Edited sentence: Before the 20th century, Hanukkah was a relatively minor holiday.However, with the rise of Christmas as the biggest holiday in the Western world and the establishment of the modern state of Israel, Hanukkah began increasingly to serve both as a celebration of the restoration of Jewish sovereignty in Israel and, more importantly, as a December family-oriented gift-giving holiday which could be a Jewish substitute for the Christian one.It is important to note that the view of Hanukkah as a replacement for Christmas is not universally held, and many Jews do not place this extra significance on what they consider a minor holiday