Hanukkah Part 2

Hanukkah celebrates the victory of a far outnumbered group of Jews known as the Maccabees over the powerful Greek occupiers of the Holy Land in the second century B.C. It is called the Festival of Lights because of the miracle that took place when they rededicated the Second Temple after it had been defiled by the Greek leader Antiochus Epiphanes, who desecrated the Temple by sacrificing a pig on the altar. A small but fervent army was raised beginning in the small village of Modin and led by a priest, Mattathias, and his sons, who refused the edict to worship Greek gods. The outmanned group, also called Hasmoneans, spearheaded a victory over their persecutors and recaptured the Holy City of Jerusalem. Now the desecrated place of worship needed to be cleansed and rededicated. But the Jews could not find a supply of oil undefiled by the Greeks sufficient to keep the menorah (9-branched candelabrum) burning for more the one night. Miraculously, that small supply of oil burned for eight days. By then a fresh supply of oil for the menorah had been prepared. The festival commemorates this with daily candle lightings, thus it is called the Festival of Lights. Next: How Hanukkah is celebrated.