In an attempt to legitimize “Christmas”, many refer to Hanukkah as the “Jewish Christmas” because of its relative closeness (during some years – the Jewish calendar is lunar based so it can be up to a month earlier in some years) to the yule tide and the custom of giving gifts that both holidays share.

Hanukkah is observed for eight nights and days, starting on the 25th day of Kislev according to the Hebrew calendar, which may occur at any time from late November (as it is in 2021) to late December

The word, Hanukkah, does not appear in Scriptures – it is a man-made holiday – though it is alluded to in the Gospel of John:

²² And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. ²³ And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch.

John 10:22-23

Hanukkah means “to dedicate” (חֲנֻכָּה) and was established to celebrate the re-dedication of the Second Temple (the one rebuilt after the Babylonians destroyed the first Temple) at the end of the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid Empire in the 2nd century BC.

This revolt is chronicled in the Books of the Maccabees.

The Seleucid Empire (Greece) defeated Egypt in the 2d Century BC and took possession of Israel.  Initially, the Hebrews were allowed to worship in their normal custom, but Hellenistic Jews (a faction that embraced Greek customs) lobbied the king’s son to send an army to extinguish this custom and put them in charge.

Antiochus IV sent a large army that captured Jerusalem and looted the Temple.  Torah observance was outlawed. 

Antiochus ordered an altar to Zeus erected in the Temple. He banned the rite of circumcision and ordered pigs (declared to be unclean by Yahweh) to be sacrificed at the altar of the temple.

Children who were circumcised were killed and hung around their mothers’ necks. They were forbidden from removing the lifeless bodies.

Many were brutally killed for refusing to eat pork. One mother was forced to watch her seven sons brutally murdered for their refusal to eat swine . . . and finally she was executed.

This sacrilege lasted 42 months (3-1/2 years).

[this is seen as a foreshadowing of the coming antichrist; his abomination of the temple; and his prohibiting proper worship to Yahweh.]

The Greeks asked Mattityahu, an influencial Jewish priest, to help convince the Jews to worship in this new way and he refused.  One of the lessor priests immediately accepted the Greek offer and Mattityahu slew him on the spot, along with the Greek emissary and his escort.  He ran into the wilderness with his five sons and over time, many came and joined them in the revolt.

The Talmud says that after the forces of Antiochus IV had been driven from the Temple, the Maccabees discovered that almost all of the ritual olive oil had been profaned. They found only a single container that was still sealed by the High Priest, with enough oil to keep the menorah in the Temple lit for a single day. They used this, yet it burned for eight days (the time it took to have new oil pressed and made ready).

Megillat Antiochus (2d century AD) writes:

After this, the sons of Israel went up to the Temple and rebuilt its gates and purified the Temple from the dead bodies and from the defilement. And they sought after pure olive oil to light the lamps therewith, but could not find any, except one bowl that was sealed with the signet ring of the High Priest from the days of Samuel the prophet and they knew that it was pure.

There was in it [enough oil] to light [the lamps therewith] for one day, but the God of heaven whose name dwells there put therein his blessing and they were able to light from it eight days.

Therefore, the sons of Ḥashmonai made this covenant and took upon themselves a solemn vow, they and the sons of Israel, all of them, to publish amongst the sons of Israel, [to the end] that they might observe these eight days of joy and honour, as the days of the feasts written in [the book of] the Law; [even] to light in them so as to make known to those who come after them that their God wrought for them salvation from heaven.

The Jewish historian Josephus narrates in his book, Jewish Antiquities XII, how the victorious Judas Maccabeus (son of Mattityahu, who died during the revolt) ordered lavish yearly eight-day festivities after rededicating the Temple in Jerusalem that had been profaned by Antiochus IV.  Josephus does not say the festival was called Hanukkah but rather the “Festival of Lights”:

Now Judas celebrated the festival of the restoration of the sacrifices of the temple for eight days, and omitted no sort of pleasures thereon; but he feasted them upon very rich and splendid sacrifices; and he honored God, and delighted them by hymns and psalms.

Nay, they were so very glad at the revival of their customs, when, after a long time of intermission, they unexpectedly had regained the freedom of their worship, that they made it a law for their posterity, that they should keep a festival, on account of the restoration of their temple worship, for eight days. And from that time to this we celebrate this festival, and call it Lights.

I suppose the reason was because this liberty beyond our hopes appeared to us; and that thence was the name given to that festival.

The Hanukkah menorah is different from the Temple menorah commissioned by Yahweh.  The Temple menorah has seven branches (seven lights to celebrate the creation – seven is also the number for spiritual perfection [E.W. Bullinger, Number in Scripture). 

The Hanukkah menorah has eight branches off of a center light which commemorates the miracle of the oil burning for eight days.  The center candle (called a shamash, meaning “attendant”) is used to light the other candles – signifying that one day’s worth of oil lasted for eight days.  A new one is lit each day until all eight are burning on the last day.

Typically, two blessings are recited during this eight-day festival when lighting the candles. The blessings are said before or after the candles are lit depending on tradition.

• “Blessed are You, LORD our God, King of the universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to kindle the Hanukkah light[s].”

This prayer is odd because there is no commandment from Yahweh to “kindle the Hanukkah light[s]”. This is an example of adding to the Torah which is strictly forbidden.

Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.

Deuteronomy 4:2

• “Blessed are You, LORD our God, King of the universe, Who performed miracles for our ancestors in those days at this time…”

In North America and Israel, it is common to exchange presents or give children presents at this time. In addition, many families encourage their children to give to charity in lieu of presents for themselves.

There is a custom of eating foods fried or baked in oil (preferably olive oil) to commemorate the miracle of a small flask of oil keeping the Second Temple’s Menorah alight for eight days.  Traditional foods include latkes (a fried potato fritter) and jam-filled [spherical] doughnuts called sufganiyot.

Rabbinic literature also records a tradition of eating cheese and other dairy products during Hanukkah.  This custom commemorates the heroism of Judith during the Babylonian captivity of the Jews which occurred centuries before the Maccabean revolt so this custom is rather odd (but, hey – who doesn’t enjoy an excuse to eat cheesecake?)

A gambling game using a dreidel is popular.  Jewish tradition has it that a game similar to the dreidel was popular during the rule of Antiochus IV.  Jews were not free to openly practice their religion, so when they gathered to study the Torah, they would bring a top with them. If soldiers appeared, they would quickly hide what they were studying and pretend to be playing a gambling game with the top.

Today children play the game and they wager chocolate coins wrapped in foil.  I would explain how it is played, but I always end up eating the coins before the wagering starts.

Hanukkah is not one of the prescribed days of Yahweh (the seven listed in Leviticus 23), but the miracle of the defeat of the Greeks and of the sanctified oil is still worthy of our remembrance, no matter how you want to celebrate . . . or just quietly reflect.

Reflect on the ways of anti-christ and Yahweh’s deliverance of us from those ways. Happy Hanukkah.