Macon Magazine

C hanukah is the most widely known and most misunderstood Jewish holiday. So, let's begin by debunking the biggest myth: Chanukah is not the Jewish Christmas. On Christmas, Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus. During Chanukah, Jews celebrate survival and independence from persecution. Chanukah is rife with peculiarities. More than 2,200 years-old, it's a relatively new holiday, appearing in the Talmud (encyclopedic rabbinic commentary and basis of Jewish law, edited around the year 500), but not in the Hebrew Bible, what Christians call the Old Testament. Chanukah's elevated stature is a coincidence of the calendar and a double-edged sword. Its proximity to Christmas mistakenly invites comparison and exaggerates its importance. Chanukah is a minor holiday that has become Americanized with the requisite holiday décor and outsized gift giving. The Elf on the Shelf has spawned the Mensch on the Bench. Hebrew, an ancient language of the Jewish people, is spoken in Israel and is the prayer language of Jews worldwide. Hebrew requires transliteration into English. Chanukah is the traditional Hebrew spelling, while Hanukkah (English), is equally correct. The pronunciation of Chanukah too is challenging. "Ch" in Hebrew has a throaty, guttural sound, unlike "ch" in the word chance. Consequently, Hanukkah is more widely used. THE STORY Chanukah is the festival of lights, which commemorates the recapture of Jerusalem and the cleansing and rededication of the Second Temple in 164 BCE when a ragtag band of Jewish warriors scored an unlikely victory over the army of the tyrannical Syrian king Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who banned Jewish worship and practice. The Syrian army massacred Jews and desecrated the temple, turning it into a pagan shrine and sparking a rebellion led by a priest named Mattathias and his five sons. Upon Mattathias' death, his son Judah led the revolt against Syrian oppression and was given the name, Judah Maccabee. Maccabee, a derivation of the word hammer, refers to Judah's superior strength and the fierceness of the uprising. According to the Talmud, during the temple restoration a small vessel of oil was discovered to light the chanukiah, or candelabrum. Although there was only enough oil to last for a single day, wondrously, it burned for eight, inspiring an eight-day fête. After the Maccabees' victory, the temple was restored, and today, Jews celebrate two miracles, the historical victory over the Syrian army and the miracle of the oil, considered legend. To celebrate the miracle of the oil, during Chanukah Jews feast on fried foods, particularly potato latkes (fried potato pancakes) served with a dollop of sour cream and applesauce. Fried jelly donuts (sufganyot) is an Israeli Chanukah treat which decades ago was immortalized on "Sesame Street." MOVING TARGET There's no figuring when to wish Jews a "Happy Chanukah" because the date is ever-changing. Religiously, Jews adhere to the lunisolar calendar regulated by the moon and sun, 354 days rather than 365 on the solar or Gregorian calendar, the world's standard, based on the relation of the sun to the stars. Days begin at midnight on the Gregorian calendar and at sundown on the lunisolar calendar, harkening back to the opening line of Genesis, "There was evening and there was morning." This important distinction means that all Jewish holidays, including the Sabbath (Shabbat), begin the previous evening at sundown and end at sundown the following day. Chanukah is observed on the 25th day of the Jewish month of Kislev and ends on the third day of the month of Tevet. Usually it occurs in December, but in 2021 it begins at sundown on DECEMBER/JANUARY 2022 | maconmagazine.com 79

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