Happy Hanukkah

By barzilaiendan on December 8, 2015 • ( 0 )

from the December 07, 2015 eNews issue

Last night, (Sunday) at sunset Jewish families all over the world celebrated Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights. Hanukkah begins on the 25th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev and lasts eight days. The word Hanukkah means “dedication” and the holiday commemorates the re dedication of the Temple in 165 B.C.. Because of its Biblical and prophetic importance, we thought it would be right to explore the origin and history of Hanukkah.

Hanukkah (חֲנֻכָּה) (Dedication) is the eight-day festival that begins on the 25th of Kislev. It is the only major Jewish festival that does not originate in the Hebrew Bible. Hanukkah commemorates the victory of Judah Maccabee and his followers over the army of the Syrian ruler, Antiochus Epiphanes. In the fourth century B.C., Greek forces under Alexander the Great conquered much of the known world, including the Near East and Israel. When Alexander died in 320, leaving no sons to succeed him, a bitter 20-year power struggle between his two leading generals resulted in Ptolemy ruling Egypt and Seleucus controlling Syria. The Land of Israel, the crossroads of the ancient world, came under Seleucid domination.

The historical basis of Hanukkah is found in the two Books of the Maccabees. These are part of the Apocrypha, a group of 14 books of the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Bible) that Judaism did not include in the Bible but were accepted by the Catholic Church. In 168 B.C., King Antiochus Epiphanes attempted to Hellenize (make Greek) all the peoples under his rule. He outlawed the practice of such Jewish rituals as Sabbath observance and circumcision and converted the Temple into a pagan shrine by instituting the worship of Greek gods and the sacrifice of pigs on the altar. Many Jews enthusiastically accepted the

Greek customs while others resisted Hellenism and died as martyrs.

When a Jew in the village of Modi’in prepared to perform the idolatrous act of pig sacrifice, Mattathias, a respected elderly priest (Kohen), became so furious he slew him. With his five sons, Mattathias retreated to the mountains and fought a guerilla war against the Syrian-Greeks and their Jewish allies. After Mattathias’s death, the leadership of the band passed to his third son, Judah, who waged a brave and brilliant campaign that eventually led to the defeat of the Seleucids.

Judah was given the name “Maccabee,” which may have derived from the Hebrew word “makav” (hammer) and therefore have been a testament to his imposing strength. Another explanation is that Maccabee is an acrostic for the first letters of the Hebrew words Mi kamocha ba’elim Adonai (“Who is like You, O Lord, among the mighty”; Exod. 15:11), which is recited daily.

Judah and his comrades finally liberated Jerusalem and began to purify the Temple. The defiled altar was demolished and a new one built, and new holy vessels were prepared. On the 25th of Kislev, the third anniversary of the harsh decrees that sparked the uprising, the Temple was rededicated and its sacrificial service renewed. According to the Mishnah, this task took eight days, and therefore the festival is observed for that long. Another explanation is that the eight days of dedication ceremonies were modeled after the consecration of the Temple of Solomon during Sukkot (2 Macc. 12), a holiday the Maccabees could not observe while they were still fighting as fugitives in the mountains of Judea (2 Macc. 10:6–8). The Torah portion for Hanukkah (Num. 7:1–8:4) describes the same sacrifices brought by the princes of the 12 tribes at the dedication of the sanctuary as well as the kindling of the menorah. The haftarah reading (Zech. 2:14–4:7) for the Sabbath of Hanukkah has the verse “Not by [military] might, nor by [physical] power, but by My spirit, said the Lord of Hosts”—a prophecy of the spiritual victory of God in every generation. On this festival, a full Hallel is recited on each of the eight days, Tachanun (prayers of supplication) is not said, and fasting is prohibited; in traditional communities, it is forbidden to eulogize the dead.

Ironically, the ritual is now most closely associated with Hanukkah—the kindling of lights—is not mentioned in any of the historical works describing the rededication of the Temple. Only later in the Talmud is there the first mention of the legend that, when the Maccabees entered the Temple, they discovered the Syrian-Greeks had defiled all the jugs of oil for lighting the menorah. After much searching, they found a single small cruse of oil still bearing the unbroken seal of the Kohen Gadol. However, this cruse contained only enough oil to keep the menorah burning for a single day.

Miraculously, the menorah flame continued to burn for eight days until new pure oil could be prepared. To commemorate this event, the Rabbis decreed the holiday would be observed annually by kindling lights for eight days, and Hanukkah became known as the Festival of Lights.

The Talmud focuses completely on the miracle of the oil, omitting all references to the incredible military victory of Judah the Maccabee and the Hasmoneans, the family name of the Maccabees and their descendants. This may reflect the fact it was composed after the disastrous revolts against Rome in 70 A.D., when the Second Temple was destroyed, and in 135, when the Bar Kokhba rebellion failed. By censoring the story of how a few Jews successfully overcame a powerful enemy, the Rabbis hoped to discourage any thoughts of another doomed attempt at overthrowing Roman rule. Also, the Hasmonean dynasty had quickly become corrupt and Hellenized, opposing and even persecuting the Rabbis. Furthermore, the Rabbis condemned the re-establishment of the monarchy by the Hasmoneans after their victory over the Syrian-Greeks. According to Jewish tradition, only members of the House of David (descended from the tribe of Judah) could legitimately lay claim to the throne of Israel, and the Hasmoneans did not have that lineage.

