by Warren » Nov 30, 2002 @ 5:51am
Yeah, it goes by the mom thing, no 50-50 religion thing...
Ok, here goes the story of Hanukkah. First of all, Hanukkah is NOT a major Jewish holiday, it's just big because it's near the time of Christmas so we get presents, otherwise, it's a normal holiday (kids don't get presents in Israel during Hanukkah, it's only an American and European thing). It dates back to about 150BC, during the Hellenistic times (meaning the times when Alexander the Great was conquering everyone and trying to convert everyone to the Greek culture). Well, he got to Israel, and the people didn't really want to convert, so they resisted. The king of Syria was technically the ruler of Israel because they conquerred it, and the Hellenistic Syrians were going to completely kill off the Jews, but some people (the Macabee Brothers) stood up to them and fought, and eventually won. If they lost, all the Jews were to be murdered. The imperialists wanted to convert the Jews so much that they replaced statues in the temples with Greek ones. After the war, the Israelites replaced them back, but only had enough oil to light the torch for 1 day, it would take a while to get more oil. So they lit it anyway, and somehow it lasted 8 days, just in time for more oil to arrive, so that's why Hanukkah (in Hebrew means Dedication) is the Festival of Lights, although it really celebrates a victory in war. Yup, so that's it.
[edit] I posted this before I saw the previous one.
Happy Hannukah Everyone
