Hanukkah
Hanukkah is the annual Jewish festival celebrated on eight successive days beginning on the 25th day of Kislev, the third month of the Jewish calendar, corresponding, approximately, to December in the Gregorian calendar. It is also known as the Festival of Lights, Feast of Dedication, and Feast of the Maccabees, Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem by Judas Maccabee in 165 BC after the Temple had been profaned by Antiochus IV Epiphanes, king of Syria and overlord of Palestine.
The History of Hanukkah
Hanukkah is celebrated for eight days and nights, starting on the 25th of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar (which is November-December on the Gregorian calendar). In Hebrew, the word “Hanukkah” means “dedication.”
The holiday commemorates the rededication of the holy Temple in Jerusalem after the Jews’ 165 B.C.E. victory over the Hellenist Syrians. Antiochus, the Greek King of Syria, outlawed Jewish rituals and ordered the Jews to worship Greek gods.
In 168 B.C.E. the Jews’ holy Temple was seized and dedicated to the worship of Zeus.
Some Jews were afraid of the Greek soldiers and obeyed them, but most were angry and decided to fight back.
The fighting began in Modiin, a village not far from Jerusalem. A Greek officer and soldiers assembled the villagers, asking them to bow to an idol and eat the flesh of a pig, activities forbidden to Jews. The officer asked Mattathias, a Jewish High Priest, to take part in the ceremony. He refused, and another villager stepped forward and offered to do it instead.
Mattathias became outraged, took out his sword and killed the man, then killed the officer. His five sons and the other villagers then attacked and killed the soldiers. Mattathias’ family went into hiding in the nearby mountains, where many other Jews who wanted to fight the Greeks joined them. They attacked the Greek soldiers whenever possible.
Judah Maccabee and his soldiers went to the holy Temple, and were saddened that many things were missing or broken, including the golden menorah. They cleaned and repaired the Temple, and when they were finished, they decided to have a big dedication ceremony. For the celebration, the Maccabees wanted to light the menorah. They looked everywhere for oil, and found a small flask that contained only enough oil to light the menorah for one day.
Miraculously, the oil lasted for eight days. This gave them enough time to obtain new oil to keep the menorah lit. Today Jews celebrate Hanukkah for eight days by lighting candles in a menorah every night, thus commemorating the eight-day miracle.
Source: History.com
I am *not* anti-Semitic; I am anti-Religion in general. Here we are in the 21st Century, and a worrying proportion of the human population is still worshipping deities. Personally, I find this rather frightening. It is even more disturbing, to me at least, when highly intelligent people who really ought to know better delude themselves into believing that their “One True God” (any one of them!) has a special plan and a place for them in what must be a fantastically overcrowded heaven/paradise/afterlife – or better still, right by the very side of their “One True God”.
It really is about time that we GOT REAL, and knocked this silly, primitive and destructive religion thing on the head, and consign it to the Dark Ages where it belongs.
Science and the power rational skepticism will prevail.
Morris, NY.
Happy Hanukkah Susan and Everybody
Gabor
Morris,
Please come over to my blog to discuss the issue you brought up here. It doesn’t belong here.
Gabor
Gabor,
Do you think that Hanukkah belongs to a chess blog ?
Omer
Happy Hanukkah Susan!
I am not Jewish I am pagan, but I can respect other peoples religions and views.
Morris, NY. said
“Here we are in the 21st Century, and a worrying proportion of the human population is still worshipping deities. Personally, I find this rather frightening.”
Personally I find it frightening that here we are in the 21st Century and people still cannot live and let live and pay people respect. You don’t believe in God, I respect that. Other people do, including myself.
Morris, NY. said
“It really is about time that we GOT REAL, and knocked this silly, primitive and destructive religion thing on the head, and consign it to the Dark Ages where it belongs.”
It really is about time that we GOT REAL, and stopped expecting other people to hold the same views as ourselves. Not accepting other peoples views is silly, primitive and destructive, it needs to be consigned to the Dark Ages where it belongs.
Really sorry Susan to have answered ‘Morris NY’ comments on your blog. Gabor is right, this discussion does not belong here, but I don’t see how anyone has the right to criticise your religion on your own blog site.
Morris… nobody is forcing their religious beliefs onto you, you believe and practice whatever you feel is true…
But, don’t confuse religions in saying it is primitive and destructive… the Jews have never forced anyone to convert or fought wars to convert others… Jews have only wanted to live in harmony with their neighbors and be respected…
You might be thinking of Islam, a religion that was based on forced conversion by death, when Muhammad and his gang, roamed the desert cities forcing people to convert by the sword.
People just need to learn to live together in harmony… something the christians have finally embraced after a very bloody and checkered past.
Anonymous said…
Gabor,
Do you think that Hanukkah belongs to a chess blog ?
Omer
Mostly, this is a chess blog but, more important, this is Susan Polgar’s blog and Susan can post whatever she wants!
