ThinkBlog

http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday7.htm

At sundown tonight, the Jewish Festival of Lights begins. (Jewish calendars reckon the days having started with darkness because of the order of Creation. It’s a great concept, one I’ll definitely have to revisit: think of the night of the soul before God breathes order and light into it!) This, the 25th day of Kislev (the ninth month of the Hebrew calendar), marks the beginning of the eight-day festival.

When the Jews were being brutally persecuted by Antiochus, who was also defiling the Temple and sacrificing pigs on the altar (it’s difficult to convey how vile both of these are to the Jewish people: the reaction to the World Trade Centers falling is a shadow that comes closest to this evil in the mind of a Jew), a few of them got together and revolted.

Revolutionary success was followed by a different crisis: there was not enough oil left undefiled for the menorah, which was supposed to burn all night every night, to even burn through a single night. Nevertheless, the menorah burned for eight days, after which there was again enough oil.

Check the Jew FAQ for more information.

Happy Hanukkah. Be well.

http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday7.htm

At sundown tonight, the Jewish Festival of Lights begins. (Jewish calendars reckon the days having started with darkness because of the order of Creation. It’s a great concept, one I’ll definitely have to revisit: think of the night of the soul before God breathes order and light into it!) This, the 25th day of Kislev (the ninth month of the Hebrew calendar), marks the beginning of the eight-day festival.

When the Jews were being brutally persecuted by Antiochus, who was also defiling the Temple and sacrificing pigs on the altar (it’s difficult to convey how vile both of these are to the Jewish people: the reaction to the World Trade Centers falling is a shadow that comes closest to this evil in the mind of a Jew), a few of them got together and revolted.

Revolutionary success was followed by a different crisis: there was not enough oil left undefiled for the menorah, which was supposed to burn all night every night, to even burn through a single night. Nevertheless, the menorah burned for eight days, after which there was again enough oil.

Check the Jew FAQ for more information.

Happy Hanukkah. Be well.