What is Hanukkah? Hanukkah is a celebration that starts on 25th of Kislev on the Jewish calendar, which means it falls sometime in November or December on the Julian calendar. This celebration lasts 8 days, commemorating the rededication of the altar and Temple in Jerusalem in 164 BC.
The Temple, as well as Israel, had been taken over by the Greeks over the years prior to 167 BC. Under Antiochus IV Epiphanes of the Seleucid Empire, Jewish ways were outlawed. He raided the Temple and carried away all the articles within the Temple and all the gold and silver he could find. A statue of Zeus was erected on top of the altar, and pigs were sacrificed regularly to Zeus. Antiochus declared himself god, Zeus incarnate, and demanded worship to himself as Zeus. A sacrifice to Zeus (Antiochus) was to be conducted on the 25th of every month, in celebration of Antiochus’s birthday. (By the way, Zeus’s “birthday” was December 25th.) Every Jewish town was to sacrifice a pig to Zeus, and all Scriptures were to be burned.
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