Miracle of Hanukkah!

This Christmas eve, Doris and I had a most unique evening as we observed Hanukkah (Hebrew: חנוכה‎, alt. Chanukah) with my Jewish friends, Dana and Gideon. 

The lighting of the menorah.

Hanukkah is also known as the Festival of Lights and it is an eight-day Jewish festival commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem at the time of Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BCE.

In 168 B.C.E. the Jews' holy Temple was seized by Hellenist Syrians and dedicated to the worship of Zeus. This led to some of the Jewish citizens, led by Judah Maccabee and his soldiers, to fight back. After attacking the Greek soldiers, Maccabee and his followers stepped into the temple and found many things missing or broken, including the golden menorah. 

They cleaned and repaired the temple, and decided to have a big dedication ceremony. To light the menorah, they looked everywhere for oil but found only a small flask with enough oil to light the menorah for one day. Miraculously, the oil lasted for eight days, which gave them enough time to obtain new oil to keep the menorah lit. 

Today Jews celebrate Hanukkah for eight days by lighting candles in a menorah every night, thus commemorating the eight-day miracle. Hanukkah may occur from late december on the Gregorian calendar, and this year, it happens to coincide with the eve of Christmas. Click here to read more about the Festival of Hanukkah.

After that, it was a great time of feasting over beef stew, salad, rice, beer and Turkish coffee. It was an absolutely beautiful evening!