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Hanukkah the festival of Lights
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Hanukkah is celebrated for eight days and nights,
starting on the 25th of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar (which is
November-December on the Gregorian calendar). In Hebrew, the word "Hanukkah"
means "dedication."
The holiday commemorates the rededication of the holy Temple in Jerusalem after
the Jews' 165 B.C.E. victory over the Hellenist Syrians. Antiochus, the Greek
King of Syria, outlawed Jewish rituals and ordered the Jews to worship Greek
gods.
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The Jews' holy Temple was seized and dedicated to the worship of
Zeus.In 168 B.C.E. Some Jews were afraid of the Greek soldiers and obeyed them,
but most were angry and decided to fight back.
In Modiin The fighting Began, a village not far from Jerusalem. A Greek officer
and soldiers assembled the villagers, asking them to bow to an idol and eat the
flesh of a pig, activities forbidden to Jews.
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The officer asked Mattathias, a Jewish High Priest,
to take part in the ceremony. He refused, and another villager stepped forward
and offered to do it instead. Mattathias became outraged, took out his sword
and killed the man, then killed the officer. His five sons and the other
villagers then attacked and killed the soldiers. Mattathias' family went into
hiding in the nearby mountains, where many other Jews who wanted to fight the
Greeks joined them. They attacked the Greek soldiers whenever possible.
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Judah Maccabee and his soldiers went to the holy Temple, and
were saddened that many things were missing or broken, including the golden
menorah. They cleaned and repaired the Temple, and when they were finished,
they decided to have a big dedication ceremony. For the celebration, the
Maccabees wanted to light the menorah. They looked everywhere for oil, and
found a small flask that contained only enough oil to light the menorah for one
day. Miraculously, the oil lasted for eight days. This gave them enough time to
obtain new oil to keep the menorah lit. Today Jews celebrate Hanukkah for eight
days by lighting candles in a menorah every night, thus commemorating the
eight-day miracle.
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