I’ve been reading up on Hanukkah (Chanukkah, or a few other spellings) for the past few weeks. I believe I understand it now. Let me know if I have it right:

168 BCE
• The Hellenist Syrians (Syrians that worshiped the Greek gods) seized the Holy Temple in Jerusalem after the Syrian king Antiochus outlawed the Jewish religion. The Holy Temple was rededicated to the worship of Zeus
• Shortly later, a Syrian officer ordered the high priest, Mattathias, to eat pork in the village of Modiin. Since the eating of pork is forbidden in the Torah, Mattathias refused. Out of fear a fellow villager offered to eat the pork instead. Mattathias became enraged and slew both the villager and the Syrian officer. He fled into the mountains with his family
• Mattathias, along with his sons, led guerilla-like raids on the Syrians. This attracted like minded Jews in the foundations of an army.

168-165 BCE
• Mattathias dies leaving his eldest and bravest son Judah Maccabee to build the army

165 BCE
• After many battles, the Maccabee army retook the Holy Temple in Jerusalem even though it was outnumbered and possessed inferior weaponry
• The Temple was found to have been desecrated and required to be rededicated to G-d. Part of the ritual of dedication is the lighting of the menorah for eight days.
• Due to the Syrian occupancy of the Temple, only enough oil was found to keep the menorah lit for a single day. Myth? As if by divine intent, the menorah stayed lit for the full eight days.

Hanukkah is a eight day celebration of the victory of the Maccabee army over the Syrians more than 2,000 years ago.

In the United States and a few other countries, Hanukkah became a gift giving celebration mostly due to the commercialization of Christmas. Many children felt left out or ashamed that the Christian children received gifts and they did not. This commercialized version of Hanukkah seems to be limited mostly to the western hemisphere.

Now, there are three traditional items besides the menorah that appear during the Hanakkah season:

• The Dreidel is a four sided ‘top’ toy that was used by the Jews during the Syrian occupation in 168 BCE. When the Jews were studying the Torah, they would be watching for the approach of Syrian soldiers. If soldiers came too near, they would hide the Torah and pull out the dreidel appearing to be gambling. This gambling provided them the excuse to loiter in groups.

  During Hanakkah children will play with the dreidel in partial reenactment of the ancient Jews.

• Latkes are traditionally potato pancakes that are deep fried. They symbolize the meal the Maccabbee army ate during the Syrian occupation.

  A note of interest: the Maccabbee army actually ate a fried pancake made from cheese, vegetables and/or fruit. Basically whatever was available at the time.

• Sufganiyot are jelly filled donuts that are deep fried. They also symbolize the Maccabee army meal but in a sugary way.

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