From: stank@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (Stan Krieger)
Subject: Re: What does Hanukkah commemorate?
Organization: Summit NJ
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 14:33:38 GMT

Here's my contribution.  I posted this at work on /usr/news two years ago.

   While it is generally known that the Jewish holiday  of  Hanukkah
   occurs  sometime  in  December (this year it begins at sundown on
   December 11, and over the 19 year cycle of the  Jewish  calendar,
   it  will  begin  as  early as November 28 and as late as December
   27), the event being celebrated is probably not that well  known.
   So, here's a condensed history.
   
   The immediate historical thread that  led  to  Hanukkah  was  the
   death  of Alexander the Great about 330 B.C.  and the division of
   the empire  among  his  generals.   The  general  Ptolemy  gained
   control of Egypt, while Seleucus controlled Syria.  Palestine was
   originally part of Ptolemy's holdings, but Syria  gained  control
   in 198 B.C.
   
   While the  exposure  to  150  years  of  Greek  culture  strongly
   influenced  both  the  lifestyle  as  well as the attitude toward
   religious observance of the  Jewish  people,  in  168  B.C.,  the
   Syrian  King  Antiochus  IV,  who thought of himself as a god and
   fearful that any observance of Judaism was a sign  of  disloyalty
   (and  trying to ensure that he did not have a disloyal population
   in a  disputed  border  region),  outlawed  its  observance  (for
   example,  the  circumcision  of  8-day  old  boys  was  a capital
   offense).  The Temple in Jerusalem was turned into a pagan  house
   of worship.
   
   About a year later, the Syrians came to the town of Modin  (about
   20 miles NW of Jerusalem) and attempted to force the people there
   to offer a pig, a non-Kosher animal, as a sacrifice.  As  an  old
   man,  Mattathias,  stopped  the  ceremony  and with his five sons
   coming to his  aid,  the  revolt  against  Syrian  rule  started.
   (Mattathias  and  his sons were known as the Hasmoneans, a family
   name, and later as  the  Maccabees,  possibly  derived  from  the
   Hebrew  word  for "hammer".)  Mattathias died soon afterwards and
   his son Judah took over.  In 165 B.C., after a major  victory  at
   Emmaus,  Jerusalem  was  taken  from the Syrians.  The Temple was
   cleaned, the alter  rebuilt,  and  all  signs  of  pagan  worship
   removed.  It is this rededication of the Temple to Jewish worship
   that Hanukkah (Hebrew for "dedication") celebrates.
   
   The major fighting ended about 3 years later with  the  death  of
   Antiochus  IV.   As  a  war of succession broke out in Syria, the
   Syrian general who was preparing to retake Jerusalem  offered  an
   armistice.   Sporadic  fighting  continued  between  the Jews and
   Syrians, as well as between various religious factions  including
   the  Hasmoneans,  for  about  25  years.   In  140  B.C., the one
   surviving Maccabee, Simon, became King,  and  in  135  B.C.,  the
   Syrians  made a formal peace with Simon's son and successor, John
   Hyrcan.  His descendants ruled until 63 B.C., when Rome conquered
   Palestine.
   
   It was not until after the Roman conquest that Hanukkah  formally
   emerged  as a minor holiday.  At the time, between the tyrannical
   rule of  the  Hasmoneans,  religious  arguments  between  various
   factions  about  what  observance  of  Judaism  really meant, and
   overall assimilation into the Greek culture,  there  was  nothing
   special  to celebrate.  It was only after the Roman conquest that
   the anniversary of the rededication of the Temple over 100  years
   before emerged as an event to remember and honor.
   
   Hanukkah lasts for eight days.  One of the explanations  for  the
   length  of  the  holiday is based on a story first told after the
   Roman conquest.  According to the story, when the  cleansing  and
   purification of the Temple was completed, only one small cruse of
   oil, enough to keep the Eternal Light lit for only one day, could
   be found, and it would take 8 days to prepare more; however, this
   oil kept the lamp lit for all 8  days.   Another  explanation  is
   that  the  rededication  occurred in October, normally around the
   time of the  fall  harvest  Festival  of  Sukkot,  an  eight  day
   holiday,  and because of this, the Temple rededication ceremonies
   in 165 B.C.  were celebrated over eight days.  (This  could  have
   happened because the outlawing of Judaism meant that there was no
   Religious Court controlling the calendar;  since the calendar  is
   based  on  12  lunar  months, or 354 days, in a year, a Religious
   Court had to formally add an extra month 7 times each 19 years to
   keep the calendar in sync with the seasons.)
   
   
-- 
Stan Krieger                 All opinions, advice, or suggestions, even
UNIX System Laboratories     if related to my employment, are my own.
Summit, NJ
smk@usl.com
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish