The origins of Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights
For eight days and eight nights, Jews around the world light candles, sing songs, and spin the Hanukkah top, commemorating the re-inauguration of the altar of offerings in the Second Temple in Jerusalem.
For Jews around the world, the time has come to celebrate Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights that lasts eight days and eight nights. This year, the festivities begin on Thursday, December 10, and end on Friday, December 18. While Hanukkah has grown in popularity in modern times, the origins of the holiday are ancient, dating back to the centuries of turmoil following the death of Alexander the Great.
A FESTIVAL THAT HAS ITS ORIGIN OF A REVOLT
After Alexander died in 323 BC, a power struggle broke out between his generals. This lasted more than a century. The Seleucid Greco-Syrian kings emerged victorious and reigned over many of Alexander's former territories, including Judea, which today lies in central Israel. The Seleucids exerted their influence through Hellenization, that is, by spreading Greek religion, architecture and art. But local communities resisted this, especially in Judea.
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| King Antiochus IV Epiphanes ruled the Seleucid Empire from 175 to 164 BC. |
In - 175, the Seleucid king Antiochos IV Epiphanes ascended the throne and tried to force the Judeans to integrate. According to some scholars, the king believed that a single religion could unify his divided empire, but the brutal methods he employed ran counter to these intentions.
In the first century AD, the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus described the brutal looting of Jerusalem and how Jewish dissidents were treated. The Seleucids seized the Temple in Jerusalem and desecrated it by erecting an altar within it for the Greek god Zeus. Antiochos banned the Jewish religion and made the religious worship of the Greek gods compulsory. Flavius Josephus describes in the smallest details the brutality with which those who resisted were punished: they were "beaten with lashes, mutilated, they were crucified alive and still breathing ... Any sacred book, any copy of the law that we discovered was destroyed, and the unfortunate in whom it had been found also perished. miserably ".
Horrified by the desecration of the Temple and the cruelty suffered by the Jewish people, the priest Mattathias and his sons rebelled. When Mattathias died in 166 BC, the latter's son, Judas Maccabeus (the "Hammer") replaced his father in the struggle and led the Jewish people to many victories over the Seleucids. In -164, Judas returned to Jerusalem. He restored the Temple, purified it, and dedicated it again to the Jewish religion. The Maccabean revolt, as it was later known, continued. The Seleucids were eventually driven out of Judea in -160.
THE MIRACLE OF LIGHT
The word "Hanukkah" means "dedication". This celebration commemorates the miracle of light that occurred when Judas again dedicated the Temple to the Hebrew god. According to the Talmud, one of the sacred texts of Judaism, the Seleucids had left only one vial of the oil intact, enough to light the temple candelabra for a day. But the latter burned for eight days, which left enough time for the victorious Judeans to obtain the oil. This miracle became the basis of a feast adored and created to thank God and celebrate the victory of light over darkness.
Today, Hanukkah is celebrated on the 25th day of Kislev, which corresponds to the 9th month of the Hebrew calendar: it therefore usually begins in late November and ends in early December. For eight nights, the candles of a Hanukkah are lit. A Hanukkah is a candelabra with nine branches, one for each evening, plus a "servant" candle called the shamash (shammes in Yiddish). Each evening for eight days, an additional candle is added and lit. While it is lit, believers recite special blessings and prayers. Songs are sung and gifts exchanged to commemorate the miracle that occurred in the Temple over 2,000 years ago.