Shalom, I am Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg of the Ezra-Habonim, Niles Township Jewish Congregation. This video will try and tell you the story, the true story about Hanukkah. The most Jews think about Hanukkah, they think about lighting in Menorah, because of a story in the Talmud that says, “That when the ancestors, the Maccabees, entered the temple after they have been desecrated by the Syrian Greeks, they found one cruise of that can last one day and the miracle was, it lasted eight days until a rain have came back, a rider and a horse with more oil.
Well, in the whole town of which is, takes up a whole shaft of my office, the only thing about the holiday that cap and closes to the writing of the Talmud, was that one that have a paragraph. Why? Well, the Jews were under the authority of Rome. And the last thing that Jews wanted to do under the authority of Rome was tell the true story of a successful rebellion against the Greeks who preceded the Romans in trying to control the Jews.
That would upset the Romans very much, and so the Jews and the Rabbis writing the Talmud, trying to pass off the real story. And one of the fast that they need things about the Hanukkah is that the rain which the Jewish people had interpreted and understood the story, it is changed according to our needs. So what happened? In 586 BCE, the Babylonians, today is Iraqis, destroyed the holy temple and drove the Jews to Babylonia.
And then, the Persian King Cyrus defeated the Babylonians that is Persia in Iran today. And they let the Jews go back and rebuild the temple which they did. And then, the 333 BCE, Alexander the Great conquered the Persians, and he instituted Greek Hellenism among the holy area. Ten years later, he died and his Empress put into two factions. When you get to 165 BCE or so, the Ptolemy’s in the south or Egypt, and they sail into the north in Syria approximately, they were in control at that time, and they have defeated the Ptolemy’s.
And then Antiochus Epiphany’s the fourth was the tyrannical ruler. Well, he tried to crash Judaism, I mean we believe that is because, he got advice from an assimilated Jewish High Priest to tell him the best way to keep the Jews under control was to tell them, to forbid them to absorb Jewish practice, which was the stupidest of advice in history. Because as soon as Antiochus Epiphany’s the fourth and the Jews call Antiochus the evil, he instituted those prohibitions about Jewish observance that Jews rebelled, led by Metathios and his five sons Judah.
And then the name Maccabee comes from the initials to the Hebrew expression, Mi Hamocca Baeili Maranoi, who is like you a lord among the mighty. It also means the hammer, and that was the banner that could use, carried into battle, Mi Hamocca Baeili Maranoi. Well, as we know Judah and his brothers and father and the guerilla army defeated the Seleucid and drove them back into Syria.
And, they took the temple which has been desecrated by the Syrian Greeks, and they fixed it up. Now, six weeks before Hanukkah, we have a biblical holiday Succoth. And, the Jewish were not able to celebrate the holiday, we learn this from the books we have proper for call, the Maccabees. And so, they redecorate the temple, they merged around I for eight days, which is the seven day holiday, and eight days with the Aspra.
Waving the Lula of branches and singing Hallah, that is really why the Hallah is eight days. Because, there is another urbanic legend that when the ancestors, the Maccabees enter the temple, they found spears stuck in the ground with a candles burning. So clearly, the idea of lights and fire in eight days is the real issue in the story. The Talmud was one of the many stories floating around at that time.
And, in case that does not change the fact that the midst is like is still to light the Menorah with candles each night, to remember the miracle. And then we move into the Talmudic period, sometime around 200 to 500, when the Rabbis were analyzing and discussing this, and they try to suppress the idea of the battle. In fact, the Haftarah that are sages, instituted for the Sabbath of Hanukkah, comes from the proverbs Zechariah, and he has the lion.
This is why, probably was selected, it begins with lights we need that you should light a fire. It also says, not by might, nor by power, but by spirit, say at the lord. To try to keep the Zealots from reacting against, against Rome. But of course they did, there was rebelling into your 70, there is a rebellion on the Diaspora, and Egypt did 115. There was another rebellion that gets Rome at 132 to 135. So, the rebellious spirit, the desire of the Jews to be free never ended.
Any case, so Hanukkah basically became a holiday of peace and spirit and hoping. But, the Rabbis who wrote the prayers in the prayer book knew that the Jewish people could read the truth. So, they instituted a prayer we recite everyday, several times a day during at Hanukkah, Kud Alhanism which where they tells about God helping, vanquishing the mighty, and that has kept the truth alive.
Well, we get to modern times, we have other interesting issues. First of all, those who live in the Diasporas surrounded by Christians knowing that Christmas is a holiday that is observed by many of our neighbors, and Jews feel very much in the minority. And so, Hanukkah has become much bigger than originally was. But, on the other hand, living America, Hanukkah tells the true story of Russian civilization.
In America, more than any other holiday in anybody’s culture? Because, it is when essentially the holiday of political and religious freedom. The Maccabees fought off the Greeks to be able to be independent, which they were for a hundred of years until the Roman step over. And, to be religiously free, just like the Preordains did. But, we also had a pacifistic period, certainly during the Vietnam War era, and hence we have a popular Hanukkah is not based on those ancient words of Zechariah written by Debbie Freedman. Not by might, nor by power but by spirit alone, he says at the Lord.
And today, perhaps the main issue for modern American Judaism is assimilation. The worry of the Jews will stop living intensely Jewish. To tell you have a beautiful song by Peter Paul Merrin, do not let the light go out, it is lasted for so many years. As you can see, what a wonderful way in which we adapt Hanukkah to the particular needs of the time, and the holiday is observed.
One more thing about the Hanukkah, there is a debate in the time as to whether you should light one candle the first night, and then two, and then three, and then four, where you should light eight, and then seven, then six, then five. And so, of course, the Rabbi is compromised, and so as you know we light one, and then two, and then three, but we light them as if we are lighting eight, and seven, and six because, we start with the newest candle on the left, and the light towards the right, the spirit of compromise.
I hope this helps, edify you and clarify aspects of Hanukkah.
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