The Tradition of Hanukkah

Post date: Jan 5, 2017 12:49:51 PM

By: Katherine Alder, Staff Writer

Posted January 5th, 2017

Hanukkah is a Jewish celebration that occurs in December and goes on for eight days. The events that started Hanukkah took place in 200 B.C.; Judea also known as the Land of Israel came under the control of Antiochus III, the Seleucid king of Syria, who allowed the Jews who lived there to continue practicing their religion. However, his son, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, banned the Jewish religion to and ordered the Jews to worship Greek gods. A Jewish Priest led a rebellion against the monarchy and rebuilt their temples and lit a Menorah. The story of Hanukkah does not appear in the Torah (the Jewish holy text) because the events that inspired the holiday occurred after it was written. The Hanukkah celebration revolves around the lighting of a nine-branched menorah, which in Hebrew is called the hanukiah. On each of the holiday’s eight nights, another candle is added to the menorah after sundown, a ninth candle called the shamash-- meaning helper-- is used to light the others.