Hanukkah - Honoring Our Heritage

As Hanukkah nears, Hasmoean-era site in central Israel should be upgraded

by Howie Mischel

Hanukkah is upon us. Throughout the Land of Israel preparations for this most beautiful and universally loved holiday is underway. When you open a newspaper this week you will see announcements for dozens of parties, plays, concerts and other activities celebrating the festival of freedom.

In our schools and yeshivot children will be taught about the history of the Hasmoneans and the Maccabees, about the victory of the few over the many, of the triumph of light over darkness. And this is as it should be. We have much to be thankful for and to celebrate in our land as we find inspiration in what occurred here more than 2,000 years ago.

There’s only one thing that’s wrong with this picture. In the City of Modi’in, just 17 miles from Jerusalem, where Matityahu and his five sons began the rebellion that helped preserve the Jewish future, there is an archaeological site. It is a hillside at the edge of the Buchman neighborhood and beneath it is an ancient Hasmonean period village that many believe to be the site of ancient Modi’in.

In 2001, excavations by the Israel Antiquities Authority uncovered one of the oldest synagogues ever found in Israel. The site has been prominently positioned on Prime Minister Netanyahu’s list of heritage sites in Eretz Yisrael. Yet there is not a plaque, a road sign, a light or any form of marker to signal to citizens or visitors from around the world that this important ancient site has been discovered in the virtual center of our country.

Despite this sad situation, not everyone has missed the cue with regard to this site. A project to properly preserve the site and develop it into an archaeological park and educational visitor center was initiated by former deputy mayor Alex Weinreb. The proposed plan was developed with the input of numerous consulting experts and a team from the Israel Government Tourist Office.

Stand where Judah Maccabee once stood
But today, years later, and under a new municipal administration this site lies abandoned. The proposed project is unfunded. The excavated synagogue is now covered with thick brush and is surrounded by a security fence to prevent further theft of precious stones from the site. Not a shekel has been spent to help improve the site or allow it to be marked and opened for even low level use by our citizens.

The current city administration purports to have a concept for creating some sort of development fund in order to raise dollars to finance a variety of projects around Modi’in. Reportedly, it would be fashioned after Mayor Teddy Kollek’s Jerusalem Foundation which did so much for that city’s preservation and development. But Modi’in is not Jerusalem and its current mayor is missing an important point.

While he may have grandiose plans for funding dozens of projects around this beautiful and rapidly developing new city, there really is only one reason why a visitor to Israel would pull off Highway 1 on a drive from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. That reason would be to come to the Eretz HaMaccabim Visitor Center so they could stand where Judah Maccabee once stood and learn something about our struggle for freedom and the fight against oppression and assimilation in those times.

That site should be the first and primary focus of the city’s efforts but that would presume appreciation and understanding of our history and who we are. Growing numbers of residents in our neighborhood have come to understand the significance of what we have here and also realize that a key future economic driver for the city could lie beneath that hillside.

One of the most memorable moments of my Aliyah last year was to join about 150 men and women from our neighborhood at a Kabbalat Shabbat service at the ancient synagogue on the first night of Hanukkah. I plan to be there again this coming Shabbat to pray, to celebrate, to remember and to give thanks. And to hope that somehow something can be done to correct this situation and ensure that this important historical site will be properly remembered and ultimately preserved for our future generations.





Ynet News

Chanukkah - Hannukah

Chanukah, the Jewish festival of rededication, also known as the festival of lights, is an eight day festival beginning on the 25th day of the Jewish month of Kislev.

Chanukah is probably one of the best known Jewish holidays, not because of any great religious significance, but because of its proximity to Christmas. Many non-Jews (and even many assimilated Jews!) think of this holiday as the Jewish Christmas, adopting many of the Christmas customs, such as elaborate gift-giving and decoration. It is bitterly ironic that this holiday, which has its roots in a revolution against assimilation and suppression of Jewish religion, has become the most assimilated, secular holiday on our calendar.

The story of Chanukah begins in the reign of Alexander the Great. Alexander conquered Syria, Egypt and Judea, but allowed the people under his control to continue observing their own religions and retain a certain degree of autonomy. Under this relatively benevolent rule, many Jews assimilated, adopting much of Hellenistic culture, including the language, customs, dress, etc., in much the same way that Jews in America today blend into the secular American society.

More than a century later, a successor of Alexander, Antiochus IV was in control of the region. He began to oppress the Jews severely, placing a Hellenistic priest in the Temple, massacring Jews, prohibiting the practice of the Jewish religion, and desecrating the Temple by requiring the sacrifice of pigs (a non-kosher animal) on the altar. Two groups opposed Antiochus: a basically nationalistic group led by Mattathias the Hasmonean and his son Judah Maccabee, and a religious traditionalist group known as the Chasidim, the forerunners of the Pharisees (no direct connection to the modern movement known as Chasidism). They joined forces in a revolt against both the assimilation of the Hellenistic Jews and oppression by the Selucid Greek government. The revolution succeeded and the Temple was rededicated.

