Beth HaDerech; Messianic Jewish Congregation, Toronto, Canada

How and Why Chanukah (Video)

What does Chanukah mean? The word "Chanukah" means "dedication". The holiday celebrates the re-dedication of the Temple in 165 B.C.E., after the Maccabee family and their followers recaptured the Temple Mount from the Syrians. How is Chanukah spelled? Unfortunately for internet search engines, there is no standard English spelling. People commonly use start the word with either Ch or H (as with all Hebrew "ch" noises, this is the sound heard in "Bach", not "chair"), and people may or may not double the n, k, or both. What is the history this holiday celebrates? In the year 174 B.C.E., Antiochus IV became ruler of Syria. He was a harsh tyrant and contemptuous of religion. He gave himself the title "Epiphanes" ("beloved of the gods"), but a contemporary historian, Polebius, wrote that "Epimanes" ("madman") was more accurate. Until this time, the land of Israel had not been harshly treated by the Syrians. The previous Syrian ruler, Seleucus, normally treated the Jews with favor and granted them privileges. This made many Jews eager to be accepting of Syrian society. Modern historians call people participating in Syrian culture "Hellenized" because of the Greek roots of this culture, such as gymnasium use and idolatry. So our story starts with the Jewish people in trouble for two reasons: the new ruler of Syria hated them because they were religiously devout, and their community identity...