Hanukkah celebrates both an ancient military victory and a miracle of light - modern Jews can pick from either tradition

"Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, the center of ancient Judean worship, in 164 B.C.E. It had been defiled by the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes and was recaptured by Judean forces. Judean culture had been transformed by Greek influence for centuries, but Antiochus attempted to quash Judean religious distinctiveness altogether. This led to a rebellion by the Hasmonean family, known also as the Maccabees. They established a dynasty that lasted until the conquest by Rome in 63 B.C.E."

"The story is preserved in the Books of the Maccabees, written during the second and first centuries B.C.E. Some Christians consider the texts part of the Bible, though Jews today do not. The first rabbis working 2,000 years ago left it out of the Jewish Bible. As a scholar of modern Jewish religion and politics, I have always been fascinated by the ways in which modern Jews pick and choose from the well of tradition to construct a form of Jewishness they feel is authentic."

Hanukkah is an eight-day Jewish festival beginning Dec. 14, 2025, that marks the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 164 B.C.E. after desecration by Seleucid rule. The Hasmonean (Maccabee) revolt restored the Temple and established a dynasty lasting until Rome's conquest in 63 B.C.E. The story appears in the Books of the Maccabees (second and first centuries B.C.E.), which some Christians include in scripture but are not part of the Jewish Bible. The holiday blends liturgical thanks for military victory with the menorah ritual celebrating a flask of oil that miraculously burned for eight days, and the oil legend appears later in the Talmud. Hanukkah illustrates how modern Jews selectively adopt traditions to construct authentic Jewish identity.

Read at The Conversation