Hanukkah is the Jewish festival that originally commemorated the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem in 165 BCE, during the Maccabean Revolt against the Greek Seleucid Empire. Chapter 4 of the First Book of Maccabees, which was not included in the Jewish Bible, tells how Judah and his brothers, after defeating the Greeks, entered the Temple, rebuilt the altar, and lit the lamps. They decreed that the rededication of the Temple was to be celebrated for eight days, every 25th of the month of Kislev. Hanukkah in Hebrew means «to inaugurate.»

At first, the celebration included sacrifices in the Temple and banquets. But in the first century BCE, people spontaneously began to commemorate it by lighting lamps. Almost five centuries later, in the Talmud’s Shabbath tractate (21b), our sages explain that the Greeks had desecrated the oil used in the temple lights, and that the Maccabees found only one container of oil bearing the High Priest’s seal, but only enough for one day. They lit the light, and the miracle was that the oil lasted eight days. With this, the rabbis shifted the emphasis of the festival from a celebration of a military victory to commemorating a miracle of God. Some scholars explain this as a response to the new Roman rule, which viewed with suspicion the celebration of a revolt against a foreign empire.

Since lighting candles on Hanukkah had become popular, the rabbis in the Gemara (Talmud) began to define the basic ritual of the festival: when, how many, and on what days the lights are lit, where they are placed, and what they signify. At first, only one light was lit each night. The sages considered this sufficient to fulfill the mitzvah. They sought to ensure that everyone participated in the festival, and poor people could not light many candles each day. Later, some began to light more than one, first for each family member and then according to the days of the festival. They also defined where to place the candelabra, the blessings to be said, and the prohibition against using the light from the luminaries for everyday activities. To avoid violating this precept, they recommended lighting an additional luminary. This was the beginning of the use of the shamash, which became popular in medieval times.

In the 4th century, Rava, one of the sages of the Talmud, insisted that the Hanukkah candelabra had to be something different. Until that time, household luminaries were usually used, which were arranged in a row to be lit each day. Rava decreed that the Hanukkah menorah should be a clearly identifiable object in a Jewish home. In the Middle Ages, it was established that the shamash had to be at a different height than the rest of the lights.

Hanukkah is more than the commemoration of a military victory or a miracle. It is a commemoration of the conflict that arose between the Jews who had copied Hellenistic customs and those who opposed them. Hanukkah is not the most important holiday in the Jewish calendar. Biblical holidays like Shabbat and Passover are much more significant. However, today, Hanukkah is perhaps the most recognized Jewish holiday in the world. The sad thing is that its fame is not due to its original content, but to how similar it is to the holiday the world celebrated at that time. It seems that now, through Hanukkah, some people want to continue copying the Greeks.

By Marcos Gojman

Bibliography: “The Biblical and Historical Background of the Jewish Holydays” by Abraham P. Bloch.