According to tradition as recorded in the Talmud, at the time of the rededication, there was very little oil left that had not been defiled by the Greeks. Oil was needed for the menorah (candelabrum) in the Temple, which was supposed to burn throughout the night every night. There was only enough oil to burn for one day, yet miraculously, it burned for eight days. An eight day festival was declared to commemorate this miracle. Note that the holiday commemorates the miracle of the oil, not the military victory: Jews do not glorify war.

Chanukah is not a very important religious holiday. The holiday's religious significance is far less than that of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Passover, and Shavu'ot. It is roughly equivalent to Purim in significance, and you won't find many non-Jews who have even heard of Purim! Chanukah is not mentioned in Jewish scripture; the story is related in the book of the Maccabbees, which Jews do not accept as scripture.

The only religious observance related to the holiday is the lighting of candles. The candles are arranged in a candelabrum called a Hanukia. Many people refer to the Hanukia incorrectly as a menorah. The name menorah is used only to describe the seven-branched candelabrum that was housed in the Jewish Temple. The Hanukiah holds nine candles: one for each night, plus a shamash (servant) at a different height. On the first night, one candle is placed at the far right. The shamash candle is lit and three berakhot (blessings) are recited: l'hadlik neir (a general prayer over candles), she-asah nisim (a prayer thanking G-d for performing miracles for our ancestors at this time), and she-hekhianu (a general prayer thanking G-d for allowing us to reach this time of year). The first candle is then lit using the shamash candle, and the shamash candle is placed in its holder. The candles are allowed to burn out on their own after a minimum of 1/2 hour. Each night, another candle is added from right to left (like the Hebrew language). Candles are lit from left to right (because you pay honor to the newer thing first).

Because of the law prohibiting the lighting of a fire on Shabbat, Chanukah candles are lit before the Shabbat candles on Friday night, and they are lit after Havdalah on Saturday night. The following blessings are said:

"Baruch atah adonai eloheinu melech ha'olam asher kid'shanu b'mitzvotav v'tzivanu l'hadlik neir shel Chanukah.

"Baruch atah adonai eloheinu melech ha'olam she'asah
nisim la'avoteinu bayamim haheim baz'man hazeh".

On the first night, the Shehecheyanu is also recited.

Why the shamash candle? The Chanukah candles are for pleasure only; we are not allowed to use them for any productive purpose. We keep an extra one around (the shamash), so that if we need to do something useful with a candle, we don't accidentally use the Chanukah candles. The shamash candle is at a different height so that it is easily identified as the shamash.

It is traditional to eat fried foods on this holiday, because of the significance of oil to the holiday. Among Ashkenazic Jews, this usually includes latkes (pronounced “lot-kuhs” or “lot-keys” depending on where your grandmother comes from), or “potato pancakes.”

Gift-giving is not a traditional part of the holiday, but has been added in places where Jews have a lot of contact with Christians as a way of dealing with children’s jealousy of their Christian friends. The only traditional gift of the holiday is “gelt,” small amounts of money. Chanukah gelt is a Jewish custom rooted in the Talmud: “The Talmud states that even a very poor person must light Chanukah lights, even if he can’t afford it. A person with no money is required to go ‘knocking on doors’ until he collects enough to buy at least one candle for each night of Chanukah. The Torah concept of charity -- tzedakah -- requires us to help the recipient in the most dignified manner possible. Therefore, the custom arose to give gifts of money during Chanukah so that someone who needs extra money for Chanukah candles can receive it in the form of ‘Chanukah Gelt.’”

Another tradition of the holiday is playing dreidel, a gambling game played with a square top. Most people play for matchsticks, pennies, M&Ms or chocolate coins. A dreidel is marked with the following four Hebrew letters: Nun, Gimmel, Heh and Shin. On Israeli dreidels, there is no Shin but rather a Peh, which stands for Po, meaning here.

This supposedly stands for the Hebrew phrase “nes gadol hayah sham,” a great miracle happened there. Actually, it stands for the Yiddish words nit (nothing), gantz (all), halb (half) and shtell (put), which is the rules of the game! There are some variations in the way people play the game, but the way I learned it, everyone puts in one coin. A person spins the dreidel. On Nun, nothing happens; on Gimmel (or, as we called it as kids, “gimme!”), you get the whole pot; on Heh, you get half of the pot; and on Shin, you put one in. When the pot is empty, everybody puts one in. Keep playing until one person has everything. Then redivide it, because nobody likes a poor winner.

A traditional song of this holiday is “Maoz Tzur,” better known to Christians as “Rock of Ages” (the tune is the same as one of the more popular ones; the Christian translation takes substantial liberties).





By: Jewish Virtual Library