Chanukah, while being possibly the most well known Jewish festival after Passover, is one of the lesser festivals in the religious calendar. Unlike Passover, extensively described in the Torah, Chanukah commemorates a historical event from the book of Maccabi, which was not included in the canon when the Hebrew Bible was compiled.
The rituals and practices involved during the season are almost always based in the home rather than the synagogue. As Chanukah falls around the Christmas season, it has become known as "the Jewish Christmas." However, it bears no relation to the Christian festival.
The Hellenisation of Ancient Judea
The story begins when Alexander the Great conquered Judea, including the city of Jerusalem. Following his death in 323 BCE, the kingdom was divided into three regions with Judea coming under Syrian Greek rule.
The Greeks espoused a culture that celebrated learning, the arts, politics, commerce and physical culture that slowly began to prove attractive to large numbers of their subjects who adopted many of the new values in favour of the relatively narrow practices of their own cultural groups. Jews were among those who eventually began a process of assimilation.
Inevitably, there were those among the Jewish community who were resistant to the adoption of practices that they saw would dilute their religious and cultural values. This created dissent and strife throughout Syrian Judea.
In 169 BCE, a Greek city was established on the Temple Mount and Antiochus, King of Syria, insisted that all citizens adopt the worship of Zeus. He also outlawed Jewish religious practices such as circumcision, study of Torah and Shabbat observances.
Re-dedicating the Temple and Lighting the Menorah
A small group of Jews, led by Judah Maccabee marched on Jerusalem. Using guerilla tactics, the group took control of the main thoroughfare and eventually succeeded in retaking the great Temple. When the time came for the re-dedication of the Temple and the lighting of the great Menorah, they discovered a small jar of oil for the Menorah that would only last one day. However, giving the Jewish people the miracle of the first Chanukah, the story tells that the Menorah kept burning for eight days until more oil could be brought.
Chanukah Traditions
To remember the miracle, a special candelabra called a Chanukiah is lit, with one candle being added each night for eight nights. The chanukiot are customarily placed in a window so they can be seen from outside. At candle lighting time, families and friends come together to sing, play games and celebrate. Foods that use quantities of oil are also favoured, in commemoration of the oil that kept the menorah alight.
Traditional favourites are latkes, a potato fritter originating in Eastern Europe, and donuts, favoured by Middle Eastern communities. A small spinning top, the dreydle, is used to play a gambling game using nuts, raisins, sweets or chocolate money (gelt). The four-sided top carries the initials of the Hebrew phrase "a great miracle happened there."
Women and Chanukah - Hannah
In recent times, additional stories have been added to the Chanukah histories, primarily through women’s groups investing in the rewriting of history to be more inclusive. One of the two women who now feature in the Chanukah stories is Hannah. She lived during the time of the Greek decrees against the Jews, one of which was that every bride must spend her wedding night with the local governor.
As a result, there were no weddings in Judea for three years. However, it came time for Hannah, the daughter of Mattityahu the Hasmonean, to marry. At the wedding feast, she suddenly stood and ripped open her wedding gown, exposing herself.
Furious, her brothers fell upon her to kill her for shaming the family. She held them off challenging them that her nakedness was not shaming; rather, their willingness to surrender her to the Greek decrees was the greater shame. Hearing the truth in what she said, they dressed her again and took her to the king, saying she was too good for a mere local governor. Once she was alone with the king in his rooms, the brothers broke in and killed him, beginning the Hasmonean revolt, which precedes the story of the Maccabees.
Judith and Holofernes
The other prominent story is that of Judith and Holofernes, which predates the Maccabees but is thought perhaps to have been known to them. When Judith’s city of Bethulia was held siege by Holofernes, general of Assyrian king Nebachadnezzar, Judith went to the city fathers promising she would end the siege. With her maid, she entered the enemy camp, taking to Holofernes plentiful supplies of local delicacies, particularly the salty cheese and fine wine.
She visited to and fro until she was no longer searched. As the salty cheese made Holfernes thirstier and thirstier, he drank more and more wine until he fell into a drunken sleep. Using his own sword, Judith hacked off his head and took it back to the city in the same basket she had carried in and out of the camp all day. Waking next morning, his soldiers saw Holofernes’ head mounted on the city walls and fled.
In commemoration of Judith’s valour, cheesy foods are added by some people to their Chanukah celebrations. Judith’s story is customarily part of Rosh Chodesh Chanukah, a traditional celebration of the new month held by women.
Religious Freedom Versus Assimilation
More than anything else, the Chanukah story is one of the fight of a minority group to resist assimilation into a dominant culture. The traditional story of the Maccabees provides Jews with a model that has endured into modern times.
Adding the stories of Hannah and Judith enrich the history and practices by adding women’s stories of strength and ingenuity against might. It also demonstrates the never-ending quest for Jews to keep their traditions alive and growing to meet the changing needs of a modern world.
Karen Finch - Karen is a Sydney based freelance writer, artist and musician. To learn more, click on her name to read her profile.
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