Chanukah is a joyful eight-day holiday celebrated in early winter, usually in December. It commemorates events that took place nearly 2,200 years ago! Back then, the Beit Hamikdash (Holy Temple) stood in Jerusalem, and most Jews lived in Israel, which was under the control of the Greek Empire. The Greeks tried to ruin the Beit Hamikdash and force the Jews to abandon the Torah and their Jewish way of life. The proud Jews resisted with great courage, relying on their tefillot (prayers) and their battle swords. With Hashem’s (God’s) miraculous help, they defeated the Greeks, cleaned and restored the Beit Hamikdash, and relit the menorah, bringing Hashem and the light of Torah back into the center Jewish life.
Pure Oil!
The most famous miracle on Chanukah had to do with the menorah! After the discovery of one single, small jar of clean oil, the Kohanim (priests) lit the menorah for the first time in many years, expecting the oil to last for one night. To their surprise and delight, the flames burned for 7 more days and nights, until new pure bottle of oil was brought.
To Remember The Miracle
Every year we celebrate Chanukah and for 8 nights we light a menorah by a window or a doorway that faces a street to show ourselves and the whole world that even almost 2,200 years later, we are still living a Torah way of life. The Midrash1 mentions that the Jews are compared to the olive and its primary by-product, olive oil. Other liquids mix together easily, but oil always stays separate.
In Our life
Some people think that they need to be like all of the non-Jewish people around them, that they need to blend in with their neighbors. On Chanukah, we mimic the Maccabi heroes from our
past and use the Chanukah flames to shout loud and clear that we are proud to be true to our Torah and our Jewish way of life
A Closer Look
Chanukah is so much more than an amazing story about the miracles Hashem performed for the Jews in ancient Israel. It’s a holiday with a deeper meaning that has impacted the Jewish nation for more than 2,000 years. The Greeks were a unique culture. They came from Yafet, one of Noach’s sons.2
He was blessed with a special talent for creating beauty, and that’s why the Greeks focused so much on outward beauty; strong muscles, art, music, literature, fancy buildings, and stylish clothing. Their intelligence and philosophy were also admired. But there was a big problem: all this beauty and knowledge had no real purpose. It was just for show.
When the Greeks conquered a country, they didn’t just take over the land and demand taxes. They wanted everyone to live like them. They built libraries in big cities for people to learn Greek ideas and opened gymnasiums to exercise and socialize. These gyms had statues of Greek gods to promote idol worship. The Greeks tried to replace the culture of the people they conquered with their own, known as assimilation, when people adopt the dominant culture around them.3
We’re Not Like Them!
Most nations didn’t mind this. After all, who wouldn’t want to be like the most powerful empire? But the Jews didn’t agree. When Israel became part of the Greek empire, they weren’t interested in Greek libraries, gods, or philosophies.
The Jews already had beautiful buildings, delicious food, and special clothing. The difference was that everything they had was used to serve Hashem. For example, they sang zemirot (songs), used their best dishes, and wore special clothing to make Shabbat beautiful. They built an architecturally gorgeous building in which to serve Hashem, the Beit Hamikdash. They exercised and rested to be healthy and strong enough to do mitzvot.
The Jews were proud of their way of life and knew it was perfect just as Hashem designed it! This pride made the Greeks angry. They couldn’t stand the idea that another culture might be better than theirs, so they worked harder to make the Jews assimilate.4
Some Fell For It
Sadly, some Jews were tempted by the Greeks’ way of life. They thought Greek clothing, names, and ideas were more exciting than their own. These Jews, called Mityavnim, were embarrassed by Jewish traditions and acted as Greek as possible.
Worse, they pressured Torah true friends to follow them. The Greeks, along with the Mityavnim, made life hard for Jews who were loyal to the Torah. But these Jews didn’t give up. With Hashem’s help, the Maccabees – a tiny army of Torah-true Jews fought back and miraculously pushed the Greeks out of Israel. They helped the Jewish people rediscover their roots and connection to Torah.
We Keep Our Jewish Pride
Every year on Chanukah, we take pride in the foundational differences between the values of the Greeks and the values in Judaism.5 Greek values stemmed from an obsession with external beauty.6 As Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi (author of The Kuzari) warned, “Beware the wisdom of Greece, for it has no fruit, only flowers.” Fruit provides nutrition and sustenance, while a flower, though very pretty, eventually withers and dies.
Greek society valued the external and superficial, believing that only physical experiences, what they could taste, touch, or understand were real. This is completely opposite of the Torah, which teaches that everything in the physical world has a spiritual meaning and a purpose and can be used to serve Hashem.
When We Were Captured
Originally, the Greeks were excited with the Jews and were delighted to discover an intellectually advanced nation like them. The Jewish people valued intellect and so did the Greeks who saw it smart brains as evidence of humanity’s greatness.
