Page 6 - December 2019 Gears & Ears
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Gears and Ears
Journal of The Rotary Club of Lake Buena Vista
December 2019
Holiday Traditions
Hannukah
The word “Hanukkah” means “dedication,” and it refers to the rededication of
the Temple in Jerusalem which took place after the Maccabees’(a band of Jewish
guerilla fighters) victory over the Syrian-Greek empire in 164 BCE. Once the
Maccabees had restored the Temple and re-purified it, the traditional story says
that they sought to relight a lamp known as the “eternal flame.” But only one
day’s worth of consecrated olive oil could be found, and it would be awhile before
more could be produced. No one wanted to light the eternal flame only to see it
sputter out after a day, but there was also a deep spiritual desire to rekindle the
sacred lamp immediately. The priests decided to light it and hope for the best.
Miraculously, it burned for eight days until fresh jars of olive oil were finally
brought to keep the flame alive. Hence, the eight nights of candle lighting for
Hanukkah.
Like winter holidays of many other religions, Hanukkah emphasizes light during
the darkest part of the year. The main observances are lighting a menorah (a
ceremonial candelabra), spinning a top called a dreidel in a game of chance,
and eating fried foods (to symbolize the oil in the story). Although it’s a minor
religious holiday, Hanukkah among American Jews has become enormously
popular. It’s a festival of light in the winter, it celebrates victorious underdogs,
and it fits the survival rubric that animates Jewish holidays like Passover and
Purim.
Several centuries after the Maccabees instituted Hanukkah as a new major
holiday in ancient Israel, the Romans destroyed the Jerusalem Temple and
exiled most Jews from Israel. As a result, the rabbis who came to lead the
surviving Jews downplayed the importance of Hanukkah and chose to
downplay the military victory and emphasize the miracle of the sacred light
that burned for eight days despite there only being one day’s worth of oil. For
many centuries, Hanukkah quietly appeared every winter as a minor yet festive
occasion.
In modern American Jewish life, however, Hanukkah has made a major
comeback. Always arriving roughly around the same time as Christmas,
Hanukkah has absorbed some of the universal elements animating the
Christmas season. Before modern times, there was no Jewish tradition of
exchanging gifts during Hanukkah. But in every place Jews have lived they
have adapted their holidays and customs, often absorbing elements from the
majority culture and reframing them in a Jewish context. American Hanukkah
is a prime example of this and it’s an important part of how Judaism has
evolved and stayed relevant across so many places and historical times.
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