Chanukah means "rededication" in Hebrew. In 165 BCE when the Hebrews defeated the Syrian-Greeks, they reclaimed and cleansed their Temple, which had been turned into a pagan place of idolatry. The story is told of the miracle of the Hebrews finding just enough oil to last one day to relight the Menorah candelabra , but it lasted for eight days. We celebrate this event and miracle at Chanukah.
However, the rabbis in Yavneh,
If the holiday was to be celebrated, the Talmud teaches, a portion of the Book of Zechariah was to be read on Chanukah's Sabbath – "not by might, nor by armies, but by my spirit" – as a reminder that it was God who truly redeemed the Hebrews. A prayer was added to the daily Amidah liturgy called Al Ha Nisim, which means, "For the Miracles."
Many of us erroneously think that Rabbinic written literature begins with the Mishnah of circa 200 CE, one of two parts of the Talmud. But Rabbis did write things before then that was not part of the Oral Tradition. During the time of Ezra's Hebraic Temple, the Rabbis wrote a text concerning what days on the Jewish Calendar we celebrate as opposed to fasting. This 'book' is called the Megillah Ta'anit, the Scroll of Fasting.
In the Talmud Yerushalmi Tractate Nedarim 8:1, Rabbi Yochanan said: ''The Fasting Scroll has been nullified. Last night I was sitting and repeating the following. An incident happened that the Rabbis decreed a fast in Lod during Chanukah. [Lod is where the Tel Aviv, Israel, Ben Gurion Airport is today.] Rabbi Eliezer went and told Rabbi Joshua about it. Rabbi Joshua washed himself, which one does not do for a fast day, and said to the rabbis who declared a Chanukah fast: 'Go and observe a fast as a penalty for having fasted on Chanukah. [While there are Talmudic edicts of when and how to fast, there are even stronger edicts to keep us from over doing it, e.g. fasting for two days on Yom Kippur. So Joshua is now telling the rabbis to go and fast because they fasted on a non-fast day, i.e Chanukah].
So the Rabbis of the Gemora ask: "Now how can you (R. Yochanan], say, then, that the rules of the Fasting-Scroll have been nullified since the Scroll says that one may not fast on Chanukah and we see that Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Joshua maintain that, in fact, one may not fast on Chanukah?''
Rabbi Abba answered in the Yerushalmi's Gemorah: ''Even though you maintain that the rules of the Fasting-Scroll have been nullified, as to the celebration of Chanukah and Purim they have not been nullified.''
''Rabbi Yonatan fasted on the entire eve of the New Year. Rabbi Avin fasted on the entire eve of the festival of Sukkot. Rabbi Zeira fasted 300 fasts, and some say, 900 fasts, and he paid no attention at all to the days listed by the Fasting Scroll on which one is not supposed to fast.
Rabbi Eliezer , Rabbi Joshua and Rabbi Yochanan all seem to be in favor of observing Chanukah without a fast . Joshua even decrees that one who fasts on Chanukah needs to fast to repent for the fasting. But we see that Rabbi Abba says that we should fast not only on Chanukah but Purim. Perhaps for Purim he is referring to the fast of Esther. But as the Talmud become codified, the above fasts of Rabbis Abba, Yonaton, Zeira, and Avin all became non-fast days.
At the same time the Rabbis did away with many holidays having to do with war victories, and made sure Purim and Chanukah, as well as Passover, were spiritual holidays and not one focused on the neck of Haman and his sons, dead Greeks or drowned Egyptians.
One of these Holidays is of course Nicanor Day, celebrated as the pre cursor to Chanukah, around what would be Purim's Fast of Esther.
Rabbi Arthur Segal: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: TALMUDIC DISCOURSE: JEWISH HOLIDAYS OF NICANOR AND PURIM .
Another holiday done away with is the 12th of Adar, also near Purim, called Turyanus Day. Jewish martyrs were Rabbis Papus and Lulianus. They studied TaNaK against Roman decree during the time of Rabbi Akiva and the Roman General Turyanus killed them. As the story goes, while the bloody blade was still in his hands, The Emperor of Rome's soldiers found Turyanus, found guilty of some crime against Rome, and these soldiers immediately killed Turyanus.
Chanukah is a time for Jews to rededicate themselves to God. The rabbis wanted us to remember that as the Maccabees rededicated the Syrian-Greek desecrated
Happy Chanukah:
Rabbi Arthur Segal
Rabbi Arthur Segal is an academic rabbi who lives, teaches, writes and celebrates Chanukah on Hilton Head Island. His web site is www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org .His email is RabbiSegal@JewishSpiritualRenewal.net .
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