The story of Hanukkah is one of miracles, heroism, and religious freedoms.
The holiday of Hanukkah is one that commemorates a historical event that took place in Jerusalem in the 2nd century BCE. The Seleucid Greek empire was the ruling power in the land of Judea. In 168 BCE, the king Antiochus IV Epiphanes outlawed Jewish practice.
A driedle (or sevivon סביבון in Hebrew) was used as a way to camouflage Torah study, easily masking as gambling games. The religious persecution led to a family of Jews called the Maccabees living in the Judean hills to decide to fight back. The Maccabee family included Mattathias and his five sons, John, Simon, Judas, Eleazar, and Jonathan. They then began their fight against the Greeks leaving their mark on history for centuries to come. Mattathias and his sons led a successful rebellion against King Aniochus and the Greek empire itself through a series of battles encircling Jerusalem.
After finally conquering Jerusalem the Maccabee family went back to our Holy Temple and found it to be defiled I'm the most horrific ways. Not only was the Temple in Jerusalem defiled by installing an altar to Zeus Olympios, but the Greeks also were sacrificing pigs in the holy space.
While trying to clean up the rubble and deciding how to move forward from here, they found one small jug of sanctified holy oil. To resanctifiy the temple, the menorah needed to be relit. This small jug of holy oil was only enough to last one day, but a miracle happened and the oil lasted for 8 days. In those 8 days, the high priests were able to journey to get a bigger supply of the olive oil needed.
Some say, that in the 8 days they had to travel to Tekoa (where I live now) to get the oil and return it to the temple mount. There is also an Arab village across the road from Tekoa (where I live) with the same name Tqoa. Some believe the oil came from there. Whether it was our hill, or the one across the road... The priests are said to have come here for the oil they needed.
The Maccabees founded the Hasmonean dynasty and ruled Judea for more than a century after their revolt against the Greeks. Modi'in, a city in Israel, is famous as the hometown of the Maccabees.
Although there are many debates around the accuracy of the story of Judith, most historians believe that the story took place a few hundred years before the story of the Maccabean revolt, in a town called Bethulia in the land of Judea. Nebuchadnezzer, King of the Babylonian Empire, sent one of his generals Holofernes, to conquer Judea and the Jews who lived there.
Judith was a widow who took the fate of herself and her people into her own hands. She became a spy and eventually earned the trust of general Holofernes. One night, after feeding him salty cheeses and wine Holofernes fell into a drunken sleep. Judith then cut off his head and with the help of her handmaiden, brought it back to Judea. This single brave act simultaneously terrified the Assyrian army into a full retreat, and unified the Jewish people into action. Thus saving Jerusalem and the Holy Temple for a century.
We, the Jewish people, like to commemorate big events in our history with food. So we remember Judith's bravery by eating salty cheeses (sour cream) with our food cooked in oil (latkes) to remember the miracle of the Hanukkah oil. Two hundred years of miracles and bravery from ordinary people is now celebrated in one delicious fried treat: latkes with sour cream.
When we light the Hanukkah menorah for 8 nights, there are two prayers that we recite.
1. A blessing on the light of the candles.
2. A blessing to thank Gd for the miracles both in ancient times and today.
May the blessings and miracles of today be revealed to us now.
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