What is Hanukkah?
Answer...
Well, not exactly..
Well, not exactly....
Well, not exactly. ...
Well, not exactly. The essential ritual of the holiday has become the blessing over the Hanukkah lights. A talmudic story tells how the liberators of the Temple found only enough consecrated oil to burn for one day, but it lasted for eight -- enough time to prepare a new supply. We're really celebrating the miracle of the lights.
No offense but who is this article aimed at? Christians or dumb Jews?
I'm Catholic, grew up in Chicago, and I KNEW its about 'the oil' and 'celebrating the miracle of the lights'.
Maybe we were luckier than those in most other cities? The Jewish influence in Chicago equaled that of only the Irish so maybe we knew more about other cultures. The near West Side - Irish Shanty Town (& Mrs O'Leary's cow) - bordered 'Jew Town' on Roosevelt Rd (12th st) and Halstead.
(NO offense meant, that's were my maternal grandmother grew up).
The south side of Oklahoma City is a gentile desert.
(Just kidding, mom.)
:)
I would be greatly surprised if one American in ten knows this stuff.
He also doesn't get into the aftermath, with the descendants of the Maccabees, ruling as kings, quickly deteriorating to the level of ordinary Oriental despots, complete with harem intrigue, murdering of relatives, etc.
“and I KNEW its about ‘the oil’ and ‘celebrating the miracle of the lights’.”
Not really.
That is the part has become popularized and the ritual that symbolizes the holiday. But the essence of the holiday is the triumph of the Maccabees over the assimilated Hellenized Jews.
Without that Judaism would not have survived. And for Christians it means Christianity would not have been born.
Same here--I was raised Catholic and grew up in a town with a sizeable Jewish population, so I was familiar with many Jewish traditions as well. In grade school during the holidays we sang BOTH Christmas carols and Hannukah songs.
Yesterday I read 1 Maccabees (the rededication of the Temple is in 1 Macabees ch. 4) and could not find any mention of the oil for one day lasting eight days. I then read elsewhere that the miracle of the oil was a Talmudic tradition.