The holiday season is upon us and while Christians are preparing for Christmas, Jews around the world are celebrating Hanukkah, which began Tuesday evening.

However, unlike Christmas, Hanukkah is not considered a biblical holiday for its followers, it is a historical holiday, Iuliu “Julius” Herscovici said.

Herscovici is a member of the local Anshe Chesed Congregation and author of “The Jews of Vicksburg, Mississippi.”

The reason Jews celebrate Hanukkah as a historical holiday, Herscovici said, is because of an event that happened nearly 3,000 years ago.

A civil war broke out between the Syrian emperor, Antiochus, and the Jews in 167 B.C.E., Herscovici said, because Antiochus had tried to abolish Judaism during his reign.

Rabbi Joseph Telushkin writes in his book, “Jewish Literacy” that Antiochus’ even killed those who observed the Jewish law while also defiling the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.

But because of Jewish revolutionaries, known as Maccabees, a revolt was started and three years later the Syrian monarch was ousted from Palestine, Herscovici said.

Now that the Greeks were no longer lording over them, the Jewish people wanted to restore their temple to its ritual purity, but to rededicate it, they would need to relight the menorah.

Hanukkah is derived from the Hebrew verb meaning “to dedicate,” but unfortunately, the Jewish people could only find enough uncontaminated olive oil to relight the menorah for one day, and they knew it would take eight days to prepare more ritually permitted oil.

However, a miracle occurred when the small amount of oil that was found continued to burn for a full eight days, which allowed the Jews time to prepare more oil.

So in remembrance of this event, Hanukkah is celebrated for eight days.

Anshe Chesed Congregation member Ann Gerache said that the only reason that Hanukkah has become so widely celebrated in the U.S. is because of its proximity to Christmas and because of this Jewish parents converted it into a Jewish form of the Christian holiday and give their children one small gift or toy each of the eight days.

Hanukkah is observed beginning on the 25th day of Kislev, which can occur between late November and late December and is a very minor holiday in the Jewish calendar, Gerache said, “Except for the children.”

However, even though Hanukkah is a not a significant Biblical holiday like Pass Over and Yom Kippur, had this historical event had a different outcome, Herscovici said, there may not have ever been any monotheistic religions.

“The most important consequence of this war,” Herscovici said, was if the Jews had not won, the concept of one God would have been gone.

“We would not have had Judaism because it would have disappeared under the Greek occupation, we would not have had Christianity because it is also a monotheistic branch of Judaism, and we would not even have Muslims. The concept of one God would have disappeared,” he said.

This past Friday, the Anshe Chesed Congregation celebrated Hanukkah and lit four candles on the menorah in observance of the fourth day of the historical holiday.

The center candle in the menorah is referred to as the shamos and is used to light the other candles on a menorah.

Depending on one’s tradition and or cultural preference, Herscovici said, the menorah could be lit from left to right or from right to left, but most of the population light the candles from right to left.

“Because that is the way Hebrew is written, from right to left,” Gerache added.

During Hanukkah traditional foods, which are prepared involve frying in olive oil to commemorate the miracle of the oil that burned in the Temple of Jerusalem and a favorite, Gerache said, is potato latkes.

Also during Hanukkah, a popular game played by children is with a Dreidel, which is similar to a four-sided spinning top.

A letter from the Hebrew alphabet is marked on each side of the Dreidel and depending on where the Dreidel falls after it stops spinning will determine whether the player will give or get a game piece from the pot.

The game pieces can consist of anything, Gerache said.

“You can use matches or pennies or anything you want.”

Hanukkah will end this year on Wednesday evening Dec. 20 and for those who may be interested in preparing Potato Latkes, Gerache shared a recipe from her cookbook.
Potato Latkes

6 small potatoes, peeled

1 Small onion, grated (optional)

2 Eggs, lightly beaten

¼ Cup (about) matzo meal

1 Teaspoon salt

½ Teaspoon baking powder

¼ Teaspoon pepper

Vegetable oil for frying

Applesauce or sour cream

 

Grate the potatoes into a large bowl. Squeeze out excess water. Add the grated onion and eggs and mix well. Stir in the matzo meal, salt, baking powder and pepper. Heat oil in a large skillet. Drop the potato mixture by spoonfuls into the hot oil. Cook until golden brown on both sides. Remove with a spatula to paper towels to drain. Serve immediately with applesauce or sour cream.

Yield: About 3 dozen latkes