Happy Hanukkah!

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I'm not Jewish, but I do respect all religions. Happy Hanukkah! I am interested to learn about Hanukkah. I may be a little off, but let's see if I got this right. this is just what I heard.

over 2,000 years ago, an opressive King was enslaving the Jews. The Jews then grew tired of the opressive King. when they bested him, The Jews wanted to light the menorah to celebrate, but they had only enough oil to light it for one day, and that it would take about 8 days to make more oil. but the menorah miraculously burned for 8 whole days.

how accurate was I?
 
Close. Within Jewish temples is a light that is always lit (Ner Tamid) that is a symbol of Gods eternal light and presence. When the Macabees revolted against the Assyrians, the Temple had been desecrated and needed to be re-consecrated. In Judaism, consecration of a temple takes 8 days. That is the reason for the eight days. The miracle of the oil is that they only had enough oil for one day, and it burned for 8. There is a bit of a debate amongst rabbinic groups whether or not it really happened. Some believe that if the story had not been created, Judah Macabee would be the hero of the story instead of God. Others believe it really did happen.

The eight low candles on a Hanukkiah (Hanukkah Menorah) commemorate the 8 days. The ninth candle (Shamash) is the guard or servant. It is used to light the candles each night. The Hanukkiah is a specific candelabra (menorah) used for Hanukkah.

The reason that Hanukkah falls at a different time each year is because the Jews use a Lunar calendar and Hanukkah falls on the 25th of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar.

You can read more than you want o know on wiki, which has a pretty good coverage of Hanukkah
Hanukkah - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In Judaism, Hanukkah is not one of the major holidays, but it does happen to fall around Christmas time each year, so it seems to get more attention than it probably should.
 
Last edited:
evangilder said:
Close. Within Jewish temples is a light that is always lit (Ner Tamid) that is a symbol of Gods eternal light and presence. When the Macabees revolted against the Assyrians, the Temple had been desecrated and needed to be re-consecrated. In Judaism, consecration of a temple takes 8 days. That is the reason for the eight days. The miracle of the oil is that they only had enough oil for one day, and it burned for 8. There is a bit of a debate amongst rabbinic groups whether or not it really happened. Some believe that if the story had not been created, Judah Macabee would be the hero of the story instead of God. Others believe it really did happen.

The eight low candles on a Hanukkiah (Hanukkah Menorah) commemorate the 8 days. The ninth candle (Shamash) is the guard or servant. It is used to light the candles each night. The Hanukkiah is a specific candelabra (menorah) used for Hanukkah.

The reason that Hanukkah falls at a different time each year is because the Jews use a Lunar calendar and Hanukkah falls on the 25th of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar.

You can read more than you want o know on wiki, which has a pretty good coverage of Hanukkah
Hanukkah - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In Judaism, Hanukkah is not one of the major holidays, but it does happen to fall around Christmas time each year, so it seems to get more attention than it probably should.
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ah! very fascinating. thanks for the info, evan! :D
 
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