 Maccabees 10:5-8:

This day of the purification of the Temple fell on the very day on which the Temple had been profaned by the foreigners, the twentyfifth of the same month, Kislev. They kept eight

festal days with rejoicing, in the manner of the feast of Tabernacles, remembering how, not long before at the time of the feast of Tabernacles, they had been living in the mountains and caverns like wild beasts. Then, carrying branches, leafy boughs and palms, they offered hymns to him who had brought the cleansing of his own Holy Place to a happy outcome. They also decreed by public edict, ratified by vote, that the

whole Jewish nation should celebrate those same days every year.

In the Talmud - a compilation of rabbinical teachings on biblical, traditional and legendary matters - there is another account. According to this, at the cleansing of the

temple only one small cruse of holy oil with the seal of the high priest could be found. This would supply the menorah - the sevenbranched lampstand in the Holy Place - for only one day; and eight days were needed to prepare a fresh supply in the appointed way. Miraculously, so the rabbis teach, the one day’s supply burned for eight days until further oil became available.

Symbol and Celebration The legend shows why an eight-branched lampstand is the central symbol of Chanukah, and why Jewish candelabra often have eight holders instead of seven; in fact they have nine! The ninth is called the shammash, or servant, and is used to light the eight because to kindle any of the eight from one another is forbidden. Chanukah lights must not be used for general illumination, and any light so shed is said to come from the shammash. The lights must burn for at least a half hour as soon as possible after nightfall.

At sunset on 24th Kislev, the commencement of the first day of Chanukah, one lamp is lit. The next evening two are lit, and the number increases until on the last day all eight are lit, all from the shammash. Before lighting, blessings are recited as given in the Talmud:

‘Blessed be Thou, O Lord ... who hast commanded us to kindle the light of Chanukah’; ‘Blessed be Thou, O Lord ... who performed miracles for our fathers in days of old at this season’.

The special synagogue service includes the chanting of Psalm 30, with its theme of the deliverance of the house of God, and readings from Numbers 7:1-54; 8:1-4. Chanukah is, however, essentially a home celebration. The candlestick should be placed where passers-by can see the light. Parties are held for children, games are played (such as the Dreidel game pictured right) and gifts given. For Jewish children this helps to fill some of their longing for the joys and celebrations of Christmas which Christian friends and others enjoy, and in which they are not allowed to take part. Jewish parents find it helpful that their festival coincides with the Christmas festivity season, though not always with Christmas Day itself.

CHANUKAHfestival facts

Rabbinic TeachingAccording to rabbinical teaching Chanukah celebrates not the human victory of Judas Maccabeus, but the divine power which enabled him to defeat the enemy. This is signified in the legend of the sufficiency of the one small cruse of oil for eight days burning. This same power, say the rabbis, has enabled the Jewish people to overcome their adversaries from the time of Abraham (cf. Genesis 14) to the present time. Whenever it has seemed impossible that the nation should survive, the power of God has preserved them, and they continue to this day as witnesses to his power and purpose on earth. In the light of this the haftarah (prophetic passage) read when Chanukah falls on Shabbat has relevance:

Now the angel who talked with me came back and wakened me, as a man who is wakened out of his sleep. And he said to me, “What do you see?” So I said, “I am looking, and there is a lampstand of solid gold with a bowl on top of it, and on the stand seven lamps with seven pipes to the seven lamps. Two olive trees are by it, one at the right of the bowl and the other at its left.” So I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, “What are these, my lord?” Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.” So he answered and said to me: “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts.” Then I answered and said to him, “What are these two olive trees, one at the right of the lampstand and at its left?” And I further answered and said to him, “What are these two olive branches that drip into the receptacles of the two gold pipes from which the golden oil drains?” Then he answered me and said, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.” So he said, “These are the two anointed ones, who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth.” (Zechariah 4:1-6, 11-14)

This word of the Lord to Zerubbabel was symbolised by a golden seven-branched candlestick and two olive trees. The Biblical menorah has seven lamps, as the Lord instructed Moses when he was about to make the tabernacle (Exodus 25:31-40). This perhaps corresponds to the seven lamps burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God (Revelation 4:5). Nowhere in Scripture do we read of an eight-branched menorah with shammash, and even its Jewish origin seems untraceable.

When?

Other names

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Key themes

נֲח כֻ ָ הּ25th Kislev in the Jewish Calendar, often coincides with Christmas but not always as Jewish months are lunar. It is celebrated as an 8 day holiday.

Chanukah is also known as The Festival of Lights and can also be spelt Channukah or Hanukkah.

There is no mention of Chanukah in the Bible or Mishnah but it can be found in the Talmud and the ancient Jewish historian Josephus also refers to the Festival of Lights in his writings.

The key theme is light, as represented by the lighting of the Menora. The Festival commemorates the rededication of the temple in 2BC after the Maccabean revolt, during which the Jews regained control of Jerusalem.

The Divine Deliverer It is not known if the legend and the Chanukah menorah were in vogue when our Lord was on earth, but there is a reference to the Feast of the Dedication in John 10:22 when, we are told, it was winter. It is interesting to find that in this chapter, when the Jews question his messiahship, Jesus makes strong reference to the divine source of his works.

Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me”... Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?... though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.” (John 10:25, 32,38)

Here is no mere human deliverer - like Judas Maccabeus - to whom God gave power for special deeds at particular times. Here is the Incarnate Son of the Father, sent into the world (verse 36), inherently possessed of all the divine attributes, for the purpose of delivering His people that they might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness.

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Chanukah in the Talmud...

WHAT IS CHANUKAH?

Beginning with the twenty-fifth of Kislev, during the days of Chanukah, we neither fast or mourn. For the idolaters entered the Sanctuary and defiled all the oils in the sanctuary; and when the power of the Hasmonean House overcame and defeated them, they searched, but found no more than one flask of oil, sealed with the seal of the High Priest, and there was not enough oil in it to last more than one day. But a miracle took place, and they kindled with it for eight days. For future years therefore, they established these days as days of feasting, praise and thanksgiving. (Tractate Shabbat, 21b)

THE CHANUKAH LIGHT

The Chanukah light should be placed at the door of the house, outside. A person who lives in an upper story should place it in the nearest window to the public thoroughfare. In time of danger, however, it may be placed on the table, and that will be sufficient. (Shabbat 21)

Women are bound to fulfil the commandment of kindling the lights, for they, too, were involved in that miracle. The lights may be kindled from sunset till the time when all movement comes to an end in the market-place. (Shabbat, 21: 23)

On Chanukah every one should kindle for his household. Those who are strict in their observance kindle separately for each person. And what about those who are exceptionally strict. The House of Shammai say: Eight lights should be kindled on the first day: thenceforward the number should be gradually decreased. The House of HilIel say: On the first day one light should be kindled; thenceforward the number should be gradually increased. (Shabbat, 21)