Meaningful Moadim
  • Welcome to Meaningful Moadim
    • Introducung Chodesh Adar
    • Mishenichnas Adar Marbim BeSimcha >
      • A Purim Thought
      • Mazal Adar Dagim - The Month of Adar is Symbolized by Fish
      • More on Mazel Adar Dagim
      • The First of "the Four Parshiyos" - Parshas Shekalim
      • The Month of Adar and Purim >
        • Holiday of Unity?
      • Why Megillas ESTHER?
      • Purim and Prayer >
        • Prayer in the Megillah
      • The Most Unhappiest Queen of them all
      • Purim and Charity
      • Making Purim Last Throughout the Year
      • Story: The Purim of Saragosa
      • Chanukah: The Festival of Lights >
        • Are we celebrating the victory over the Greeks or the Miracle of the Oil? >
          • Miracle Oil?
          • The Jewish People Are Above Nature
          • The Light of the Jewish Soul Glows on Chanukah
          • Chanukah: A Winter Festival
          • Chanukah: A War of Conflicting Philosophies >
            • Alexander The Great and The Jewish Sages
            • Uphold Good or Destroy Evil?
            • LeHashkicham Torasecha U’LeHa’aviram MeiChukei Retzonecha
          • Why was a holiday established specifically for the war that led to the Chanukah miracle?
          • U’Leamcha Yisrael Assisa Teshua Gedola U’furkan K’Hayom Hazeh…
        • Give the Gift of LIGHT!
        • Customs, Symbols & Observances >
          • More Reasons for Doughnuts on Chanukah
          • The Letters on the Dreidel
          • More Customs >
            • More About the Dreidel
            • More on Dreidel
            • Chanukah Gelt
            • The Lesson of "Chanukah Gelt"
            • L'Hodos U'LaHallel
          • More Symbolism >
            • Symbolism of Olive Oil
            • The Greeks vs. The Jews
            • The Little Jug that Traveled Through Time
          • The Custom to serve Dairy and Cheese Products on Chanukah
          • Tzedaka - Charity
        • The Shamash >
          • The Secret of the Shamash
        • Putting Away the Menorah?
        • Recommended Reading
      • KISLEV - Great Expectations >
        • What is Chanukah? >
          • The Name of the Holiday >
            • Chanukah: Renewal
            • Why is Shehechiyanu recited only on the first night of Chanukah?
            • Biblical Allusions
            • Another explanation of the name Chanukah
            • Ve-Al Hnissim, not Al Hanissim
            • Mai Chanukah?
            • Bais Shamai and Bais Hillel (2)
            • Mazal Kislev Keshes
            • Why didn't the Kohanim themselves defile the oil if everyone was tamei, ritually impure due to the war? >
              • Chanukah Always has a Shabbos >
                • Chanukah Always Falls our Around parshas Mikeitz
              • Tu BiShevat - The New Year of the Trees >
                • Bearing Fruit
                • Pri Eitz Hadar
                • Tu BeShevat – A Day of Perceptible Belief
              • Tu B'shvat and Shabbos Shira
      • We blow the Shofar Throughout the Month of Elul
      • Shofar Throughout the Month of Elul
      • Reconnecting with our Father in Heaven
      • Month of Teves: Catastrophic Events
      • Questions or Comments? >
        • TAKING A MOMENT OUT FOR A CHANUKAH THOUGHT >
          • TAKING A MOMENT OUT FOR A CHANUKAH THOUGHT
        • Calendar Converter

chanukah

What is Chanukah?

During the Second Temple era (352 B.C.E until 70 C.E), the Greek empire passed decrees against the Jewish People, [attempted to] obliterate their religion, and prevented them from being involved with Torah learning and the performance of mitzvos ("commandments"). They also plundered their property and [abducted] their daughters. [The Greeks] entered the Temple, wrought havoc there, and defiled that which was pure.

The Jews were in great distress because of the [Greeks] and were subjected to great oppression, until the G-d of their fathers had mercy upon them, delivering them from their hands and saving them. The Hasmoneans, sons of the High priest, overcame [the Greeks], slew them, and delivered the Jews from their hands. They appointed a king from among the priests ("cohanim") and sovereignty (in the Land of Israel) returned to the Jewish nation for more than two hundred years, until the destruction of the Second [Temple].
​ Until they met the Greeks, the Jews had faced great pressure from
some of the most formidable empires and nations in the world; they
were continually enticed by the many cultures around them, Egypt,
Mesopotamia, the Canaanites, the Babylonians, the Persians and the
Medes who tempted them to abandon their uniqueness; but, the Jews
didn't succumb.
[The date] when the Jews overcame their enemies and destroyed them was the twenty-fifth of the month of Kislev (139 B.C.E). [On that day,] the [victorious Jews] entered the Sanctuary of the Temple, but could not find any pure olive oil except for one jar, sealed with the High Priest's seal, which contained enough oil to burn for only a single day. [Nevertheless, a miracle occurred] and they were able to kindle the lamps of the Menorah [with that one jar of oil] (1) for eight days, until they were able to crush olives and produce pure oil.