Nevertheless, the tale of the Maccabees never totally disappeared from Hanukkah. On each day of the festival, Al ha-Nissim (For the miracles) is recited in the Amidah and during the Grace after Meals. This summary of the story of Hanukkah emphasizes the military victory, mentions lighting the Temple menorah only incidentally, and makes no reference to the miracle of the oil. In Israel, Hanukkah has become a symbol of national liberation and the triumphant Jewish spirit. This view is reflected in a torchlight marathon from Modi’in, where the rebellion broke out and the Hasmoneans are buried, to Jerusalem.

Work is permitted on Hanukkah, and there is no special synagogue service. However, influenced by the winter Christmas season in contemporary America, Hanukkah has assumed the status of a major holiday, in which gift giving has become a central focus.

“Judea will live forever”

In modern times comes another Hanukkah miracle. From the website Rare Historical Photos (and the story behind them…) comes this inspirational story:

It was the eighth night of Hanukkah in Kiel, Germany, a small town with a Jewish population of 500. That year, 1931, the last night of Hanukkah fell on Friday evening, and Rabbi Akiva Boruch Posner, spiritual leader of the town was hurrying to light the hanukkiah (often referred to incorrectly as a menorah) before the Shabbat set in.

Directly across the Posner’s home stood the Nazi headquarters in Kiel, displaying the dreaded Nazi Party flag in the cold December night. With the eight lights of the hanukkiah glowing brightly in her window, Rabbi Posner’s wife, Rachel, snapped a photo of the hanukkiah and captured the Nazi building and flag in the background.

A Jewish menorah defies the Nazi swastika, 1931

A Jewish menorah defies the Nazi swastika, 1931. Photo: Rare Historical Photos

She wrote a few lines in German on the back of the photo. “Hanukkah, 5692. ‘Judea dies’, thus says the banner. ‘Judea will live forever’, thus respond the lights.”

The image, freezing in time a notorious piece of the past, has grown to become an iconic part of history for the Jewish community. But until just recently, not much was known about the origins of the photo.

Both the menorah and photo survived World War II, with the hanukkiah finding its way to Yad Vashem through the loan of Yehudah Mansbuch.

Mansbuch is the grandson of the woman who took the picture, and he retains the original snapshot. When Yad Vashem was putting together its plans to open the Holocaust History Museum, a team of researchers set out to learn more about this famous photo. Their inquiries led to Mansbuch, who explained how his grandmother and grandfather had lived under Nazi oppression in Kiel, Germany, eventually fleeing to then-Palestine in 1934.

Yehudah Mansbuch, the grandson of the family who took the photo, remembers:

It was on a Friday afternoon right before Shabbat that this photo was taken. My grandmother realized that this was a historic photo, and she wrote on the back of the photo that ‘their flag wishes to see the death of Judah, but Judah will always survive, and our light will outlast their flag.’

My grandfather, the rabbi of the Kiel community, was making many speeches, both to Jews and Germans. To the Germans he warned that the road they were embarking on was not good for Jews or Germans, and to the Jews he warned that something terrible was brewing, and they would do well to leave Germany. My grandfather fled Germany in 1933, and moved to Israel. His community came to the train station to see him off, and before he departed he urged his people to flee Germany while there was still time.

The couple’s prescience saved an entire community; only eight of its five hundred Jews perished in the Holocaust, with the rest fleeing before the systematic slaughter began.

Today, Yehudah Mansbuch lives in Haifa (Israel) with his family. Each Hanukkah, Yad Vashem returns the now famous hanukkiah to the family who light the candles for eight nights before returning the piece of history back to the Holocaust trust.

Hanukkah in the New Testament

Hanukkah is mentioned directly only once in the New Testament when the festival coincided with Jesus’ visit to Jerusalem:

Now Hanukkah was taking place in Jerusalem. It was winter.

— John 10:22 (ISV)

In the end, though, Hanukkah looks forward to the day the Messiah Himself will rebuild His temple, which never will be destroyed, and to the return of His shekinah glory that never again will depart.

Ezekiel was privileged to envision that return of God’s glory to the temple:

And the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east. His voice sounded like roaring water, and the land shimmered from his glory… while the glory of the LORD entered the Temple through the east-facing gate… “Son of Man,” the Lord GOD told me, “This is where my throne is, where I place the soles of my feet, and where I will live among the Israelis forever. The house of Israel will no longer defile my holy name—neither they nor their kings—by their unfaithfulness, by the lifeless idols of their kings on their funeral mounds,”

— Ezek. 43:2, 4, 7 (ISV)

Christ’s glory will first return above the earth, His destruction of the earth’s wicked, and will then come to live permanently in the temple, “the place of My throne… where I will dwell among the sons of Israel forever.”

This is the grand and ultimate scene Hanukkah depicts—the scene will be fulfilled when Christ returns to Jerusalem to rule on the first day of the Millennium, when “The LORD will be king over all the earth at that time. There will be one LORD, and his name the only one.” (Zechariah 14:9, ISV)