HANUKAH IN PERSPECTIVE

Hanukah (Chanukah) is an exceptional Jewish holiday.  The books describing the events of Hanukah are not included in the Jewish bible (nor the Protestant, but are included in the Catholic versions).  The events are mentioned briefly in the Talmud,  but not any of its observances.  The eight days follow the pattern of other pilgrimage festivals,  during which Jews traveled to the temple, and the holiday supposedly represent the re-dedication of the temple after the Syrian occupation.  Several later historical sources describe a revolt occurring in Judea at around 170 BCE.  This is during the period of the second temple and long after the events written in the other books of the Jewish bible, except Daniel.   So one explanation would simply be that the books of Maccabees were omitted because they were written too late. (Current scholars put the dates of canonization of the Jewish bible texts between 200BCE and 200 AD,  so the inclusion was not prevented by date of their writing.)  Other explanations are also given for the omission.  The Syrian invasion of the territory is linked by some to request by the Tobiads, an assimilating faction of the Jews, which fits with statements in the book of Maccabees that the attacks were against unfaithful Jews.  The result of the Maccabean (Hasmonean) revolt was a brief period of priestly rule during which the borders of Judea were re-established, though later reconquered by Seleucids, and even later the Romans.  

The split in the observance of Jews at that time  eventually became  the distinction between the pharisees, sadducees, and essenes, in the first century BCE.  The sadducees were the priestly class who insisted in their role in mediating observances (even after destruction of the temple) to exert a "ruling" function over the pharisees who favored moderating the terms of observances and eliminating a separate priestly group.  (The essenes, disgusted with this conflict, isolated themselves away from the rest near the Dead Sea.)  The pharisees ultimately emerged the stronger group,  and Jesus was from this group, and many of his exceptions to traditional observances reflect their views.  The Hasmonean revolt did not permanently re-establish the priestly class.

This historical context provides a background and perhaps some clarification for the celebration.  The story of oil which lasted eight days is nowhere in the Maccabee books,  though it is mentioned in later Syrian and Roman histories suggesting that it had become part of the myth.  Maimonides is one of the earlier Jewish references to it in the 12th century.  The importance of the menorah as a symbol of the dedication of the temple is part of the original text.  The dreidel/top has no historical meaning and evolved from a later gambling top and did not become associated with hanukah until the 18th century in Germany. The letters on it (N, G, H, S) were originally related to gambling outcomes,  and only later associated with "a great miracle happened there" (or "here" in Israel).  Gelt/money was not part of the holiday in earlier observances, but was typical of gifting service persons during the winter season, another northern European custom.  Giving money to children was more typical of Purim until the late19th century.  (And chocolate money is a recent American variation.)  Potato latkes reflect another northern European feature,  eating potatoes.  None of the current observances of the holiday have any historical basis, all are the assimilation of European customs.

It is impossible to assign a seasonal date to Hanukah in the way that Passover, Shavuoth, or Succoth are associated with pagan agrarian events.  It seems unlikely that the specific dates of the Maccabean revolt were known, and even less likely that, given the variation in calendars over eons, they were accurately preserved.  The association with the Christian festival of Christ's birth is interesting.  The placement of Christmas at the winter solstice is consistent with both association with earlier pagan holidays,  and also the desire to have a positive celebratory event at a time when Nature is contracting.  But this is much less true in the Southern Mediterranean climate and deserts of Israel and Egypt.  The seasonal variation is more subtle, and the lunar calendar the basis of Jewish culture.  The core observance of Mediterranean Christian culture is the manger scene,  and the evergreen trees covered in snow are from northern European pagan festivals "captured" into Christian tradition (and imported in various forms to the US).  It does not seem likely that Hanukah was a solar solstice festival, that coincided with Christmas.  Rather this calendar position may have been assigned intentionally to associate with Christmas.  Why might that have occurred?

There is no documentation for the following speculation:  In the early Christian era there was a battle for followers. Jews were encouraged to follow Jesus as the messiah, and Jewish leaders opposed this proselytizing and conversion.  The Maccabean revolt is explicit about attacking Jews who, at an earlier time, wished to follow Greek customs.  So it is tempting to suppose that the Christian era rabbis associated Hanukah and the Maccabean history with the celebration of Jesus' birth as a warning to Jews not to be tempted by Christian customs.  This gives a much darker interpretation of Hanukah's importance, which would not be openly acknowledged,  and explains the fact that current customs have no historical context.

This also raises difficult questions about contemporary Jewish life.  Although the Hasmoneans, a Sadducee culture, succeeded in their revolt,  ultimately the more moderate Pharisees prevailed to survive as the contemporary Jewish community.  Today in Israel, there is a political struggle between religious "hardliners" and moderates who do not maintain strict observance.  A similar separation occurs in other Jewish communities,  including the US, where the political significance is more confused.  And some, like the ancient Essenes, separate and observe the challenge from a distance.  Though the observant rabbis of Eastern Europe are credited (i.e., the Baal Shem Tov) with sustaining that Jewish community, in fact the community was destroyed in the holocaust.  The revolt against the Romans contributed to a long period of exile and dispersal in other cultures,  with recurring challenges of assimilation. In Jewish culture there is a constant struggle between maintaining Jewish identity and assimilation,  and Hanukah may present one statement about the choice, though its message is not usually interpreted this way.  Can we Jews learn something from history?

The observance of Christmas and Hanukah have been transformed in contemporary American society.  Honoring the birth of the founder of a great religious transformation has morphed, in our material culture, into an obsessional pressure to present gifts to each other that stimulate the economy.  And family gatherings are challenged by the separation of families over great distances (and sometimes the weather at this season).  Hanukah has yielded to the same pressure to gift and consume,  and struggles with the lack of elegant music or services that compare with Christmas celebrations.  The tendency to assimilate Christian customs,  including "Christmas Trees", that have little relationship to the birth of Jesus, is typical.  Every religious group must decide where to draw the boundary in following various customs.  Do Bahai have Christmas trees?  Do Scientologists have Christmas trees?  The decision is a matter of personal religious and cultural identity.  

Whether Hanukah was intentionally associated with Christmas or not,  the relationship in the calendar always poses the question of cultural and religious assimilation.