For these reasons, the Sages of that generation ordained that these eight days beginning on the twenty-fifth of Kislev should be celebrated as days of happiness and praise. Lights should be kindled each evening at the entrance to our homes on each of these eight nights to make known and publicize the miracle.
Kitzur Shulchan Aruch/The Code of Jewish Law Chapter 139:1(a)
Translated by Rabbi Ari Lobel & Project Genesis on Torah.org
​​​​
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  • Welcome to Meaningful Moadim
    • Introducung Chodesh Adar
    • Mishenichnas Adar Marbim BeSimcha >
      • A Purim Thought
      • Mazal Adar Dagim - The Month of Adar is Symbolized by Fish
      • More on Mazel Adar Dagim
      • The First of "the Four Parshiyos" - Parshas Shekalim
      • The Month of Adar and Purim >
        • Holiday of Unity?
      • Why Megillas ESTHER?
      • Purim and Prayer >
        • Prayer in the Megillah
      • The Most Unhappiest Queen of them all
      • Purim and Charity
      • Making Purim Last Throughout the Year
      • Story: The Purim of Saragosa
      • Chanukah: The Festival of Lights >
        • Are we celebrating the victory over the Greeks or the Miracle of the Oil? >
          • Miracle Oil?
          • The Jewish People Are Above Nature
          • The Light of the Jewish Soul Glows on Chanukah
          • Chanukah: A Winter Festival
          • Chanukah: A War of Conflicting Philosophies >
            • Alexander The Great and The Jewish Sages
            • Uphold Good or Destroy Evil?
            • LeHashkicham Torasecha U’LeHa’aviram MeiChukei Retzonecha
          • Why was a holiday established specifically for the war that led to the Chanukah miracle?
          • U’Leamcha Yisrael Assisa Teshua Gedola U’furkan K’Hayom Hazeh…
        • Give the Gift of LIGHT!
        • Customs, Symbols & Observances >
          • More Reasons for Doughnuts on Chanukah
          • The Letters on the Dreidel
          • More Customs >
            • More About the Dreidel
            • More on Dreidel
            • Chanukah Gelt
            • The Lesson of "Chanukah Gelt"
            • L'Hodos U'LaHallel
          • More Symbolism >
            • Symbolism of Olive Oil
            • The Greeks vs. The Jews
            • The Little Jug that Traveled Through Time
          • The Custom to serve Dairy and Cheese Products on Chanukah
          • Tzedaka - Charity
        • The Shamash >
          • The Secret of the Shamash
        • Putting Away the Menorah?
        • Recommended Reading
      • KISLEV - Great Expectations >
        • What is Chanukah? >
          • The Name of the Holiday >
            • Chanukah: Renewal
            • Why is Shehechiyanu recited only on the first night of Chanukah?
            • Biblical Allusions
            • Another explanation of the name Chanukah
            • Ve-Al Hnissim, not Al Hanissim
            • Mai Chanukah?
            • Bais Shamai and Bais Hillel (2)
            • Mazal Kislev Keshes
            • Why didn't the Kohanim themselves defile the oil if everyone was tamei, ritually impure due to the war? >
              • Chanukah Always has a Shabbos >
                • Chanukah Always Falls our Around parshas Mikeitz
              • Tu BiShevat - The New Year of the Trees >
                • Bearing Fruit
                • Pri Eitz Hadar
                • Tu BeShevat – A Day of Perceptible Belief
              • Tu B'shvat and Shabbos Shira
      • We blow the Shofar Throughout the Month of Elul
      • Shofar Throughout the Month of Elul
      • Reconnecting with our Father in Heaven
      • Month of Teves: Catastrophic Events
      • Questions or Comments? >
        • TAKING A MOMENT OUT FOR A CHANUKAH THOUGHT >
          • TAKING A MOMENT OUT FOR A CHANUKAH THOUGHT
        • Calendar Converter