Comments on: Happy Chanukah!

By: JohnTyler

JohnTyler — Sun, 25 Dec 2022 22:46:03 +0000

Just heard on TV that KFC’s busiest day of the year in Japan is on XMAS day.
Who would have thunk it !!

By: Ilana

Ilana — Sun, 25 Dec 2022 19:49:07 +0000

I would add that Hanukkah celebrates adherence to Judaism in the face of the Syrian Greeks, who outlawed the most important Jewish practices and forcibly introduced idolatry into the Temple, as well as against the Hellenized (i.e., assimilated) Jews, who went along with the wider culture.
Also, “Hanukkah” means dedication. The holiday got its name because they were rededicating the Temple after it had been defiled. So “Feast of the Dedication” is a reasonable translated name for Hanukkah.
It is a minor holiday, in that there are fewer of the commandments and prohibitions that characterize the Torah holidays. But it has a powerful meaning. If only more Jews understood and internalized that meaning.

By: Barry Meislin

Barry Meislin — Sun, 25 Dec 2022 19:07:26 +0000

P.S. Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas to all who celebrate—and for whatever reason(!)….

By: Barry Meislin

Barry Meislin — Sun, 25 Dec 2022 18:55:48 +0000

I think the short version goes something like:
“No Chanukah, No Christmas.”
(No Islam either, for that matter—but don’t tell THEM that…since Islam, or at least a considerable part of it, considers that Islam PRE-DATED Judaism; IOW, Judaism’s time-line along with a significant portion of its historical claims are elaborate fakery.)

The longer version:
A. Chanukah is NOT a Biblical (i.e., Hebrew Bible/OT) holiday—those would be
1) Passover
2) Shavu’ot (Shavu’os/Weeks/Pentecost)
3) Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year)
4) Yom Kippur
5) Sukkot (Sukkos/Festival of Booths)
6) Shemini Atzeret (Shemini Atzeres/Eighth Crowning day—i.e., the day immediately following Sukkot and considered a separate holiday in spite of the juxtaposition).
B. The two Books of the Maccabees (i.e., 1 & 2) describe the events leading up to the holiday, the reasons for it, the events and military capaigns that took place and the aftermath (resulting in the emergence of the Hasmonean dynasty, which ruled, if ultimately, or relatively quickly, beset by rivalry and no little corruption, until Pompey’s invasion in 63 BCE); but these two books were categorized by the Rabbis as “Apocrypha” and therefore NOT included as part of the canon of the Hebrew Bible (OT) though they were included in the Christian Bible (i.e., NT), at least by the Catholics AFAIK…and perhaps other denominations as well.
C. The main themes of the event were/are 1) resistance by the faithful against all “reasonable” odds; 2) the weak against the strong; 3) the few vs. the many; 4) the holy vs. the unholy…all under the aegis of God’s strength and succor (of course) until the Maccabees were able to prevail against the Hellenic-Syrians and restore and ritually cleanse the Temple after it had been almost entirely defiled by the enemy.
In short, spiritual as well as physical survival.

N.B. As with most things, there are those who deny the historicity of the event (especially the “miracle” that involved discovering the small cruse of undefiled olive oil and using it to light the ritually-cleansed Menorah for an expectedly short time, that stayed lit—miraculously!—for eight days) and instead claim that it is an opportunity to celebrate the eight-day Sukkot + Shemini Atzeret holidays for those who were unable to do so (for whatever reason)…demonstrating that if one thinks long and hard enough about something (and is reasonably intelligent—or perhaps “too intelligent”), one can come up with all kinds of “clever” theories. About anything…. OTOH, who REALLY knows what happened there?…)

Epilogue: There are those who desperately DESPISE Chanukah—wishing it had never “occurred”(?)—because they hold it responsible Judaism’s survival, and hence for the formation of both Christianity and Islam, etc. One such individual was Christopher Hitchens, at least in an earlier, more “contrarian” (more venomous? more contemptuous?) incarnation. (He may have changed his mind on this issue, though, as he did about quite a few things post-9/11; but maybe not.)

By: FOAF

FOAF — Sun, 25 Dec 2022 18:48:46 +0000

It is true that Hanukkah, not one of the major festivals, has been seen in some sense as a substitute for Christmas for Jewish children. However I believe that in light of the Holocaust and the subsequent rebirth of Israel it has also acquired significance as a celebration of Jewish survival.

Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas to all!

By: ObloodyHell

ObloodyHell — Sun, 25 Dec 2022 17:56:11 +0000

Here’s an interesting mixed one, with some English lyrics… and some lyrics in Na’vi.

Yes, the constructed language for Avatar…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4bZRIwI-QA

By: JohnTyler

JohnTyler — Sun, 25 Dec 2022 17:23:24 +0000

This is a good one about jewish folks and chinese food.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPSLWauwwZM

By: neo

neo — Sun, 25 Dec 2022 04:58:32 +0000

huxley:

By: Jon baker

Jon baker — Sun, 25 Dec 2022 03:49:58 +0000

A Temple that no longer exist, not ” no longer fully exist”. I was thinking about the stories I have heard that there are Jews in Israel that are gathering items that would be used in the next Temple. Supposedly Texas A&M helped to breed a red bovine that would be needed.

By: Jon baker

Jon baker — Sun, 25 Dec 2022 03:24:55 +0000

I wonder if among religious Jews , since the destruction of the Jewish Temple by the Romans, if the Mosaic festivals have traditionally carried greater significance than a festival remembering a rededication of a Temple that no longer fully exist?