What Happened on Hanukah?

9

 

WHAT HAPPENED ON HANUKAH?

 Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D

This year, Hanukah begins on Wednesday night, Dec. 25, 2024.

The history behind Hanukah is, briefly, this: In the second cent. BCE, Antiochus IV, the Syrian king, set out to conquer Egypt. While he was fighting there, Jason, who was deposed from his position as the Jewish High Priest , left the Ammonites with whom he had taken refuge, and attacked Menelaus, in Jerusalem, in order to regain the High Priesthood. A civil war broke out between the two, and Jason successfully entered Jerusalem. King Antiochus was furious. On his way back from Egypt, the king attacked Jerusalem, imposed restrictions on Judea, and eventually desecrated the Temple. In reaction, a priest by the name of Mattathias, and his sons (called the Maccabees), fought against the Syrians, and were able to clean and rededicate the temple of Jerusalem to the worship of one God in the year 165 BCE. This rededication is called Hanukah (“dedication” in Hebrew).

The First Book of Maccabees (c.mid-2^nd cent. BCE), states that Hanukah ought to be celebrated for eight days but does not indicate the reason for it (see, 4:59). It is in the Second Book of Maccabees (c.125 BCE) that we find a rational explanation: It happened that on the same day on which the sanctuary had been profaned by the foreigners, the purification of the sanctuary took place, that is, on the twenty-fifth day of the same month, which was Kislev.  And they celebrated it for eight days with rejoicing, in the manner of the feast of booths, remembering how not long before, during the feast of booths [Sukkot], they had been wandering in the mountains and caves like wild animals. (10: 6). So, Hanukah was really like a delayed Sukkot that lasts seven days plus Atzeret, a one day festival (See, Lev. 23: 33-36; cf. v.39).

The first reference to the lights of Hanukah appears in the writings of Josephus (1sr cent. CE) who calls the festival “Lights” by saying: I suppose the reason was this liberty beyond our hopes appeared to us and that hence the name given to that festival. (Antiquities, 7:7).

In it only in the Talmud, which was edited in Babylonia in the 5-6^th centuries CE that the so-called “miracle” makes its appearance (under Persian influence?): What is [the reason of] Hanukah? For our Rabbis taught: On the twenty-fifth of Kislew [commence] the days of Hanukkah, which are eight on which a lamentation for the dead and fasting are forbidden.  For when the Greeks entered the Temple, they defiled all the oils therein, and when the Hasmonean [i.e. Maccabees] dynasty prevailed against and defeated them, they made search and found only one cruse of oil which lay with the seal of the High Priest, but which contained sufficient for one day’s lighting only; yet a miracle was wrought therein and they lit [the lamp] therewith for eight days. The following year these [days] were appointed a Festival with [the recital of] Hallel and thanksgiving. (BT Shab. 21b, Soncino). 

Later on a midrashic text (c. 9^th cent.) provides another explanation: When the Hasmoneans defeated the Greeks, they entered the temple and found there eight iron spears. They stuck candles on these spears and kindled them. (Pesikta Rabbati 2: 5).

The festival of Hanukah proclaims many important values, such as courage, dedication, thanksgiving, and above all, the right to be different. These are the values we need to stress, and not the miracle of oil which is not rational, historical or even believable in our time.

SONSINO’S BLOG, rsonsino.blogspot.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

SONSINO'S BLOG: HEBREW, ISRAEL or JEW; WHAT DO WE CALL OURSELVES?

SONSINO'S BLOG: HEBREW, ISRAEL or JEW; WHAT DO WE CALL OURSELVES?:   Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D When I was growing up in Turkey, the locals had two different terms for us. They called us either YAHUDI (of J...

HEBREW, ISRAEL or JEW; WHAT DO WE CALL OURSELVES?

 Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D

When I was growing up in Turkey, the locals had two different terms for us. They called us either YAHUDI (of Judah) or MUSEVI (of Moses). The first was pejorative, the second more respectful.

What do we call ourselves?

HEBREW: This is the earliest term. According to the Hebrew Bible, Abraham was the first one to be called “a Hebrew” (Gen. 14:13). The etymology of this term is disputed. The word most likely has to do with being “on the other side”, maybe referring to the other side of the river Euphrates, namely, Canaan.

ISRAEL: According to the Hebrew Bible, the patriarch Jacob became known as Israel, after he wrestled with a mysterious “ man” (Gen. 32: 29). The word Israel probably comes from the root SARA, meaning, to persist, to persevere, to supplant (Hos.12: 4). After the split of the kingdom following the death of king Solomon (10^th cent. BCE), the northern tribes became known as Israel, and the people were referred to as Bene Yisrael, “the children of Israel.” Today the term “Israel” primarily refers to the land of Israel.

JEW: Judah (Yehuda, in Hebrew) was the 4^th son of Leah. The term referred to the southern kingdom, centered in Jerusalem. The term Jew (Yehudi, in Hebrew) was first applied to those whom King Rezin of Aram drove away from Elath (II K 16: 6, 8^th cent. BCE ). In Akkadian, King Sennacherib of Assyria  (704-681 BCE) called king Hezekiah “the Jew” (amel-ya-hu-d-ai). After the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BCE, it became the only term used to identify the people who lived there and its vicinity. The Book of Zechariah (6^th cent. BCE) refers to “every Jew”- ish yehudi (8:23) . In the Book of Esther (2^nd cent. BCE), Mordecai is called “a Jew”- ish yehudi (2:5). And that is the term we use for ourselves. In French, it is Juif; in Spanish, Judio; in Ladino, cudyo, in German, Jude,  but in Italian, it is ebreo.

Now ,with the establishment of the State of Israel in 1947, we have two terms: Israeli and Jew. The first refers to a citizen of Israel, whether a Jew or not. The second refers to all those who live around the world and are part of the Jewish people.

SONSINO’S BLOG, rsonsino.blogspot.com