Hanukkah is regarded by some as the Jewish equivalent of Christmas, owing to the fact that both holidays take place at the same time of year and involve gifts. Hanukkah, on the other hand, has a very different meaning than Christmas. Hanukkah, also known as the “Festival of Lights,” is an eight-day festival commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple in the second century BCE after the Jewish people fought the Syrian-Greeks (Seleucids) to reclaim it. In the Jewish religion, Hanukkah is commemorated by lighting the menorah, eating fried foods, and playing dreidel.

“Hanukkah always falls on the Winter Solstice,” says one observer.
“It represents the birth of light in the darkest of times, which is especially true this year. All of the Jewish holidays are linked to the earth and the seasons. It’s on purpose that a holiday dedicated to the creation of light falls on the darkest week of the year.”
According to National Geographic, Syrian-Greeks invaded the Jewish homeland and took Jerusalem, which housed the Jewish Holy Temple. Following the invasion, they attempted to persuade the Jews to abandon their religion and customs in favor of Greek beliefs. The Syrian-Greeks desecrated the Holy Temple and passed laws prohibiting Judaism’s practice.

“Imagine your town being overrun by people telling you that you can no longer practice your faith and attempting to rob you of your identity. That’s what was happening to the Jews, according to Minnen.

Instead of assimilation, the Jews rose up against their oppressors. A small Jewish army led by Judah the Maccabee (hammer in Hebrew) fought back against the massive Syrian-Greek army, reclaiming both Jerusalem and the Holy Temple.

What is the spiritual significance of Hanukkah?
After the Jews reclaimed Jerusalem, they discovered the Temple had been destroyed, according to Jewish tradition. They started cleaning it up and wanted to light the menorah (a seven-branched candelabrum used to light the Temple) to give the restoration project sacred light. The oil used in the temple, on the other hand, had to be a special, purified oil, which the Jews couldn’t find. They eventually discovered a teeny-tiny amount of oil, just enough for one day. It lasted for eight days, just long enough for more oil to be purified and the Temple to be lit. Because it commemorates that miracle, Hanukkah has become known as the Festival of Lights.

Hanukkah is commemorated by the following customs:

Lighting The Menorah

On the eight nights of Hanukkah, Jews light the menorah, adding an extra candle each night until there are eight candles on the last night. The modern menorah, also known as a hunukkiah, is a candelabra meant to commemorate the menorah from the Holy Temple, but it has nine arms to accommodate the eight candles plus a Shamash candle, which is used to light other candles, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Food

“We celebrate by eating foods cooked in oil because of the miracle that happened with the oil,” Minnen explains. Latkes, which are fried potato pancakes, and sufganiyot, which are fried jelly doughnuts, are the two most popular.”

Dreidel
“One of the Greek laws forbade Jews from studying the Torah” (the Old Testament). As a result, Jews would gather in secret to study together,” Minnen explains. “They took these spinning tops with them to study so that if a soldier happened to walk by and peeked in the windows where they were, they could quickly close the books and spin the tops to make it appear as if they were just having fun together.”

She claims that the spinning tops, also known as dreidels, became a symbol of resistance, and that Jews continued to play dreidel on Hanukkah. The letters for the Hebrew words Ne’s Gadol Hayah

Happy Hanukkah

Sham,’ which means a great miracle occurred there, are written on dreidels (referring to Jerusalem). Dreidel is a simple game to learn. Each Hebrew letter is assigned a different numerical value. You win or lose different amounts of gelt, which can be real coins or chocolate coins wrapped in foil, depending on which letter your dreidel lands on after you spin it. The objective is to amass as much Gelt as possible.