Happy Hanukkah and חַג חֲנוּכָּה שַׂמֵחַ! Today is the first night of the Jewish Festival of Lights. While I am a Catholic and therefore do not celebrate Hanukkah, having Jewish family and knowing that Christianity is grounded in Judaism I want to wish a happy festival to all Jews.
Hanukkah commemorates the retaking of Jerusalem and the cleansing of the Temple related in the Biblical book of 1 Maccabees (Maccabees 1 and 2 were considered Scripture by some Jews until after the advent of Christianity, at which time some books considered canonical by the Catholic Christians were removed from the official Hebrew canon).
“[Britannica] Hanukkah commemorates the Maccabean (Hasmonean) victories over the forces of the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes (reigned 175–164 [BC]) and the rededication of the Temple on Kislev 25, 164 [BC]. Led by Mattathias and his son Judas Maccabeus (died c. 161 [BC]), the Maccabees were the first Jews who fought to defend their religious beliefs rather than their lives. According to I Maccabees…Antiochus had invaded Judaea, tried to Hellenize the Jews, and desecrated the Second Temple in Jerusalem. Following the Jewish victory in a three-year struggle against Antiochus, Judas ordered the cleansing and restoration of the Temple. After it was purified, a new altar was installed and dedicated on Kislev 25. Judas then proclaimed that the dedication of the restored Temple should be celebrated every year for eight days beginning on that date. In II Maccabees the celebration is compared to the festival of Sukkoth(the Feast of Tabernacles or Feast of Booths), which the Jews were unable to celebrate because of the invasion of Antiochus. Hanukkah, therefore, emerged as a celebration of the dedication, as the word itself suggests.
Although the traditional practice of lighting candles at Hanukkah was not established in the books of the Maccabees, the custom most likely started relatively early. The practice is enshrined in the Talmud (Shabbat 21b), which describes the miracle of the oil in the Temple. According to the Talmud, when Judas Maccabeus entered the Temple, he found only a small jar of oil that had not been defiled by Antiochus. The jar contained only enough oil to burn for one day, but miraculously the oil burned for eight days until new consecrated oil could be found, establishing the precedent that the festival should last eight days.”
Pope Pius XI once reminded Christians, “Spiritually, we are Semites.” May the God of both Jews and Christians bless His chosen people as they celebrate Hanukkah.
Khazarian Jews are not Semites. Modern Zionism is not the true heir of Biblical Israel. And Christianity is not founded on the broken-off branch of post-biblical Rabbinic Judaism.
Happy Hanukkah.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