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Hanukkah begins December 25 this year

This year December 25 will hold significance for both Christians and those of the Jewish faith as the first day of the eight-day celebration of Hanukkah coincides with Christmas.

As Christians wind down their celebrations on Christmas Day, at sundown, followers of Judaism will begin a celebration marking a time in history when the Jewish people triumphed over oppression.

Hanukkah is a story rooted in Israel when Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the king of Syria captured Jerusalmem in 167 BC.

"At the time Jerusalem, which remains a major religious seat for Jewish people as well as other religions, but way back, Jerusalem was the main religious seat of the Jewish people," said local businessman Jason Hurwitz, who is a member of Temple Beth Ha Sholom.

"Antiochus sent his soldiers into Jerusalem...for many reasons, but among them, he decided he wanted to abolish Judaism," Hurwitz said.

Antiochus had told the Jewish people that they could no longer observe Shabbat or Sabbath. He also forbade celebrating religious festivals and put in place other rules as a way of forcing the issue.

"They desecrated -- they really destroyed a lot of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem," Hurwitz said.

"It was a really bad time for the Jewish people."

According to historical accounts, Antiochus waged a "severe persecution against the Jews," by destroying the city wall, desecrating the temple by sacrificing to pagan gods and seeking to eliminate Torah observance.

It was during this time of persecution that a group of Jewish resistance fighters, known as the Maccabees, revolted against Antiochus.

"The Maccabees get their name from the family that was sort of centered in creating that group. The last name of that family was Maccabee, and Mattathias was the dad. Judah was the son who became really the most famous of the Maccabees and he was the leader of this resistance movement," Hurwitz explained.

"As the story goes, the Maccabees were wildly outnumbered, wildly out trained. They didn't have as many weapons or anything like that, and yet they still managed to defeat the Syrians; push them out of Jerusalem; and reclaim the temple and the holy city for the Jewish people," he said.

One of the ways in which this victory is celebrated is by lighting the menorah which is a candelabra that has eight candles one for each day of the celebration and a ninth candle, the Shamash, is used to light the other candles.

"The reason that it's eight candles that we light, because, as the legend goes, when the Jews reclaimed the temple, they discovered that there was only enough oil to light what we call the eternal light in the temple, for one night. So there was only enough oil to last for one night and it was going to take eight nights to replenish," he said.

"There was only enough oil for one night but the legend has it that the miracle that happened was that the oil that should only have lasted for one night ended up lasting for eight nights until more oil could be delivered, and that is why we celebrate Hanukkah for eight nights, to celebrate the miracle of the oil. lasting for eight nights.

A new candle plus all the candles from the previous days are lit each day, so that at the end of the eight days of Hanukkah, all the candles are lit.

Each night an additional candle is lit. On the first night of Hanukkah one candle is lit, on the second night of Hanukkah, two candles are lit so by the end of the eight days, the menorah is full of candles and full of light...it brings warmth and light into a time of year and into a story that could otherwise be very dark, cold and potentially overwhelming. The lights on the menorah help to dispel that darkness in our world," he said.

Most of the observances of Hanukkah are done in the home, although Temple Beth Ha Sholom, the Reform congregation in town, is hosting a Hanukkah celebration for their congregation, Hurwitz said.

"You know, at the end of the day, although Hanukkah has become a major holiday in significance. From a religious perspective, it's considered a minor holiday. So a lot of the significance comes from the fact that it happens around Christmas. It involves gifts, and so it's gotten a big name. But again, from a religious perspective, it's considered a minor holiday," he said.

Although this year Hanukkah begins on the Christian holiday of Christmas, that is not always the case.

"Everything in Judaism follows the lunar calendar, the moon cycles. So Hanukkah each year starts on a different day, according to the Hebrew calendar-the Jewish calendar. It starts on the same day every year, which is the 25th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev, which usually falls during December, but it has come as early as November. This year is about as late as it could start," he said.

Although the first day of Hanukkah this year begins at sundown on Wednesday, usually by that time, Christmas festivities are winding down.

One thing he wants people to understand is that even though Christmas and Hanukkah share certain similarities, Hanukkah is not "Jewish Christmas."

"It's a celebration of freedom, it's a celebration of family and love. I think one thing that people sometimes think is that Hanukkah is sort of the 'Jewish Christmas.' I've heard it referred to as the Jewish Christmas, and that is not accurate..that's not the case, right? It really is its own holiday with its own celebrations," he said.

"The only overlap between it and Christmas is the gift giving and the family time. But other than that, again, it's a celebration of Jews overcoming persecution, overcoming a dark period in our history as a religion and as a people, and remembering that in a way that turns a dark period of our history into bringing light and joy into the world," he said.

'While we're lighting the candles, we sing prayers over the candles. Once the menorah has been lit, then at least in our family, and a lot of families I know, we'll sing some songs-as with most religions and most celebrations there are songs specific to it. There's a lot of different songs that families may or may not sing, depending on their family's tradition," he said.

"It is traditional and customary and fun to play the dreidel game, which is a spinning top where people play to try and win a prize from the other people that they're playing with. And then gift giving is oftentimes, you know, most families will do at least a little gift each night. Some families will do little gifts throughout and one big gift on the final night. Some families give gifts throughout that are big, small, medium. Some families do just one big gift for the whole thing, it really just depends on each family's tradition, how they handle the gift giving," he said.

"Jewish people around the world do celebrate Hanukkah, and all of them start on the 25th day of Kislev. For all intents and purposes, the celebrations are the same, although I'm not as familiar with how it's celebrated outside the United States. One of the things that my understanding is different, is that gift giving is less of the tradition outside of the United States, although that has grown in popularity around the world as well. Gift giving was never part of the original celebration of Hanukkah, again, relatively minor holiday. It was more about lighting the menorah candles, singing the songs, saying the prayers, and less about the gift giving," Hurwitz said.

"The gift giving was added sort of early 1900s here in the United States, and a lot of that, as we look at research or historical context, a lot of that seems to have been more due to the influence of it happening around Christmas, where gift giving is a big part of the celebration, So that was sort of a reflection, I think, of Jews becoming more a part of American culture and saying that's a really cool tradition, let's add that to this holiday," he added.

Hurwitz reflected on celebrating Hanukkah when he was younger, remembering it as a time of feeling the comfort of being with his family, lighting the candles, singing the prayers and songs, playing Dreidel and opening gifts.

"Now, as a parent, my favorite memory and my favorite night of the year each year is the last night of Hanukkah when we have all eight candles, technically all nine candles, including the shamash, lit on the menorah and in our family-my wife and myself and our two kids-we actually light candles in all the menorahs we have in our house. So I think it's usually about four or five of them that we're lighting," he said.

"So we have, you know, 50-some candles going on our dining room table and it's just this gorgeous, warm candlelit glow. We turn off all the other lights in the house, and we just have that nice, warm moment as a family. And it's really special and intimate and meaningful," he added.