Happy Hanukkah!!!

Hi All, 

Happy Hanukkah!!!

"We light these lights for the miracles and the wonders, for the redemption and the battles that you made for our forefathers, in those days at this season, through your holy priests. During all eight days of Hanukkah these lights are sacred, and we are not permitted to make ordinary use of them except for to look at them in order to express thanks and praise to Your great Name for Your miracles, Your wonders and Your salvations."

Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who has sanctified us with Your commandments, and has commanded us to kindle the lights of Hanukkah.

Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech Ha-Olam, asher kiddeshanu b’mitzvotav, vitzivanu, lehadlik ner shel Hanukkah.

Blessed are you, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who wrought miracles for our fathers in days of old, at this season.

Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech Ha-Olam, she-asah nissim la-avotaynu bayamim ha-hem bazman hazeh.

Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who has kept us alive, and has preserved us, and enabled us to reach this time.

Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech Ha-Olam, she-hekheyanu v-kiyamanu v-higgianu lazman hazeh.

So it's almost Hanukkah, which starts this evening. For those of you who don't really know much about this festival it is an eight day holiday which commemorates the rededicated of The Temple in Jerusalem after the Maccabean revolt. This occurred during the 2nd Century BC in the western calender,caused by the religious intolerance of the Greek rulers of the time - following the carve up of Alexander the Great's Macedonian Empire - e.g. sacrificing pigs on the Holy Altar, banning circumcision and other outrages . 

The main thing that we do,aside from the tradition of family gatherings , presents, games and special Hanukkah food(1), is to light candles in a 9 branch Menorah, called a "hanukkiyah":one is lit for each day of the festival and the ninth is for the use of light itself(2) The reason for having 8 days and 8 lights is because the original Menorah in the Temple was supposed to burn throughout the night all of the time, using olive oil. There was only enough oil to burn for one day, but through a miracle of God , the Menorah burned for 8 days, the time it would take to prepared fresh supplies**.Hence it is a time to remember G-d's faithfulness to us during a difficult and challenging time. 

Here's a clip on how to light the Hanukkah Menorah:

For those who are interested ,  there is a difference in ruling between Sepharadi and Ashkenazi tradition. In Sephardi tradition:

1). We only light one Hanukkah Menorah , which is lit by the head of the household with everyone else in the family present and undertaking the prayers , whereas Askenazi often have multiple Menorah's , often with children lighting their own or lighting the main household one.

2). The shammash ( that'd be the light used to light the other lights! ) is lit either last or together with the other Hanukkah lights, instead of being used to light them .

3). This is because traditionally Sephardi use Menorah that use oil (preferably olive oil) as the material to produce the light and burn (i.e in effect oil lamps rather than candle holders. Incidentally by tradition we use oil for burning with Shabbat lighting too ). The reasons for this are traditional custom , the Mesorah (the transmission of Torah, tradition, custom from one generation to the next) , the original miracle didn't use candles ,it is in part practical , the other reason is Sephardi mystical interpretations of the ritual .

We will of course be observing both traditions as we're a Sephardi and Ashkenazi couple.

But anyways ,back to the story.  The events themselves are described in the Talmud as well as in two books called 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees, originally written in Hebrew, but surviving manuscripts are written in Greek only and further attested to by the historian Joesphus.

The books of Maccabees are not part of the Jewish Bible, but it is part of the Christian (non Protestant) one. Also for Christian readers of my blog, there is more biblical evidence for you to celebrate Hanukkah than Christmas (which, as a festival,isn't mentioned in the new testament)because you might like to know that Jesus, according to Christian scriptures, also celebrated Hanukkah (John Chapter 10 vs 22-23). 

Anyways ,an early Chag Urim Sameach! and Happy Hanukkah everyone!

Notes:

1) For food : Doughnut / sufganiyo are Ashkenazi and Sephardi have keftes, Bimuelos/Zengoula , Sfenj, Cassola, Kuku Sabzi, Sambusak , Koobe and Svinge!

2) See my paragraph about candles and oil burning Menorah and Ashkenazi / Sephardic customs. In addition exchanging presents isn't a Sephardi tradition, but hey it's a new one. 

3) Incidentally no one quite knows what happened to that original Menorah, following the destruction of the Temple by the Romans. It was clearly taken back to Rome, where it was put in one of their own temples, until the barbarians were at the gate centuries later. After that it has become the subject of legend, myth, conspiracy theories, worthy enough for an Indiana Jones film.