On the fourth day of Chanukah, my true love gave to me...

Apologies, different song. It’s easy at this time of year to just lump Chanukah in with the rest of the festive season. But that would be doing the Jewish festival of lights an injustice.

It marks the improbable victory of the Maccabees in 168BC over the ruling Seleucid dynasty. Alexander the Great divided his empire into four power blocks before his death in 323BC. One of these was the Seleucid Empire in the east under the control of Seleucus. His empire centred around Antioch, which is in modern Syria.

The area of Judea came under his rule and was difficult to govern. Rival factions with the Jewish population fought for Seleucid approval. In 175BC the new Seleucid King, Antiochus Epiphanes, decided to ally himself with a political elite who were culturally and politically Greek.

The group were unpopular and unrepresentative of the Jewish people. To calm the trouble Antiochus sent in his army to take direct control of the province. The Jews rebelled under the Hasmonean family. Led by Mattathias (Mattityahu), a priest, and his sons, in particular Judah Maccabee, the Jewish army won a series of unlikely victories over the Seleucids.

Maccabee is now a popular beer in Israel and there are many football and basketball teams which bear that name.

Jewish autonomy was restored and the Temple was rededicated to serve just one God, and not the many worshipped by the Hellenists.

Today’s customs reflect a later tradition that when the Hasmoneans came to rededicate the Temple and light the Ner Tamid, or candle that was always kept lit, there was only enough pure olive oil to last for one day.

The process to make more olive oil required a whole week. Yet miraculously, the small quantity of pure olive oil they had burned continuously for a whole week by which time fresh olive oil had been produced.

The celebration of Chanukah therefore lasts for eight days and it is common to light an eight-branched candelabrum, or chanukiyah in Hebrew, on each night of the festival to commemorate this miracle. One candle is lit on the first night, two on the second and so on, all the way up to eight.

Foods cooked in oil are also traditional, such as doughnuts and latkes (fried potato cakes).

Many families have the custom to give small amounts of money to children called Chanukah gelt and exchange presents with their family and friends. There is no source for this custom but it is highly likely it comes from the Christian custom of giving boxes of goodies to friends around Christmas time, hence ‘Boxing Day’. There are seventh century records of Jews in Israel giving their non-Jewish friends gifts on Christmas.

A traditional toy associated with this time of year is a spinning top called ‘sevivon’ in Hebrew or ‘dreidel’ in Yiddish. A dreidel has four sides and is often used as a gambling toy like a dice for chocolate or small amounts of money.

Chag sameach!
(with thanks to UJIA JLEC)