Today I want to talk about why we celebratre Hanuka. The first Hanuka occured about the 2nd century BC. There was a king, Antocius II, who disliked the torah, another name for the Bible. He forbid the reading of torah and would comend anyone to death if they read it. God did not permit the Jews to sacrifice pigs, let alone on His altar. In the temple of God, Antocius II set up a idol of Zuez, burnt pigs on God’s altar, and poured pig’s blood over the torah scroles. Fortunantly, there was a priest who had a son Judah Maccabee. He and his brothers loved God with their whole heart, and they decided to get Jerusalem back and restore the temple. With only a few hundred people,the Maccabee’s made war against the greeks. Even though it seemed they shouldn’t have won the war, God helped them and they won! After they got he temple back, they had to light the lampstand that was in the holy place, but they had to use pure olive oil. The greeks had unpurified all the flasks of oil but one, which left only enough oil to last them one day; however, it lasted eight days. It took eight days to process new oil and purify it, which was used to keep the lampstand lighted as God had commanded them to do so. That is why we celebrate Hanukah for eight days, to comemorate the miracles God did for his people.
Happy Hanukah!! J
ALS
12-17-12
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