Happy Hannakah

[Aloysius]

i'm readin through the books of Maccabees cuz Judas Maccabees is the MAN! and that miracle is comin up, the festival of lights and what not. well, all i found in the bood of Maccabees mentions the eight days and the candle but not the too little oil, but i bet that happened.

anyway, i never even realized it was Judas Maccabees for Hannakah until, yes i know i'm a dork , i was watching a Disney Channel movie, Full Court Miracle. lol. anyway, when exactly is Hannakah. I remember we recently got a new Jewish friend on here, maybe she could tell us. rebekah, right? anyway, Hannakah is cool. it'z just a little bit ( note the sarcasm) superceded by the birth of Christ. B)

[Aloysius]

yeah, i'm not usedto being in the debate table that much lately, so i 4got i was here :ph34r:

but still.

[geetarplayer]

Eh, I think we scared Rebekah away... :ph34r:

[Katholikos]

The most interesting thing about Hannukah is that the whole history of it is recorded in two books -- Maccabees -- that the Palestinian rabbis's refused to include in the very first canon of Jewish Scriptures created c. 100 A.D. First Macc was written in Hebrews, but the Hb text was later lost. Second Macc was originally written in Greek (along with the Wisdom of Solomon). But the rabbi's wouldnt allow any Greek book in their canon of Scripture -- only Hebrew was permitted -- so one of the most significant Jewish holidays is not in the Jewish Scriptures. Martin Luther adopted the Palestinian (Hebrew) canon to justify his shucking of Maccabees from the Bible (ours is the Greek or Alexandrinian canon). I guess the rabbi's and Martin thought God couldn't speak Greek. (The NT was written in Koine Greek.)

Anyway, Hannukah (or Channukah or Hanukkah) is a Jewish festival not found in the Palestinian (Jewish) canon of Scriture. It used to be no big deal, but grew in importance in the 20th century to provide Jewish kids with a celebration similar to Christmas.

Here's the scoop:

Like most Jewish holidays, Hanukkah has roots that go way back in history. The Festival of Lights, as it is called, is a celebration of the victory of the Maccabees, an early Jewish group, over the Assyrians more than 2300 years ago. The Assyrian king, Antiochus, ordered the Jewish people to reject their religion, customs, and beliefs and, instead, worship the Greek gods. After three years of fighting, the Maccabees were finally successful in driving the Assyrians out. After the victory, the Maccabees wanted to clean their desecrated temple in Jerusalem and remove the pagan symbols and statues the Assyrians had placed there.

The word Hanukkah means "dedication" in Hebrew. When the temple was cleansed, the Maccabees wanted to re-dedicate it by lighting the eternal lamp. As the story goes, just one jug of oil was found containing only enough oil for a single day. When the lamp was lit, a miracle occurred and the oil lasted for eight days, long enough to replenish the supply.

Every year between the end of November and the end of December, Jewish people around the world celebrate the holiday of Hanukkah, which commemorates the miracle of the oil that burned for 8 days. Hanukkah begins on the 25th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev, but the starting date on the western calendar varies from year to year. All Jewish holidays start at sundown the night before, so the celebration begins on the night of the 24th day.

American families celebrate Hanukkah by attending religious services and inviting friends and family to eat special foods with them. The most well-known ritual is the nightly lighting of the menorah, a type of candelabra, which occurs after sundown each day of Hanukkah. Each night a candle is added until all eight are lit on the last night, commemorating the miracle in the temple. In the United States, Christmas, because it falls so close on the calendar, has influenced the way Hanukkah is celebrated and given it a significance greater than it has in other Jewish cultures. Traditionally, only Hanukkah gelt (money) was given, but, because of the commercial emphasis put on Christmas, gift giving has become common today among many Jewish families in the United States. In Israel, Hanukkah is still considered a minor holiday and Israelis do not usually even take days off from work to celebrate.

Special Prayers: During the eight days of Hanukkah, the entire Hallel (psalms of praise) is said. The Torah is read each day in the synagogue. The readings recall the offerings brought by the heads of the Twelve Tribes of Israel at the time of the dedication of the temple.

Food and Other Customs: Although not a holiday from the Torah (and, therefore, not having any Biblical requirements), Hanukkah is differentiated from regular days of the week by special actions and special foods. The most popular theme for Hanukkah dishes is the use of oil. Oil is used for frying items like potato latkes or sufganiyout, a type of doughnut, and commemorates the oil burned in the lamp.

Several games are also associated with Hanukkah. The most popular is dreidel, which features a four-sided top. On each side, a Hebrew letter is inscribed. Together, they form an acronym for a phrase which translates as "a great miracle happened here." Dreidel is a game of chance in which small stakes (usually pennies) are wagered on the outcome of the spinning top. Storytelling is also popular, as are card games played using a special Maccabean deck.

First night of Chanukah 5764 (2003) is Friday Night December 19th, 2003 and last night of candle lighting is Friday Night December 26. Chanukah comes to an end on January 7th, 2004 at nightfall.

Compiled from various Jewish websites.

JMJ Jay (Likos)

[nikkan_hanil]

Hey, how y'all spell it? Hannukah of Channukah?