PLATTSBURGH — Hanukkah has more than 20 spelling variations, which all refer to the Jewish celebration known as the Festival of Lights.
The eight-day holiday begins at sundown Sunday, a little earlier this year.
“It’s a celebration of the miracle called the Festival of Lights, but it’s a miracle of lights because over 2,200 years ago, the Greeks were trying to impose their way on Jews in Israel. They were trying to outlaw Jewish life,” Rabbi David Joslin of Temple Beth Israel said.
The society was Greek — culture, food, democracy, literature and more.
“The Greeks were spreading their way, and a lot of people liked it, but not everybody liked it, you know. The Jews were like, ‘Listen, there are certain things we like about Greek civilization, but we want to be able to practice our religion,’” he said.
“The Greeks weren’t having it, so the Greeks went to war. This was like a civil war in Jewish life because these were Jews who had adopted the Greek lifestyle. There were Greek Jews who wanted to alter Judaism and traditional Jews that wanted to keep Judaism the way it had been.”
The ensuing war lasted over a 15- to 20-year span and concluded with a Greek defeat and the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem.
“Jewish ways survive. When the Jews come to clean up the temple, they found all the (menorah) oil had been destroyed by the Greeks,” Joslin said. “They had one jar of oil, if you will. That jar of oil lasted long enough for the temple to create more oil.
“Supposedly, the process to make oil takes several days. It’s not easy. So that one little jar of oil lasted for eight days until they could make more oil. That is the miracle of Hanukkah.”
The celebration of this historical military victory marks when Jews reclaimed Israel as their own.
From a faith perspective, the celebration observes God’s hand and the miracle in keeping the oil burning.
Holiday customs include eating oily foods like latkes and doughnuts, which symbolize the menorah oil.
Activities include the dreidel game, in which each facet of the spinning top has a Hebrew letter – Nun, Gimel, Hey and Shin – an acronym for “Nes Gadol Hayah Sham” translated as “A Great Miracle Happened There.”
“It happens at a cold, dark time in the calendar,” Joslin said. “There is something unique and special about the lights, the lights of the menorah — every light for eight nights.
“You add a light for each night, so the first night, one candle, the second night, two candles, until you get to the eighth night. Every night when you add a candle makes it more beautiful.
“The holiday is obviously commemorating the miracle and the military victory, but it comes at a cold, dark time right around the solstice. It gives people something really beautiful to look at, to appreciate. There is something very, very beautiful and awe inspiring about looking at the menorah in the dark when it’s lit.
“Hopefully, it gives people a little bit of optimism in a really frankly, a depressing time of the year.”