However, the Greeks were surprised and frustrated to find that the Jews were also proud of their unique culture and uninterested in sharing their sacred knowledge. They were also apposed to adopting Greek ideas. By the time King Antiochus came to power, he was angry that the proud Jews continued to reject Greek culture, despite its emphasis on physical beauty and intellectual achievements.
The Forbidden Mitzvot
When Jews said, “No, thanks! We’re good!” to Greek ideals, Antiochus targeted these specific mitzvot that epitomized Jewish values and forbade the Jews to carry them out:7
- Rosh Chodesh: Time, to the Greeks, was a fixed mathematical concept. Judaism teaches that Jews, through sanctifying the new month, transcend time not merely using calculations but actively determining its beginning. This defied Greek notions of rigid mathematical structures.
- Brit Milah: The Greeks celebrated the perfection of the human body. Jews, through brit milah, show that physical bodies are incomplete without spiritual purpose, a concept completely contrary to Greek ideals.
- Kosher Laws: While the Jews “eat to live,” the Greeks “lived to eat.” The idea that certain foods were forbidden, even without logical explanation, was incomprehensible to the Greeks.
- Torah Study: For Jews, the purpose of learning is not merely intellectual but to live a life of Torah. This clashed with the Greek view of knowledge as a pursuit for its own sake.
The Destruction Of The Temple
Although the Greeks had magnificent temples for their gods, the idea of a beautiful building devoted to one unseen God baffled their minds. In their frustration, they stormed the Temple, defiled it, and offered pigs on the holy mizbeach (altar)! Despite these efforts, the Torah-true Jews remained steadfast. They continued to take pride in the Torah and their way of life, even under threat of death.
For them, life without Torah was unimaginable, and they fought their battles with the unmistakable confidence that they were fighting a war for Hashem and for a Jewish life. When the Maccabees reclaimed the Beit Hamikdash, they discovered that much of it had been damaged. The menorah was gone, and they could only find one small jar of pure oil, just enough to last for one day. Even so, they used it to light a makeshift menorah made from spears.8
A Miracle!
Miraculously, instead of burning for just 1 night, the oil kept the flames burning for 8 nights and days. But why did the miracle happen with oil? Why didn’t Hashem just make a new menorah appear?
The message of Chanukah is about finding the deeper, hidden beauty, the spiritual meaning behind everything. That’s why the miracle came through the oil, not the menorah itself. Even though there was other oil available, it wasn’t spiritually pure. The focus was on using something that stayed true to Jewish values.
Deciding What’s Important
Every moment of life has both physical and spiritual sides. Deciding which one to focus on is a challenge we face every day. The miracle of the oil reminds us that while physical things matter, they’re not the most important.
What really counts is the spiritual meaning behind them.9 We celebrate Chanukah to highlight the fact that we are a nation that experiences life for a greater purpose, and we light the menorah to remind ourselves and anyone who sees the flames, that Jewish pride and resistance to assimilation was and always will be strong.
Logo Logic
Did you know that big companies spend millions—sometimes even billions of dollars to make sure people recognize them? Think about it: when you see the Nike swoosh, the Apple logo, or the Amazon arrow, you instantly know what those companies are, right? That’s because they work super hard to make their logos famous and unforgettable. But guess what? Judaism has its very own “logo,” and it doesn’t cost a single penny!
Wherever you go in the world no matter what country or time in history, there’s one thing that tells everyone, “This person is Jewish.” What is it? The menorah! When people walk by homes or apartments and see a menorah glowing in the window during Chanukah, it’s like a bright, proud advertisement. It sends a clear message: “This is who I am. I am Jewish, and I am proud of it!” Just like companies want to be recognized, we light the menorah to show the world that we’re connected to our Jewish identity and proud of our heritage.
Our Mission:
It’s our job as Jews to prove to ourselves and to the world that being Jewish means using everything in the world – our talents, our time, and even simple things like oil and wicks for something bigger, something holy. So, as you light the menorah this Chanukah, remember: you’re not just lighting up your home. You’re lighting up the whole world with pride, purpose, and joy!
Excerpted from Oorah’s Torah Nuggets
What is Chanukah? – Sources:
1 Based on the account written in Megillah Antiochas, as well as Ch. 3 of Rambam Hilchot Chanukah
2 Rav Shimshon Rafael Hirsh, Moadim B’hashkafat Rav Hirsh
3 Miraculous Journey by Yosef Eisen
4 Shemot Rabbah 36:1
5 Zohar Shemot 237
6 Menachot 28b
7 Shabbat 21; Rambam 3:1-3, Shulchan Aruch 670-672 and Mishna Berurah there; Kitzar Shulchan Aruch 139
8 Rema Hilchot Chanukah 670 citing Kol Bo and Ra”n
9 See Otzar Kol Minhagei Yeshurun 19:4 By Rabbi Avrohom Elazar Hershovitz Ish Kovna
