What is the history of the celebration of Hanukkah?
Hanukkah celebrates the re-dedication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Hanukkah directly translates to "dedication."
Hanukkah begins on the 25th day of Kislev usually in November or December. It lasts 8 nights to celebrate the miracle of when oil that was supposed to last 1 day lasted 8 whole days. They returned to the Holy Temple after defeating the Syrians who made it illegal to worship in the Jewish faith. This is significant because the ceremony to purify the temple lasts 8 days as well.
One hundred and sixty-eight years before Jesus the Syrian army attacked Israel and murdered thousands upon thousands of Jews. The first thing they did after the occupation was to walk into the Temple of God and defile the Holy of Holies. They defiled the altar with unclean animals. They brought their pagan beliefs and their many idols. Then they made a law that no Jew could celebrate the Shabbat, own the Torah or follow the laws of God. The Syrians made the Jews break the laws of the Temple and refused to let them eat kosher. Finally they sacrificed a pig, the most unclean animal on the altar and told the priest to eat it. But he refused and they killed him. A father and his sons had enough and killed the Syrian army and then fled to the hills of Judea. The King of Syria sent forty thousand of his best soldiers to do battle with these handful of men. And God gave them a might victory They returned to Jerusalem and to the Temple. They cleaned up all the idols and they rededicated the Te
