@charl said:
[:)]
Hey Evan, what's the CHANNUKAH story?
Is it related to a specific chapter in the old testament?
Is it related to a specific date? I dunno much about it really.
It comes from a religious book called the Macabees. it was written 200 years before the birth of the jews' ancestor and well known rabbi, Jesus. In it are stories about how the Jews fought for their right to worship god. I can't remember if the Macabbes is a book in a King's Bible, or if it is special to Torah or jewish texts only. I seem to recall it's in Catholic scriptures. Anyway, the Channukah celebration is in remembrance of what Jew's call the Miracle of Light, which is an event that occurred in Jewish history. Although like all stories, it has been embellished over millennia (not unlike how other stories get blown out of proportion, such as a great man being the son of a god, and spawning a religion which
was an excuse for power, control, war and bloodshed for many centuries [;)] what a whopper! and everyone at that time had no choice but to believe it. Duh.).
So the story as brief as I can tell it is:
The Assyrian Greeks were cruelly forcing the Jews to bow down to their Gods (plural), and finally the Jews could take no more and joined in a freedom fight. Apparently the Jews were outnumbered and out-armed, but they used strategical tactics that led to victory and a reclaiming of their own temple. Apparently the temple was disgusting. It had been a place where the Greeks had sacrificed animals and held other Pagan rituals.
Once the Temple was clean, they were ready to light their altar which brings their holy spirit's warmth to them, and is central to their religion. However, there was not enough oil to last more than a day. Perhaps there was even NONE, and it was only a wet wick. Well they sent a messenger to bring more oil. He came a dissappointing 8 days later with it. However, a miracle had possibly occured while the messenger was out. Everyone watched in amazement as the flame on the wick kept burning day after day after day. It was truly amazing, and mounted more amazement with each passing day. Surely it was something small, but soon, it seemed to be a sign, an omen, that their victory was blessed, perhaps with eternal light. You can imagine how it went. Eventually you start reading quite a bit into it. Perhaps it was a mark from the divine. This is what Jews believe, or share their heart's blessings with.
We call this the MIRACLE OF LIGHT.
Had their been no victory of the Macabees(the group who led the jews in the crusade), there may not have been the eventual spawning off of religions such as Christianity or Islam. For it was the victory which brought the acceptance of worshipping a single god in spirit, something that Jesus the rabbi preached dear to his heart.
So in remembrance of this greatest battle, the battle for freedom of religion essentially, the Jews light a candleholder with 8 slots for candles and 1 slot for a lighter (the miracle candle of light), and we light one more candle each night for eight nights, to "feel" the miracle of how long the single flame lasted and how each successful night it became brighter in our minds and hearts and souls. This is in remembrance of an eight day window of miracle really. Many cunning jews have added other folklore around the celebration. And to help kids not feel pressured by their friends getting gifts from Santa Claus, the Rabbi's decided it would be fine to give the kids gifts too during this period, so long as there was a connection between the story and the gift giving. So the solution became to give 8 gifts, one each night, to complement the feeling of the miracle and reinforce it in our young ones, the warm feeling that miracles bring.