When And What Is Hanukkah 2016? Facts, History Of The Menorah Miracle And The Story Behind The Jewish Tradition

The first candle on menorahs across the world will be lit on Saturday, marking the start of Hanukkah, or Chanukkah. Over the following seven nights, each of the other branches of the menorah will flicker to life to commemorate a miracle that occurred in Judea more than 2,000 years ago.

While most know that the story of Hanukkah commemorates the uprising of the Maccabees, the exact facts of the rebellion have often been lost.

Jews had been living semi-autonomously in Judea for several hundred years under Persian rule, the Egyptian Ptolemaic Empire and then the Greek Seleucid Empire. But when Antiochus ascended the throne in the 2nd century BC he gradually began cracking down on Jewish practices, including outlawing the study of the Torah and placing statues of Greek gods in sacred Jewish sites such as the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

Before that, though, internal conflict among Jews had arisen over the position of High Priest. Specifically a conservative group of Jews known as the Maccabees were unhappy that Antiochus had been accepting bribes and appointing Hellenized Jews – those who were more in favor of assimilating to the Greek way of life. There was also a thought to have been a growing socio-economic divide between the two groups.

Thus, although the story of Hanukkah is traditionally portrayed as a Jewish uprising against a repressive foreign ruler, it was also a civil war among Jews.

The Maccabees rose up and first quelled the Hellenized Jews before, despite being greatly outnumbered, fighting off the Seleucid army and capturing Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. The Holy Temple that had been desecrated under Antiochus was rededicated, which was when the miracle of Hanukkah took place.

The menorah dates back to the time of Moses, and was traditionally made of gold and featured seven branches. However, once back in the Holy Temple, the Maccabees found that there was only enough oil to keep the candles alight for a single day. To their amazement, as described in the miracle, they would find that the candles keep flickering for eight days. Thus the story of Hanukkah and the eight-branched menorah, together with the central stem, was born.

Despite the captivating story, Hanukkah isn’t actually an important religious holiday. It was only upon the arrival of Jews in North America in the 19th century that it began to take on extra importance, taking on the gift-giving elements of Christmas and becoming an important symbol of Jewish identity in a predominantly Christian land.