LP HOT NEWS: Hanukkah became a global phenomenon

Thứ Ba, 12 tháng 12, 2017

Hanukkah became a global phenomenon - LP 312

Hot news about Jewish holiday.

Hanukkah became a global phenomenon.

Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple (the Second Temple) in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire. Hanukkah is observed for eight nights and days, starting on the 25th day of Kislev according to the Hebrew calendar, which may occur at any time from late November to late December in the Gregorian calendar. It is also known as the Festival of Lights and the Feast of Dedication.

This year, to mark the eight-day holiday, dignitaries will gather the National Menorah light fromthe National Menorah across from the White House, and the families will light up their nine menorahs, called Hanukkiot, a candle every day in the eight days.

According to many, this is just a relatively recent development, rooted in American history and culture.

More information about Hanukkah:

The festival is observed by lighting the candles of a candelabrum with nine branches, called a Hanukkah menorah (or hanukkiah). One branch is typically placed above or below the others and its candle is used to light the other eight candles. This unique candle is called the shamash.

Each night, one additional candle is lit by the shamash until all eight candles are lit together on the final night of the holiday. Other Hanukkah festivities include playing dreidel and EATING oil-based foods such as doughnuts and latkes. Since the 1970s, the worldwide Chabad Hasidic movement has initiated public menorah lightings in open public places in many countries.

In the Christian Greek Scriptures, it is stated that Jesus walked in Solomon's Porch at the Jerusalem Temple during "the Feast of Dedication and it was winter", in John 10:22–23. The Greek term that is used is "the renewals". The Hebrew word for "dedication" is Hanukkah. The Aramaic New Testament uses the Aramaic word Khawdata (a close synonym), which literally means "renewal" or "to make new." Josephus refers to the festival as "lights."

There is a custom of eating FOODS fried or baked in oil (preferably olive oil) to commemorate the miracle of a small flask of oil keeping the Second Temple's Menorah alight for eight days. Traditional foods include potato pancakes, known as latkes in Yiddish, especially among Ashkenazi families.

Sephardi, Polish, and Israeli families eat jam-filled doughnuts and sufganiyot which are deep-fried in oil. Hungarian Jews eat cheese pancakes known as "cheese latkes". Roast goose has historically been a traditional Hanukkah FOOD among Eastern European and American Jews, although the custom has declined in recent decades.