Chanukah

Chanukah is a winter festival, falling in December. It is a festival of lights and giving of presents.

The celebrations are over something which happened more than two thousand years ago when the Syrian Greeks ruled over the land of Israel. In particular, the ruler, Antiochus IV, made life very unpleasant for the Jews. He defiled the Jewish temple by sacrificing unclean animals and demanded that Jewish men showed allegiance to Zeus by sacrificing pigs - an unclean animal for the Jews. The reading of the Torah was punishable by death. Eventually rebellion broke out, led by Judas Maccabaeus and his family. After a long, hard fight, the Greeks were driven out and the Temple reclaimed for the worship of God. Because it had been defiled, the Temple had to be cleansed. The seven-branched menorah was relit in the Temple, but there was only enough consecrated oil to fuel it for one day. Miraculously, the lamp stayed alight for eight whole days, by which time more holy oil had been prepared.

At Chanukah, Jewish families have a special eight-branched candlestick, called a "chanukiah" which they light. On the first night, they light one candle. On the second night, two until, by the eighth night all eight candles are alight. There is usually a place for another candle, the servant candle, which is used to light the other candles.

There are often parties and special Chanukah plays in schools. Children play the dreidel game, a sort of "put-and-take" game. On the spinning tops which they use there are four Hebrew letters, the first letters of the phrase "Great Miracle Happened Here."

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