ABBREVIATED HISTORY OF CHANUKAH

Chanukah (the orthodox Jewish spelling) is a holiday that falls around Christams time. It is also known as "The Festival of Lights" because every night for eight nights, Jewish people light candles in a menorah to commemorate an eight-day miracle which occurred in 167 B.C.

In today's TownHall.com, Mona Charen has a column in which she defends the hanging of outdoor Chanukah lights by some of her friends, a practice that is condemned by "Puritanical Jews," her way of referring to strict Orthodox Jews. In her column, "Hanukkah Lights," Charen gives us an abbreviated history of this Jewish holiday, a history that I suspect many secuolar Jews are not aware of.

For the benefit of both Christians and those Jews who do not know the story behind this holiday, here is Mona Charen's short history of Chanukah:

"Hanukkah, which began on Dec. 21 this year, is an important Jewish holiday. It's possible that, like Christmas, it is celebrated in the dark of winter not because the events it memorializes happened in December but rather because this time of year demands a warm celebration. But that is a trivial matter. The actual events on which Hanukkah is based concern faith, the challenge of secularism, and victory over persecution.

In 200 B.C.E., Israel, which was then Judea, was controlled by the Seleucid Empire (one of the successors to Alexander the Great). The confrontation between Jews and Greek culture was a complicated one. Jews found much to admire in Greek philosophy, the Greek language and literature. In fact, so attractive were Greek ways that a rift opened between Hellenizing Jews, who adopted Greek styles of dress, exercise (nude), and eating; and traditional Jews who clung to Biblical teaching and abhorred Greek polytheism, sexual license, and love of pleasure.

It might have remained a simmering civil conflict. But in 167 B.C.E., King Antiochus IV erected a statue of Zeus in the Temple in Jerusalem and outlawed a number of Jewish practices including observing the Sabbath. That sparked a rebellion. The Maccabees, a small band of zealous Jews, took up the sword against the Seleucids and also against their Hellenizing brothers (though the latter is less often mentioned).

The Maccabees' victory against a numerically superior foe was unexpected. They cleansed and rededicated the Temple and relit the lamp that hung before the altar. It had only enough oil to burn for one night. But as the story goes, it miraculously burned for eight -- long enough to press and prepare more oil."