Chanukah Research Paper

Chanukah or Hanukkah is a lesser Jewish festival, lasting eight days beginning in mid to late December. It is not the same days each year, but the length, eight days, stays the same. Chanukah is unique because it is one of the few Jewish holidays not mentioned in the Torah. The story of how Chanukah came to be is contained in the books of 1 and 2 Maccabees, which are not part of the Jewish canon of the Hebrew Bible. Chanukah commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, where Jews had risen up against their Greek-Syrian oppressors in the Maccabean Revolt. Chanukah is a very important holiday in the Jewish religion and its origin is extremely important to the Jewish people. The story of Chanukah was written a very long time ago (200 B.C.) and as a result, there are many different versions of the story. The books of Maccabees, 1 and 2 of the Bible, tell the most

The miracle of the oil is a story of how the Jewish people trusted God and He delivered. In the Temple, an eternal flame had to stay lit all the time; this signifies that God’s presence is there all the time. This moment had come after the Jews reconquered the Temple, but when they came into the Temple to light the eternal flame, there was only one flask of clean, pure olive oil to use, just enough to keep the flame burning for one day. Only pure oil could be used, meaning it couldn’t have been used for anything else. There would not be enough oil, as it would take eight days to go out and get more. But they went ahead and lit the flame anyway, which sends a beautiful message of trusting in God. Some might have said, “Why bother? It will go out anyway after a day, and then we’ll have to wait for the oil.” But they trusted in God, and a miracle occurred — the lamp that was only to last for one day stayed lit for eight days until the new oil arrived. This is how Hanukkah became the “Festival of