by Yocheved Schlachter

Created on: December 16, 2008   Last Updated: December 17, 2008

Lighting the Hanukkah menorah is one of the most fundamental aspects of the festival. It commemorates the miracle that took place after the Jewish revolt in the second century BCE.

Antiochus IV had just assumed the throne of Assyria and had proceeded to institute some monumental changes. Whereas the Jews had lived as a relatively autonomous people since the conquer of their homeland by Alexander the Great many years before, they now found themselves bound by a stringent set of laws passed by the new king. No longer would they be allowed to offer their daily sacrifices in their Temple, study their Torah or perform the myriad other acts that comprised the mainstay of Jewish life. Anyone caught practicing Judaism was brutally killed.

Antiochus was determined to assimilate the Jewish people by forcing them to adopt the Hellenistic culture. He even went so far as to completely defile the Temple, offering a pig, an animal considered by the Jews to be the most impure of animals, on their holy altar. He and his soldiers looted the temple, taking everything of value, and erected a pagan statue in the middle.

Refusing to stand by idly and watch as everything the Jews believed sacred was stripped away, Judah the Maccabee formed a band of rebels and led them against the Assyrian army. Although they were small in number and poorly armed, after three long years of fighting, they miraculously emerged victorious.

The Maccabees immediately entered the Temple and began the process of rededicating. Cleaning up after the mess Antiochus had made was no small feat, yet the Jews set about trying to salvage whatever they could from the ruins. The process was going well until they realized that all of the oil set aside to light the menorah had been defiled, except for one small vat. The huge menorah in the Temple was supposed to be lit every day and burn throughout the day. The small vat, however, was only enough to keep the menorah burning for one day. To process more of the purified oil would take eight days, during which time the menorah would not be lit. With no other choice, they lit the menorah on that night, and miraculously, it burned straight for eight days and nights.

To commemorate this, the Hanukkah menorah is lit every night for eight nights. However, this is not the only miracle the menorah is commemorating. Lighting the menorah also symbolizes the victory of light, spirituality, over dark, the Assyrian depraved, hedonistic culture. That small band of rebels, armed with only

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