And she also wishes others Merry Christmas and Happy Kwanzaa as well. Chill people!
Anonymous said…
….But, don’t confuse religions in saying it is primitive and destructive… the Jews have never forced anyone to convert or fought wars to convert others… Jews have only wanted to live in harmony with their neighbors and be respected…
You might be thinking of Islam, a religion that was based on forced conversion by death, when Muhammad and his gang, roamed the desert cities forcing people to convert by the sword.
People just need to learn to live together in harmony… something the christians have finally embraced after a very bloody and checkered past
I say,
You should watch your mouth by claiming that Islam is a religion that was “forced conversion by death”.You know NOTHING about Islam and therefore no right to be judgmental towards other religion that you may not know of. Sorry,no offense to others..I know that this is a chess blog, but i can’t just stand by and do nothing while this ignorant guy making a blasphemous statement about Islam. Let me clarify that Islam is a religion that strive for “harmony, humanity and peace” and that Prophet Muhammad p.b.u.h. and his followers never force anyone nor using sword to spread Islam.
Upon coming into power in the area of Persia, Egypt, Spain, Syria, Palestine Islam never burned or desecrated any place of worship and massacred its inhabitants. They were free to continue to worship their gods;practice their religion.
For your information, Islam is currently spreading rapidly in US and Europe despite what had happened during the past five years. No one shoved a dagger or a gun for people to convert. They covert voluntarily after having study Islam all by themselves. That should give you a clearer picture of the real world. You are entitled to your own pessimistic view which are false and not true and I suggest you should stop making any degradatorary remarks.
Anonymous said…
You might be thinking of Islam, a religion that was based on forced conversion by death, when Muhammad and his gang, roamed the desert cities forcing people to convert by the sword.
you’re being prejudice..
well.perhaps,that’s what ‘western’ education has taught.Muhammad never force people to convert.Islam isn’t a religion that force conversion especially by death.Plz don’t make controversial statement.Respect others.Like what you’ve said people just need to learn to live together in harmony.Your comment shows how shallow your knowledge is..
To give some more interesting historical background to Chanukah, I would just like to explain how the situation arose:
Alexander the Great conquered and united what were before several kingdoms. Israel was just a small bit in the middle. He allowed the Jews to coexist.
Once, when he requested them to make a statue in his honour in a temple, I think they refused, but answered by saying that many Jewish boys would be named after him, and he was happy with that.
However he had no clear heir, and once he died all the different kingdoms seperatedn and fought each other again. Unfortunately, in the turmoil, Israel ended up part of a smaller Kingdom that was not so tolerant.
Many Jews were killed one by one for sticking to their religion, so it is understandable the temptation for those who switched.
Aw, come on guys, lighten up! Everybody should have a right to criticize anything they want. Though I disagree with Morris’ post, let’s encourage discussion, not discourage it. Just so long as we all be civil, viva la revolution!
It is interesting how Alexander the Great gets mixed up in all this. This festival represents real history, not like arguable biblical events.
All Organized Religions are false idols. The One True God is inside of you. To contact the One True God I can suggest you close your eyes, meditate, feel love inside yourself. The Love inside of you is the One True God.
There is only one because the only place you can go is inside yourself. All externals things are all false idols. That is Everything External to your inner self is a false idol.
When Morris NY says all the gods of religions are not true. He is correct. However, he jumps to the wrong conclusion that god does not exist. That is not true. God does exist but he looked in the wrong place. Morris NY must go inside of himself and find god there.
How can you be sure that all the religions are not true? One might be.
Also several of them have things in common, like the 10 commandments, and the Abrahamic religions agree up to Abraham in the Bible. I am not saying this is known to be true, but how can you know it is not true? As long as the religions stand up to scrutiny and don’t fall apart under analysis, you can not know it is false.
“You might be thinking of Islam, a religion that was based on forced conversion by death, when Muhammad and his gang, roamed the desert cities forcing people to convert by the sword”
Some historical facts :
– Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492.
– Jews were expelled from Sicily and Southern Italy in 1493
– Jews were expelled from Portugal in 1497.
– All the above countries are heavily influenced by the Catholic church.
– Jews who were expelled from the above countries found refugee in Ottoman empire which was an empire ruled by Islamic rules.
– Ottomans did NOT convert any Jews into muslims.
– Descendants of Jews who came to Ottoman empire have a nice and prosperous life in modern Turkey.
Happy Hanukkah Susan!
Best wishes to you and your family!
Shaloam Susan Polgar!
Quick note to Morris,
According to new theories in science, there is a genetic component that helps to induce humans to believe in religion and myth. Here is a link: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,995465,00.html
We are all entitled to our beliefs, no matter how silly it appears to others, or you.
Peace!
Gregory
I have nothing against muslims…. but you need to check the historical facts when you say Muhammad didn’t force anyone to convert… Islam has a very bloody beginning, in the way Muhammad spread the religion… and even now, many islamic leaders say there are only three choices, 1. either convert to islam 2. Be Killed 3. Or pay money to live in peace.
