Why eight days of hanukkah

Read the entire Hanukkah primer. Day 2 During the Nazi rise to power in the s, Pittsburgh Jews mobilized to raise money to aid refugees, some of whom were brought to Pittsburgh and supported by the Jewish community. Day 3 The relatively minor Jewish holiday of Hanukkah shares little with Christmas other than the time of year.

The two later married. Reingold Hanukkah card, front. Reingold Hanukkah card, inside. Day 4 Two congregations from very different religious movements — Temple Sinai from the liberal Reform movement, Bnai Emunoh from the ultra-orthodox Chabad Lubavitch — still share the same Hanukkah candle lighting ritual.

Synagogue dedication Temple Sinai, Hanukkah Day 5 This spinning top game is played by Jews the world over during Hanukkah. The dreidel even lent its distinctive shape to Hanukkah cards made by local Jewish day school students in Learn more. Hanukkah Day 6 A great miracle may have happened there , in ancient Israel, but a great magic show happened here, in Sharon, Pa.

Weekly, Dec. However, these foods are not universal to all Jewish peoples, as different groups around the world will typically have their own fried foods that they eat during the celebration. Hanukkah is a joyous time of year for many people around the world, and to those who celebrate it, Happy Hanukkah!

Do you celebrate Hanukkah? Want to share about Christmas or Kwanzaa? Or maybe you want to tell us about another special tradition. We want to hear from you! Please share your story with us and you might see it in the next post!

Click here to check out their blog! A lesser-heard explanation for the commemorative number of eight and the lighting of candles on Hanukkah is found in Pesikta Rabbati, a collection of midrashim compiled in the ninth to 13th centuries. It says that when the Hasmoneans entered the Temple, they discovered eight iron rods. Into these, they carved grooves, filled the grooves with oil, and then kindled wicks in the oil.

According to this tradition, the eight days of Hanukkah honor that specific moment when the Hasmoneans officially took control of the Temple.

The questions surrounding the eight-day miracle of the oil are fascinating, and Rabbinic literature discusses them at length. When we look at the purely historical sources, however, such questions are not part of the discussion. Flavius Josephus , the most significant historian living in the ancient Near East, makes no mention of a miracle in his account of the Hasmoneans and the rededication of the Temple.

Nor is there any mention in the Apocrypha, which provides a basic narrative about Hanukkah. The First Book of the Maccabees c. The sanctuary was purified on the 25th of Kislev, the same day of the same month as that on which foreigners had profaned it.

The joyful celebration lasted for eight days, like the Feast of Tabernacles [ Sukkot ] and then they recalled how, only a short time before they had kept that feast while living like wild animals in the mountains and caves. So carrying garlanded wands and flowering branches, as well as palm fronds i. This version explains that Hanukkah was a belated celebration of the fall festival of Sukkot, because the Jews had not been able to celebrate that holiday during wartime.

In the next verse of the same chapter, the text says that the celebration should be repeated every year to commemorate what happened in the Hasmonean era.