Holiday Guide: Jonas Actor SWUSY REC

Transcription

1 Holiday Guide: Jonas Actor SWUSY REC

2 A Hannukah Story The Talmud s version of the Hannukah Story: After Alexander the Great s conquest of most of the world, his empire split into three. After a while, the Syrian Greeks conquered the Land of Israel. They imposed strict laws on the Jewish people to get them to conform to their Hellenistic standards, including no Brit Milah, no Torah Study, no observance of Shabbat, and bowing to idols and pigs. A small group of Jews, led by the Maccabee brothers, fought back against the Syrian Greek king Antiochus and eventually were able to repel the Syrian Greek troops. When they returned to the Beit HaMikdash after their victory, they found the place in ruins. Desperate to renew the Temple service, they rededicated the Beit HaMikdash. But when it came time to light the Menorah, they found that there was only one small vial of Kosher oil left but there was a miracle! That one tiny jar of oil lasted eight days until more oil could be brought from the Galil to the Beit HaMikdash. Today, we celebrate Hannukah to remember our victory over our enemies and celebrate the rededication of the Beit HaMikdash.

3 Josephus s version of the Hannukah Story: After Alexander the Great s conquest of most of the world, his empire split into three. Afte a while, the Syrian Greeks conquered the Land of Israel. They encouraged Israelite society, like the rest of the lands they conquered, to embrace Hellenistic culture, and many people left Judaism for Hellenism. Yet a small group of Jews, led by the Maccabees rejected the allure of Greek society and launched a civil war against Greek society, including those former Jews who had converted. When Syrian Greek troops tried to stop the Maccabees, they were met with violence. King Antiochus did not think that the small band of Jews was worth sending more troops, as he was more concerned with his western border, where the Roman empire was just starting its rise to power. So the Maccabees were able to quickly rid the land of Syrian Greek soldiers and reestablish a Jewish state. 500 years later, in the time of the Gaonim, the story of the Miracle of the Oil was written to give the story relevance in a post-beit HaMikdash age. Today, we celebrate the survival of Jewish culture against the forces of assimilation. Another Hannukah Story

4 Hannukah Commemoration Hannukah is the most-celebrated Jewish holiday in America, in part because of the so many accessible, celebratory symbols associated with the holiday. Here are a few: The Menorah The Dreidel Oily foods Al HaNissim, Hallel, and other songs

5 The Menorah we light on Hannukah, more properly called the Chanukiah, commemorates the Miracle of the Oil that occurred. It is also to spread the light of the holiday to the community. Here are the rules for a Kosher menorah: There must be 8 candles + 1 for the Shamash All the candles must line up You must light oil or candles- no lightbulbs! All the candles must be the same height, with the exception of the Shamash The Menorah can be made out of anything (as long as it doesn t let the house burn down) Rules of the Menorah

6 Lighting the Menorah We light the Menorah with one candle for every day. So the first night you light one candle; the fifth night you light five candles, etc. You always light the Shamash, the candle used to light all the other candles You put the candles in starting with the rightmost one you plan to light; you light them starting with the leftmost candle you plan to light

7 A dreidel you only play with once... In the time of the Hannukah Story, the study of Torah was outlawed by the Antiochus. Yet kids still wanted to learn a little Torah! So they would study in secret, and when the Greek soldiers searched for violators of the law, the kids would pull out dreidels and pretend to play until the danger passed. We play Dreidel on Hannukah to commemorate their commitment to study in the face of danger. Dreidel Why do we Play?

8 Dreidel How to Play You start with some coins in the middle. Each person spins the dreidel. For each letter that comes up, the person receives a different amount from the pot in the middle: Nun- nothing Gimel- everything Hey- half Shin- put one in In Israel, the letter Shin is replaced with the letter Pey.

9 Because of the Miracle of the Oil that occurred in the Beit HaMikdash, we eat lots of special foods that contain oil! Examples: Potato, Sweet Potato, or even Apple Latkes Sufganiot (Jelly Doughnuts) Another food we eat is Gelt. This tradition started from the American and European idea of giving gifts in late December as to not offend our Christian neighbors. Usually, parents would give their kids a few coins as spending money. Today, we don t give money in coins (we ve moved on to gift cards) but we still give out coins made of chocolate, called Gelt. Yum! The Food: OIL!!!

10 Another form of oil... Recently, Hannukah, specifically the Miracle of the Oil, has taken on a new environmentalism component. If the Miracle of the Oil occurred today, we d be celebrating having one tank of oil lasting 8 weeks instead of one. Instead of celebrating the use of oil, we should be celebrating that one single jar of oil was able to take the place of eight, reducing the amount of oil needed overall. Over Hannukah we should encourage reducing the amount of resources we use, promoting the idea of environmental sustainability over the holiday. So, this Hannukah, try to go green and remember the environment throughout the holiday.

11 Hannukah is a time to be happy and celebrate with family. What better way to do that than singing? Here are a few Hannukah songs: Maoz Tzur HaNerot Halalu Sevivon Sov Sov Sov I had a Little Dreidel Ocho Candelikas Adam Sandler s Hanukkah Song Mi Yimaleil Al HaNissim We also celebrate through saying Al HaNissim in the Amidah and Birkat HaMazon, and we add Hallel to the morning Shacharit service. Some Hannukah Songs

12 Have a Happy Hannukah Y all!!!