Muhammad, the founder of Islam, traveled to Medina in 622 A.D. to attract followers to his new faith. When the Jews of Medina refused to convert and rejected Muhammad, two of the major Jewish tribes were expelled from Medina. In 627, Muhammad’s followers killed between 600 and 900 of the men in Medina, and divided the surviving Jewish women and children amongst themselves.
I am for a secular USCF.
hmm… Chanukkah?
wonder what the Talmud has to say?
I must be real nice to the Goy!!
and Happy ‘Holidays’ Susan!
Anonymous said…
“I have nothing against muslims…. but you need to check the historical facts when you say Muhammad didn’t force anyone to convert… Islam has a very bloody beginning, in the way Muhammad spread the religion… and even now, many islamic leaders say there are only three choices, 1. either convert to islam 2. Be Killed 3. Or pay money to live in peace.”
“Muhammad, the founder of Islam, traveled to Medina in 622 A.D. to attract followers to his new faith. When the Jews of Medina refused to convert and rejected Muhammad, two of the major Jewish tribes were expelled from Medina. In 627, Muhammad’s followers killed between 600 and 900 of the men in Medina, and divided the surviving Jewish women and Jewish women and children amongst themselves.
I say,
You are the one who need to check the historical facts. And let me remind that some historian tend to be bias and therefore, you should look for various references. Prophet Muhammad p.b.u.h NEVER force anybody to convert to Islam and war was only the last choice he made if the opposing party threatens the security of Islam or broke the peace treaty. Futhermore, Muslims never allowed women, children or old men to be killed. Plants and place of worship were never to be touched or harmed. While it is true that non-Muslims need to pay ‘jizyah’, it was not a treachery or prejudice against the non-muslims. Muslims need to pay ‘zakat’ while non-muslims pay ‘jizyah’. The concept is just the same as tax. Non-muslims who abide by the rules will not be harmed, they are free to practice their religion and they are obliged to be protected by the Muslims rulers.
It was true that the Jews were banished from Medina. Before making any false assumption, you should know that the Jews broke their treaty with prophet Muhammmad and even assist the enemy into attacking Medina. Hence, they were considered as traitors and they were EXPELLED from Medina, not killed. There was no massacre and certainly there was no event such as ‘dividing the surviving Jewish women and Jewish women and children amongst themselves.’
To the anonymous posters who posted the Islamic version of history, I wonder: what is your version of the holocaust. Just wondering.
i don’t know much about this holocaust thing.from my understanding, it is not proven,scientifically nor empirically that more than 6million jews have been killed by Nazi(prove me if i was wrong)during the WWII.by the way,what’s your opinion on what happened right now at the west bank?jews often claim that they have been murdered,genocide,oppressed and so on during the past.how can they apply the same things to the innoncent Paletinians?
Okay, so the Islamic view of history is that the holocaust “is not proven, scientifically nor empirically” and nobody was “forceable converted” to Islam.
As for rohirrim’s question about Jews and the Gaza, when the Israeli’s withdrew from the Gaza, the Palistinians used the area to launch rocket attacks against the Israeli cities. The Israeli’s fought back.
Glad this question was so easy. Some of Susan’s chess questions are hard.
To sum up all of these Islamic posts, the Islamic version of history is that (1) the holocaust “is not proven, scientifically nor empirically that more than 6 million jews have been killed by Nazi(prove me if i was wrong)during the WWII” and (2) “No one shoved a dagger or a gun for people to convert. They covert voluntarily after having study Islam all by themselves”.
rohirrim asked a question about Israeli attacks on Palistinians. Probably these have something to do with terrorism, rocket attacks, sucicide bombers, and fatwas of death.
That question was easy; the chess questions Susan asks are hard.
jack le moine said…
Okay, so the Islamic view of history is that the holocaust “is not proven, scientifically nor empirically”
le moine, that’s not islamic view. that’s my view.base on my own research+observation+opinion..
rohirrim asked a question about Israeli attacks on Palistinians. Probably these have something to do with terrorism, rocket attacks, sucicide bombers, and fatwas of death.
you started ur sentence with the word “probably”.that shows that you aren’t certain with it.i suggest you to make some research first.my knowledges tell me that Israel is not real.there is no such a sovereign country called Israel as it is established on the violation of human rights and international laws.i ‘personally’ believe that all Israelians are intuders.look on how Israel is established and how they expanded its border.doesn’t it cruel enough?and is it wrong for palestinians to defend their own territories?so who are the terrorists now?
sorry to write too much about this in a jewish blog.
That question was easy; the chess questions Susan asks are hard.
yaa,it was easy.i’m just asking for opinions.thanks for the respond.
The name of the blog is “Susan Polgar Chess Blog”. It’s a chess blog not a Jewish blog.
Stop being so prejudiced!