Hanukkah - 'tis the season to be oily....
12-10-2007, 12:09 PM
One of the very special aspects of this particular "minor" feast is that it is probably the most public of all the celebrations in the Jewish year! Passover is to be celebrated in a family setting, primarily. That has changed a bit to try and make it more of a teaching opportunity, but the design was at the family level. Tabernacles was also primarily a family oriented feast, but it also comes with the encouragement to go up to Jerusalem to celebrate it in larger family groups. Atonement is celebrated as a congregational event. Most of these things are pretty much cloaked, but the instruction for Hannukkah seems to have been that the Hannukkah menorah or hannukiah was to be lit and placed in the doorway or window so that the light could be seen as a public testimony to the miracles that HaShem had wrought.
There are some that refute the notion that December 25 was chosen in the 4th Century because it was a pagan festival. There are at least a few sources who think it was done to coincide with the Feast of Lights. As Helena shared above, Jesus came into the world to be our Light. Because He told us pretty plainly that we should let our light shine and not hide it in under a basket, there seems to be a parallel with the Hannukkah admonitions to make visible the Light, the Miracle in our midst. :hannukiah:
There are some that refute the notion that December 25 was chosen in the 4th Century because it was a pagan festival. There are at least a few sources who think it was done to coincide with the Feast of Lights. As Helena shared above, Jesus came into the world to be our Light. Because He told us pretty plainly that we should let our light shine and not hide it in under a basket, there seems to be a parallel with the Hannukkah admonitions to make visible the Light, the Miracle in our midst. :hannukiah:
Blessings!
Dean
DeanZF
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