Over eight days from Thursday 10 to 18 December this year, the Jewish community of Melbourne is celebrating Hannukah, or Chanukah.
Pillars of Light, at Federation Square, provides Melburnians with an opportunity to come together over a multicultural celebration, to share the light, and focus on what unites us as a city, particularly after such a difficult year.
Maria Dimopoulos AM, Special Adviser, Multicultural Communities for the Victorian Government, spoke last Friday at the Pillars of Light.
“We all celebrate the light as symbol of love and multiculturalism, it is a celebration which began as conflict over 2000 years ago between the Seleucids and the community of Jews in Syria, which now brings us together,” Ms Dimopoulos said.
Beginning Thursday evening December 10th, Jews across the world will begin celebrating Chanukah. What most people (even Jews) know about Chanukah is either totally wrong, half the story, or peppered with charming but untrue legends. Despite what you may have been told, the meaning of Chanukah is
not âletâs come up with a holiday around Christmas time, so Jewish kids can also get presents in December (although a liberal Rabbi once unsuccessfully tried to convince me that was true). It is also false that the real Hanukkah meaning is, âLetâs come up with a holiday with many different English spellings so we can drive the Gentiles crazy.â
Hanukkah guide for the perplexed 2020
Hanukkah guide for the perplexed 2020
The Festival of Lights celebrates spiritual and physical liberation, faith, value-driven tenacity, patriotism, optimism and adherence to historical, cultural and religious roots in defiance of political correctness.
(December 10, 2020 / JNS) Hanukkah, the holiday of light, is narrated in the four Books of the Maccabees, the Scroll of Antiochus and Josephus’s “The Wars of the Jews.” The Greek Empire was divided among the four generals of Alexander the Great, who held Judaism in high esteem, following his death (323 BCE). In 175 BCE, the Seleucid/Syrian Emperor Antiochus (IV) Epiphanies claimed the Land of Israel and suspected that the Jews were allies of his Ptolemaic/Egyptian enemy. Therefore, he aimed to exterminate Judaism and convert Jews to Hellenism. In 169 BCE he devastated Jerusalem, massacred the Jews and prohibited the practice of Judaism.
Historical context: Chanukah, the holiday of light, is narrated in the four Books of the Maccabees, The Scroll of Antiochus and The Wars of the Jews. The Greek Empire was split into Greece-Seleucid/Syria-Ptolemaic/Egypt following the death of Alexander the Great (323 BCE), who held Judaism in high esteem. In 175 BCE, the Seleucid/Syrian Emperor Antiochus (IV) Epiphanies claimed the Land of Israel, and suspected that the Jews were allies of his Ptolemaic/Egyptian enemy. Therefore, he aimed to exterminate Judaism and convert Jews to Hellenism. In 169 BCE he devastated Jerusalem, massacred Jews and prohibited the practice of Judaism.
A 166/7 BCE rebellion was led by members of the Hasmonean (Maccabee) family, which included Mattityahu, the priest, and his five sons, Yochanan, Judah, Shimon, Yonatan and Eleazar, who established Jewish independence until 37 BCE.