What Is Chanukah Really All About?

In the recitation of “Al Hanissim” (“for the miracles”), praise that we add to the Shemoneh Esrei and Grace After Meals (“benching”) on Chanukah, we stress the miracle of the military triumph over “the mighty by the weak and the many by the few,” while the miracle of the oil is merely hinted at. The inescapable conclusion is that Chanukah is a celebration of both the military miracle and that of the oil.

According to the Ohr Somayach website, the reason for the miracle of the oil is that the victory by the tiny Jewish band against the mighty Greek army, no matter how unlikely, could be explained away as being due to genius military strategy or simply that the Jewish fighters had so much more to lose. However, accompanied by the miracle of the oil, the victory seems to be wrapped in a clearly Divine message – that the entire event was a heavenly miracle, designed to achieve spiritual security. (Shabbos 23a)

Chanukah is one of the few Jewish holidays not mentioned in the Tanach. We find the account of Chanukah chronicled in the books of 1st and 2nd Maccabees, which are not part of the Jewish canon. 

According to JewishHistory.org, “The Talmud does not say much about Chanukah. There are perhaps forty lines spread out in different volumes, whereas almost all the other holidays have an entire Talmudic volume about them. In addition, the few words the Talmud has to say about Chanukah are cryptic. Perhaps that is why Chanukah has been subject to reinterpretation, as it has been in our time. People make whatever they want to make out of it. However, that is a mistake, a tragedy.”

To truly understand Chanukah, it’s helpful to first look at the events that led up to it.  Below is a timeline to help put things in perspective.

Note: All cited dates are estimated based on the generally accepted calculations that the CE (Common Era) begins in the Jewish year (H) 3760.  Example: this year is 5782 H or 2021-22 CE. (BCE refers to before the common era). It is acknowledged that there have been several “adjustments” in the secular calendar, thereby changing the dates of the BCE/CE correlations.

Timeline perspective 

• Egyptian exile (Enslavement of Jews begins) in approximately 2271 from creation (H) (or 1489 BCE)
• The Exodus occurred 210 years later, approximately in the year 2481 H (or 1279 BCE)
• Moshe died approximately in 2441 H (1239 BCE)
• Assyrian exile 3196 H (564 BCE) during which the ten tribes were exiled
• Babylonian exile during which the First Temple was destroyed in 3338 H (586 BCE)
• Foundation laid for 2nd Temple 3389 H (371 BCE)
• King’s Banquet in Shushan  3391 H (369 BCE)
• Purim – in 3408 H  (352 BCE)
• Persian exile, ending with the return to Israel and the completion of the 2nd Temple in 3411 H (516 BCE), 70 years after the destruction of the 1st Temple
• Jewish Rebellion against Greeks – 3594  H (166 BCE)
• Chanukah’s epic events took place in 3610 H (150 BCE)

• Approximately two centuries after the Chanukah miracles took place, the first-century CE Jewish historian Flavius Josephus wrote his account of the origins of the holiday. 

The Miracle of Chanukah

Chanukah was a miraculous military victory, but a single vessel of sanctified oil proved more miraculous and enduring in the collective memory of the Jewish people.

How did this rebellion come to be? With the rise of Alexander’s presence and influence in the Land of Israel, relations between the Jews and the Greeks were very good. Maybe too good. The Jews, being in the minority, began to exhibit the insidious trappings of assimilation into Greek culture.

“Jews who embraced Greek culture at the expense of Judaism became known as Misyavnim, or Hellenists. Estimates are that a third or more of the Jewish population was Hellenist, including those who reversed their circumcision, ate pork, bowed to idols and even became self-hating enough to side with the enemies of Israel. Hellenism threatened to annihilate the Jewish world through assimilation in ways tyrants tried but could not do by force. Had the situation continued as it was, the Greeks would perhaps have won the battle by default. However, they overstepped themselves.” (JewishHistory.org) 

An Outline of What Happened Next

• More Greek takeover, less Jewish influence
• Increasingly more intolerable laws, all anti-Torah
• The Jews rebel (finally)
• The Maccabees (small Hashmonean Priestly family) take charge
• The Military Miracle – “the mighty by the weak and the many by the few,“
• Retaking of the Beit HaMikdash, cleansing, scrubbing, and purifying all the utensils, vessels, altars, walls and floors
• During the clean-up they found only one uncontaminated vessel of pure olive oil that was acceptable by the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) for the lighting of the sacred Menorah
• The Kohen Gadol lit the Menorah with the oil (enough for only 24 hours) that miraculously continued to burn for eight full days, long enough to create a new pure batch

Re-Dedication Of the Temple (Chanukat HaBayit), One year from Recapturing

As documented in 1st Book of Maccabees chapter 4, verses 52-59: 

52 Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month which is the month of Kislev, in the one hundred and forty-eighth year, 117 (CE) 

53 They rose and offered sacrifice, as the law directs, on the new altar of burnt offering which they had built. 

54 At the very season and on the very day that the Gentiles had profaned it, (in) 118 (CE) it was dedicated with songs and harps and lutes and cymbals. 

55 All the people fell on their faces and worshipped and blessed Heaven, who had prospered. 

56 So they celebrated the dedication of the