Published November 28, 2022
6 minutes read
It’s time to commemorate Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights that lasts for 8 days and nights in honor of a 2,000- year-old wonder in which light triumphed over darkness. This year Hanukkah begins on Sunday, December 18, and ends Monday, December26
The vacation’s appeal has actually risen in modern-day times, however its origins go back to the unstable centuries following the death of Alexander the Great, the ancient Macedonian leader who dominated the Persian Empire. Here’s what you require to learn about Hanukkah’s origins and how it is commemorated.
The origins of Hanukkah
After Alexander’s death in 323 B.C., a power battle broke out amongst his generals that lasted for more than century. The Greco-Syrian Seleucid kings would emerge triumphant and guideline a lot of Alexander’s previous areas, consisting of Judea (situated in main, contemporary Israel).
The Seleucids applied their impact through Hellenization, the spread of Greek art, architecture, and religious beliefs. Regional neighborhoods, particularly in Judea, withstood it. ( See likewise: The plots and conspiracies that ended Alexander’s empire)
In 175 B.C. the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes entered into power and attempted to require Judeans to absorb. The Seleucids caught the holy Temple of Jerusalem and defiled it by setting up an altar to the Greek god Zeus inside. Antiochus disallowed the Jewish faith and mandated the praise of Greek gods. Some scholars believe he thought that developing one typical religious beliefs may combine his fractured empire, however his harsh techniques reversed those intents.
Writing in the very first century A.D., Jewish historian Josephus tape-recorded the ruthless plundering of Jerusalem and treatment of Jewish dissidents who were “whipped with rods, and their bodies torn to pieces, and were crucified, while they were still alive, and breathed … And if there were any spiritual book, or the law discovered, it was damaged: and those with whom they were discovered badly died likewise.”
Horrified by the Temple desecration and ruthlessness towards the Jewish individuals, a priest called Mattath