Celebrating Hanukkah

Hanukkah is known around the world as a Jewish celebration, but maybe it should be celebrated by Christians as well, for without Hanukkah, there would have been no Christmas. The story of Hanukkah goes something like this:

The ancient Jewish nation was once again threatened when Antiochus IV became king of Syria in 175 BC. Syria had controlled Israel previously, but the Jews had hitherto been treated with tolerance. When Antiochus IV came into power, he demanded that all Jews worship the pagan Greek Gods. He forbid sabbath day worship, circumcision, and reading from the scriptures. The Syrians took over the temple and defiled it by replacing the sacred ceremonies with Pagan rights and the slaughtering of pigs on the temple altar. The Jews who dared oppose the Syrian decrees were executed. If something had not changed, the Jewish religion and identity would have been obliterated within just a few generations.

BUT... in 165 BC, the Jewish people joined forces and revolted against the Syrians. They were led by a Hasmonean named Judah Maccabee (hence the name Macabean Revolt) and by 164 BC the small group of Jews had recaptured Jerusalem and the temple.

Having freed Jerusalem, the Jews began the process of cleansing and rededicating the temple. According to Rabbinic tradition, only enough ritually pure oil was found to light the great seven-armed menorah lamp in the temple for 1 day, but the lamp must burn for 8 days straight in order for the temple to be rededicated. Miraculously, the small amount of oil burned for all eight days, the time it took to prepare more oil to be used. The event was truly a miracle and a sign that God had been with the Jews in establishing their freedom and saving their religion and identity. To this day, the eight day dedication period has been celebrated by Jews throughout the world and has come to be called "hanukkah" the Hebrew term meaning "dedication."

It must be remembered that Jesus Christ, the son of God, was born into a faithful Jewish family and that Jesus himself was a Jew and worshiped according to law of ancient Israel. Members of the LDS church today are members of the house of Israel, this is not just Jewish heritage, this is our heritage as well. Those who celebrate Christmas each December may find it interesting to know that Jesus himself, traveled to Jerusalem to celebrate Hanukkah. The Gospel of John reports that "it was at Jerusalem, the feast of the dedication, and it was winter, and Jesus walked to the temple in Solomon's porch." (John 10: 22-23). Jesus honored the Hanukkah festival in the same way he honored Passover and other biblical feasts: he taught the people of his own divine identity and mission.

So... as Christians and/or Latter-day Saints, we ought to all consider this: If there had been no Maccabean revolt, if Jerusalem and the temple had not been liberated, if Antiochus and the Syrians had prevailed in obliterating the Jewish religion and identity, there would not have been a Jewish town called Nazareth, and no virtuous Jewish maiden named Mary. Nor would there have been a righteous man named Joseph, nor a Davidic village of Bethlehem. There would have been no Jewish nation awaiting a Messiah. The entire setting for the birth and life of Jesus would not have existed.

--Taken from an article by Jeffery Chadwick Professor of Religion at BYU

Which is why I found it justified to celebrate Hanukkah this year. Typical celebration includes lighting one candle on the menorah each day for eight days in remembrance of the rededication of the temple, eating food fried in oil (symbolic of the oil in the temple), playing dreidle (a gambling games in which the letters on the dreidle say: "a miracle happened here), and praying and giving thanks to our Heavenly Father.

Thanks be to God that there was a revolt, there was a Hanukkah, and the Jewish nation survived. This prepared the way for the first Christmas, and Jesus the Messiah was born into the world. So Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to everyone!