Hanukah:

The Festival of Lights

A stylized hanukkiyah,
the special nine-branched
candleholder for Hanukkah.

Name:

Hanukkah (pronounced "hah-noo-kah") meaning "dedication." Also spelled Chanukah.

Hanukkah is also known as the "Festival of Lights."

Date:

Beginning on the 25th of the month of Kislev (November/December), and lasting eight days.

Purpose:

To celebrate the victory of the Jewish people over the Syrians in 165 BCE, and the rededication of the Temple.

References in the Tanakh (Old Testament):

None, since the revolt against the Syrians occured after the Tanakh was written. Some people believe that prophetic allusions to Hanukkah can be found in the Tanakh. The story of the victory that Hanukkah commemorates can be found in 1 and 2 Maccabees, two historical books of the Apocrypha.

The Jewish people suffered under the tyrannical rulership of Antiochus Epiphanes. He banned Jewish religion and custom: study of the Torah, circumcision, and observing the Sabbath. In addition, he desecrated the Temple and the priests.

Finally, the Jewish people revolted with a small army led by Judah the Maccabee. It was a miraculous victory, against all odds. Yet the Temple was still desecrated, and needed to be rededicated.

According to tradition, there was only enough oil to keep the menorah (candleholder) in the sanctuary lit for one day. It took eight days to produce more sacred Temple oil. Miraculously, the menorah stayed lit for the full eight days.

References in the New Testament:

John 10:22 - "Then came the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah) at Jerusalem. It was winter and Yeshua was in the temple area walking in Solomon's collonade."

Observance:

A special nine-branched candle holder, called a hanukkiyah is used so that a candle can be lit on each of the eight days of the celebration.

Foods cooked in oil are traditional, in remembrance of the miracle of the oil. Pancaces made with potatoes and oil, called latkes, are a traditional treat. Other popular foods are doughnuts and cheese dishes.

Children play with dreidels, square tops with the initial Hebrew letters of the phrase, "Nes Gadol Hayah Sham," meaning, "A great miracle happened there."

Gifts may also be exchanged, especially between family members.

Fulfillment:

Just as the lights of Hanukkah overcome darkness, so the darkness of this world is overcome by Yeshua who said, "I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life" (John 8:12).

Hanukkah is also significant for believers, since it marks a time of rededication and purification. Just as the Temple was dedicated, our bodies, temples of the Holy Spirit, must also be dedicated to the Lord's service.

It is belived by some that Yeshua's conception occurred at or near Hanukkah, which is nine months before Sukkot.

Believers in Yeshua must also remember that if it weren't for God's miraculous intervention commemorated by this holiday, the Jewish people would not have survived to bring us the Messiah. What better reason could there be to celebrate?

More information on this festival:

From the Temple Institute: The Hidden Light of Chanukah

The Good Shepherd: What Jesus Taught on Hanukah, by Christopher J. Patton

In the biblical history and prophecy of Israel, political liberation always goes hand-in-hand with spiritual liberation, because the truth makes free. In the first commandment the God of Israel identifies Himself as the One who brought Israel out of Egypt. Then, the Jewish people had to be free, and largely dedicated, as a nation to God's service, or Jesus could not have been born into a home enabling Him to enjoy a sinless infancy. Today, because of His sinless sacrifice, the faithful are delivered from the Kingdom of Darkness.

Hanukah Reflections 2004, By Christopher J. Patton
 

The triumph of Chanukah, By Jeff Jacoby

Today Chanukah is well established as part of the annual "holiday season," complete with parties, decorations, and music of its own. Its enhanced status is a tribute both to the assimilating tug of America's majority culture and to the remarkable openness of that culture to Jewish customs and belief.

Ironically, Chanukah was established to commemorate the very opposite of cultural assimilation. It dates back nearly 22 centuries, to the successful Jewish revolt against Antiochus IV, one of the line of Syrian-Greek monarchs who ruled the northern branch of Alexander the Great's collapsed empire. Alexander had been respectful of the Jews' monotheistic religion, but Antiochus was determined to impose Hellenism, with its pagan gods and its cult of the body, throughout his domains. When he met resistance in Judea, he made Judaism illegal.