hanukkah
25 Kislev marks the beginning of the festival of Hannukah. The eight day-long holiday celebrates the miraculous second-century B.C.E. victory of the Judeans, under the leadership of Judah and the other Hasmoneans (Maccabees), over the Syria-Greek forces led by Antiochus. The victory was symbolic of the successful Jewish resistance against Hellenism and delayed further forced assimilation. It even led to a brief period of Judean independence before the Roman conquest.
Hanukkah is considered to be among the most minor of the Jewish holidays. It is not mentioned in the Bible (the two books I and II Maccabees are included in the Apocrypha, a collection of books which didn’t quite "make the cut") or the Mishna, and the Talmudic discussion of the holiday begins with the words, "Mai Chanukka" ("What is Hanukkah?"), indicating that the festival was not very widely regarded. It is also referred to as "Chag Ha’urim," Festival of Lights, in recognition of the miracle of the small quantity of olive oil which burned for eight days upon the Maccabees’ rededication of the Holy Temple following their victory. It is a happy holiday (although work is permitted), and all signs of sadness (i.e. fasting and eulogies) should be avoided. In addition, it is customary to eat foods fried in oil, such as "latkes" or "l’vivot" (potato pancakes) and "sufganyot" (jelly doughnuts).
On the first night of Hanukkah, we light one candle which is placed on the right side of the Hanukkiah (Hanukkah menorah). On subsequent nights we add candles right to left, but when we physically light the candles, we kindle them from left to right. Since we are not supposed to "use" the Hanukkah candles for any purpose, we light an additional candle, the Shamash, each night which we use to kindle the other candles. The candles are lit after sundown each night, and two blessings are said (three on the first night), followed by the singing of two songs—"Hanerot Halalu" and "Maoz Tzur." On Shabbat, the Hanukkah candles are lit before the Shabbat candles. On Saturday night, opinion varies as to whether the candles should be lit before or after Havdalah (I personally light them after Havdalah).
Hanukkah’s close proximity to the non-Jewish holiday of Christmas has had both a positive and a negative effect on the celebration of Hanukkah. On the positive side, it encourages the observance of Hanukkah and its customs. Negatively, however, Hanukkah has become more important to many American Jews than some of the more "major" Jewish holidays. In addition, its proximity to Christmas has led to the commercialization of the holiday including, in relatively recent years, the introduction of the custom of gift-giving.
This page was originally created by John Davis and Michael Kay, and can be found at http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/jdd16/guide/.
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