What Is the Origin of Hanukkah?
The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah owes its origins to Judas Maccabeus’s victories over the Seleucid armies and the Maccabees’ subsequent rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem in 164 bce. However, the meaning of that origin story has been interpreted in different ways over the centuries. The historian Flavius Josephus in the 1st century ce first dubbed Hanukkah the “Festival of Lights.” A portion of the Talmud from about 450–550 adds the miraculous story of one day’s worth of oil burning for eight days in the Temple after the holy site had been reclaimed. In modern times in the United States, Hanukkah’s proximity to Christmas has turned the Festival of Lights into a winter event and raised its prominence in Jewish tradition.
The Maccabean revolt
Hanukkah is not mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and first appears in the Books of the Maccabees, texts of the Apocrypha that are excluded from the Jewish canon but included in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox canons. According to I Maccabees, the Hellenistic Syrian king Antiochus IV Epiphanes (reigned 175–164 bce) invaded Judaea and tried to Hellenize the Jews. He desecrated the Second Temple in Jerusalem by dedicating it to the Greek god Zeus. The Maccabees (Hasmoneans), led by Mattathias and his son Judas Maccabeus (died c. 161 bce), fought to defend Jewish religious beliefs and distinct culture. Many Jews of this time, however, did adapt to Greek culture, including some priests of the Temple. The Maccabees were staunchly opposed to Hellenization and any alteration in Jewish practices. Historians suggest that the conflict between the Maccabees and the Seleucids was also a proxy for an internal fight between the zealous and purist Maccabees and the assimilationist and reform-minded Jews. This historical origin of the holiday allows for multiple interpretations—including resistance to oppression and defiance of cultural adaptation—depending on emphasis.
In I Maccabees 4 it is related that Judas Maccabeus reconsecrated the Temple on Kislev 25 in the Jewish calendar (usually falling in December on the Gregorian calendar), and he and his followers then celebrated its rededication for eight days, thus establishing that period beginning on Kislev 25 as an eight-day holiday. Hanukkah in Hebrew means “dedication” and refers to the Maccabees’ feat of purifying and dedicating the Temple to God.
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Hanukkah makes a brief appearance in the Gospel of John 10:22, when Jesus enters the Temple of Jerusalem in winter during Hanukkah, which is identified as the Feast of Dedication (Greek: enkainia). As the scene unfolds, the assembled Jews inquire of Jesus whether he is the messiah. He claims to be the son of God, but the Jews reject him, take up stones, and try to have him arrested, causing him to flee.
Evidence from II Maccabees suggests that the holiday possibly originated as a belated celebration of the seven-day Sukkot festival paired with its eighth day, Shemini Atzeret (Hebrew: “Eighth Day of the Solemn Assembly”). Sukkot is one of the three Pilgrim Festivals in the Hebrew Bible, and, until the Roman destruction of the Temple in 70 ce, its rituals were performed in the month of Tishri (September or October) in the holy Temple in Jerusalem. On this historical account, the eight days of Sukkot, including Shemini Atzeret, could only be observed in the Temple once Judas Maccabeus had reclaimed it.
The Talmudic twist
The works of I and II Maccabees were written about 150–100 bce, shortly after the events they describe. A similar history is recounted 250 years after the fact in Flavius Josephus’s The Antiquities of the Jews (completed 93 ce). Josephus is the first to call Hanukkah the “Festival of Lights,” although for him the lights are less a reference to physical candles in the menorah than a metaphor for religious freedom.
A new twist to the story of the Maccabees and Hanukkah was provided by the rabbinic authorities who, centuries later, compiled the Babylonian Talmud. In Tractate Shabbat 21b (c. 450–550 ce) of the Babylonian Talmud, brief mention is made of Hanukkah, focusing on the proper lighting of candles, with only a short mention of its origin. In this Talmudic account, the military battles are largely left out and it is only mentioned that the Greeks who had entered the Temple defiled the oil used for lighting lamps. When the Maccabees retake the Temple, they find only one undefiled oil vessel with only enough oil to burn in the Temple’s candelabra for one day. But a miracle allows one day’s worth of oil to last eight days until more oil can be obtained. This new origin story suggests that Hanukkah is a commemoration of a divine miracle. The Babylonian Talmud (Shabbat 23b) further elaborates that it is important to publicize this miracle, so the Hanukkah menorah is often kindled outside the home or visibly in the home’s window.
Modern popularity
Hanukkah has traditionally been regarded as a minor holiday relative to major Jewish festivals such as Passover, Rosh Hashanah, Purim, and Yom Kippur. Hanukkah’s modern popularity and prominence among Jewish holidays began in the mid-19th century in the United States when Cincinnati-based Reform Jewish rabbis Isaac Wise and Max Lilienthal noted that Christmas was particularly popular with children. The rabbis began to remake Hanukkah as a fun and engaging holiday to excite children and increase synagogue attendance. The opportunity to celebrate a holiday about the same time as Christmas allowed American Jews to maintain their unique identity while also participating in parallel winter festivities of light and joy. The novel importance of Hanukkah soon spread from Reform Judaism to other branches of the tradition. As Christmas increasingly grew more commercialized in the early 20th century, Jews likewise added to Hanukkah such Christmas-like traditions as exchanging gifts, singing new joyful songs, and displaying Hanukkah-themed house decorations.
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