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Happy Chanukah



Approximately 2300 years ago the land of Judea had been conquered by the Syrian Greeks. The Temple had been given over to worship of the gods of the conquerers. Judah Maccabee and his brothers led a group that reconquered Judea. After three years they succeeded and one of their first acts was to clean the Temple and rededicate it to worship. They went to light the eternal light -- a light that is in every Jewish house of worship -- and found a small amount of oil. It looked to be only enough oil for one day, but miraculously the oil burned for eight days and 2300 years later we remember this miracle and light candles for eight nights.

Chanukah has always been a favorite holiday. As a child I loved the candles and had my own tiny menorah, the eight branched candle holder, that used birthday candles. I also liked the presents, though they were generally simple and useful. I did get presents -- or a present -- on each night, but some nights were navy cotton knee socks for school or a new cotton slip. One of my favorite gifts was the Life Saver Treasure Book, with seven rolls of assorted Life Savers.

And now? I love the idea that 2300 years later we are still celebrating a miracle and that light can shine from a time of darkness.

Wishing you light and hope and miracles!

8 comments

Cynthia K. said...

Thank you ~ and I will receive that blessing you gave to us -- light and hope and miracles - I want and need all of them. Thanks for the lovely story behind this holiday (holy day).

This really brought memories back to me- of the Life Savers book you mentioned - we always got that every Christmas as one of our little gifts and we loved it -- we felt like we had such a good supply of them and that they'd last a really long time - DID'NT - because we would suck and chew on those all day long. My very favorite was the Butter Rum flavor - do you remember that one? Makes me want me right now...

Cynthia K. (Beauty and Blessings)

I'm mostly known as 'MA' said...

I still give my children a Life Saver treasure book every year. It's one of those things that has become a tradition. I hope they never stop making them.

Sybil said...

Thank you for that lovely lesson. I have never heard of the Life Saver Treasure book over here in the UK....sounds as if it would have been good to have. I hope that you have a wonderul weekend.
Love Sybil xx

Olde Dame Penniwig said...

Poor Hanukkah gets rather eclipsed by Xmas!!! When my neice converted to Judaism, I was sort of at a loss, so I gave her a tiny menorah for Christmas (lol) and it turned out to be one of her most treasured items! She even has it still over in Israel where she moved.

Sugar said...

nice post. i wanted to come by & ty for visiting my blog & leaving a comment, hope you sign on as a follower. i have signed up to follow yours. if you'd like a few lovely Hanukkah tags, let me know & i'll email them to you...as i may tags, & made a few last yr for my Jewish friend/readers.
have a lovely day.

Dixie said...

a wonderul reminder...

Thanks for visiting, commenting, following and/or blogging about my 300th post giveaway! Good Luck!

Blessing. Dixie

Amrita said...

THis is wonderful. Happy Chanukah

Chatty Crone said...

I hadn't thought about that story in a long time. Thank you for telling it again.