The Chanukah holiday has deep roots in Jewish history. It is a story of a culture’s perseverance against an intolerant governing body. In some people’s opinion it has become secularized, detracting from its original religious meaning. One has to look at the history of this holiday to understand why it is so important and why it should be respected.
According to legend in 200 BCE Judea was controlled by Syria which was controlled by the Greeks. During this time they lived as peaceful members of the society, they paid taxes, obeyed Syria’s laws and went about their business. In 175 BCE a new ruler took over the throne he was Antiochus IV. Gradually under his rule the Jews were forced to violate their principle beliefs. A rebellion ensued and the Jews lost which led to a horrible massacre, the looting of temples and the religion itself being outlawed. It wasn’t until 167 BCE that another rebellion occurred this time it was led by a Jewish leader by the name of Mattathias and his five sons. What sparked this rebellion was an order by Antiochus to take over the Temple that had been built by King Solomon and turn the sacred alter, the main alter that the Jews used to worship their god, into an alter to worship Zeus who was the main deity in the Greek Pantheon. Luckily the Jewish people won the rebellion and retook their temple. In rededicating the temple the spiritual leaders cleansed the area with in it. Part of the process was to light a menorah however, there was only a little bit of oil left. By miracle that little bit of oil lasted for eight days, the time it required for a new batch of the proper oil needed for the altar piece.
From this miracle it the holiday of Chanukah was proclaimed to celebrate the miracle of the lights and the regaining of the temple. The holiday is traditional very sacred. The centerpiece of the celebration is the Menorah. Which traditionally consists of eight candles, one lit on each night of the celebration with each lighting of the candles a prayer is said. Also included in this ritual is the singing of the Maoz Tzur hymn.
Another tradition that is inseparable from this holiday is the dreadel. The origins of this game also stem back to the time when the Greeks had outlawed Judaism. Jews were forced to hide when studying their religious texts when a look out gave the signal they hid the texts and pulled out coins and pretended to be gambling so that the Greek soldiers didn’t suspect anything.
The letters on the Dreadel stand for a Hebrew phrase: Nes Gadol Haya Sham which roughly translated means A Great Miracle Happened There. Those four words truly some up the meaning of this holiday.
