This year KKSY will celebrate Hanukka from the evening of November 28 until December 5. Hanukka is an eight day festival that commemorates the Jewish victory under Judah Maccabee against the Greek Emperor Antiochus IV Epiphanes who wanted to end Jewish religious study and practice. The Talmud relates that Jews celebrate for eight days because after the battle the community returned to rededicate the Temple in Jerusalem and found only enough oil to light the menorah for one night but a miracle occurred and the oil actually lasted eight nights.
Hanukka is a holiday that shows that throughout history various rulers have tried to throttle Jewish worship. It shows how important maintaining the right to worship has been for Jews in all historical periods. To commemorate the victory over the wicked Antiochus the KKSY community lights a menorah each night starting with one candle on November 28 and adding an additional candle to the left on each succeeding night until December 5. The person who lights the menorah intones blessings one of which thanks the Ruler of the universe for giving deliverance at this season to the Jews in the Maccabee period.
As Hanukka is a happy time, celebrations include games and songs. Immediately after lighting the candles many people sing a Hebrew song “Ma’oz Tzur” known in English as “Rock of Ages.
Besides for remembering the bravery of the Maccabees, Jews also tell an apocryphal story that commemorates the bravery of women in this period. This story relates how a Jewish woman, Hannah, had seven sons. Faced with urging them to break Jewish law and eat pork or die at the hands of the king’s soldiers she resolutely instructed her boys to keep the commandments. Regardless of the exact circumstances surrounding the story its popularity shows that the Jewish community has always known it needed brave men and brave women in difficult times.
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