12-14-2025 11:17am

🕎Happy Chanukah 🕎

John Williams Editor

Photo in Alla Kemelmakher in unsplash

What is Chanukah?

Chanukah or Hanukkah is the 8 day Festival of Lights celebrated by Jews world wide. This year Chanukah will start at Sundown today Sunday December 14 through Sundown Monday December 22 2025.

Rebecca Forgaz of Monash University tells the story of Chanukah.

Hanukkah commemorates a historical event that took place in Jerusalem in the 2nd century BCE, when the Seleucid Greek empire was the ruling power. In 168 BCE, the king Antiochus IV Epiphanes outlawed Jewish practice and defiled the Jewish Temple in the city by installing an altar to Zeus Olympios and sacrificing pigs.

A small army of Jews, known as the Maccabees, rebelled against this religious persecution. They regained control over the Temple, removed the symbols of Zeus and built a new altar so they could once again offer sacrifices in keeping with Jewish law. (theconversation.com 2025)

Part of the Chanukah story is the miracle of the oil. Hillel International goes on to tell the story of the oil.

A note on oil and light: Oil was a critical element of worship and ritual in the Temple. In an effort to desecrate everything that was important and holy to the Jews, Greek soldiers devastatingly poured out all the oil they looted from The Great Temple.

The story goes that after the Maccabees miraculously overthrew the Greeks, they found one jar of remaining oil, which was enough to provide light for only one day. The Maccabees lit it anyway, and a miracle happened: The oil lasted for eight days! This defining moment restored the Maccabees’ faith in God, and strengthened them enough to re-dedicate the Temple. (www.hillel.org December 5 2025)

Chanukah is actually a minor holiday compared to Passover and Yom Kippur. It is celebrated mostly out tradition and the source is not in Jewish scripture.

Hilleh International points out the core meaning of the holiday.

The core message of Hanukkah: Even when things look bad, miracles can still occur. If you fight for what you believe in, you can find strength and light in miraculous, unexpected places. (www.hillel.org).

How do people celebrate it?
For eight nights at sundown Jews light one candle for each the eight days. The eight candles are in the menorah. There are menorahs in people’s homes.
People celebrate in various ways in their homes. They make and eat fried foods in oil such as potato pancakes (Latkes) and jelly donuts are to remember the miracle of the oil.

The website My Jewish Learning mentions other favorite foods ”bimuelos and use, of course, applesauce as a latke topping. Chocolate gelt, a candy that gets its name from the Yiddish word for money, is another popular Hanukkah treat” (www.myjewishlearning.org 2025)

The significance of playing with the Dredel Yehuda Shurpin tells us is historical “The common reason given for playing the game of dreidel on Chanukah is that the simple little top was used during the Chanukah era to preserve Judaism. (www.Chabad.org 2025)

Are there gifts given out for each night of Chanukah?

The gift giving is a rather modern occurrence. Rabbi Rachel Adler in Jewish Boston says “was provoked by the long shadow that Christmas casts over Jewish homes. (Jewish Boston 2025)

The history of giving gelt or money was the traditional way. The origin is unclear.

To our Jewish friends in Spotsylvania County and worldwide please comment about the significance of the holiday.

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