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HANUKKAH - Page 2
In Israel, the weather is cool during Hanukkah and it is the beginning of the four-month rainy reason. Flowers are in season, of course, and Israelis sometimes bring home flowers on the Sabbath before Hanukkah (actually buying them on Friday).
According to the House of Shammai: 'One the first day, eight lights should be kindled, thereafter they should be progressively reduced.' For many years, this was the way adherants of the customs of the House of Shammai celebrated Hanukkah.
However, according to the House of Hillel: 'On the first night one light should be kindled, thereafter they should be progressively increased.' This is how we celebrate Hanukka today.
Over the centuries, Hanukkah evolved from a distinct Temple festival into a popular family one.
It became the custom to feast on Hanukkah and cheese was customarily eaten. In Israel, the customary food for Hanukkah is 'sufganiyot' (freshly-made jelly doughnuts). In the United States and in Ashkenazi communities in Europe, potatoe latkas are eaten.
In modern Israel, Hanukkah symbolizes the victory of the few over the many. Every year during Hanukkah, there is a torch relay race which sets out from Modiin where the Maccabean revolt broke out and where the Hasmoneans (Maccabees) are buried. All over Israel, giant Hanukkah lamps are visable for great distances and are lit during the holiday atop public buildings, such as the Knesset building in Jerusalem.
The Historical Perspective:
When Israelis celebrate Hanukkah, they do so with a collective memory that leaves one with the impression that everything happened not really so long ago. On the Jewish scale of existence, it's as if the Maccabean wars happened only a few generations or a few centuries ago.
Judah Maccabee, son of Mattathias, began his revolt in the year 168 B.C.E. That's 2,167 years ago. By that time. the Jews had been living in Israel for over a thousand years. (Joshua Ben Nun conquered Jericho and began his conquest of Eretz Israel almost 1,300 years before Christianity existed). By comparison, the English language did not exist.
The Arabic language did not exist. (Scholars agree that the Arabic language came into being in the Arabian peninsula only around the 6th century B.C.). In Joshua's day, there were no Arabs.
So what is Hanukkah? At the time of Judah Maccabee, Greece was a military super-power, ruling much of the known world. And yet, as mighty as she was, Greece never recovered from her resounding defeat at the hands of the Jews. A mere 22 years later, in 146 BC, Greece succombed to the rising Roman Empire.
Sobering, isn't it?
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