Happy Hannukkah!

Frohes Lichterfest!

Get your dreidels out and fry some latkes: Today at sundown Jews began to celebrate the eight days of Hannukkah.

The holiday was called Hanukkah meaning “dedication” because it marks the re-dedication of the Temple after its desecration under Antiochus IV. Spiritually, Hanukkah commemorates the Miracle of the Oil. According to the Talmud, at the re-dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem following the victory of the Maccabees over the Seleucid Empire, there was only enough consecrated olive oil to fuel the eternal flame in the Temple for one day. Miraculously, the oil burned for eight days – which was the length of time it took to press, prepare and consecrate new oil.”

(Wikipedia, 12/15/06)

This entry was posted on Friday, December 15th, 2006 at 9:42 pm and is filed under Celebrate!, History. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.