Hanukkah celebrates religious freedom

The Jewish festival of Hanukkah begins at sundown today, Dec. 24, also marked as Christmas Eve by Christians.

Some families will exchange gifts on the first night of Hanukkah, while others exchange gifts each of the eight nights, said Rabbi Rob Lennick of Community Synagogue of Northwest Arkansas and rabbi in residence for the Unitarian-Universalist Community in Eureka Springs.

"Hanukkah in and of itself is a holiday to celebrate religious freedom," Lennick said. "To celebrate the ability to believe and think and be oneself."

"Hanukkah, The Festival of Lights, recalls the victory more than 2,100 years ago of a militarily weak but spiritually strong Jewish people, who defeated a ruthless enemy that had overrun ancient Israel," reads information provided by Chabad of Northwest Arkansas. "(The Syrian Greeks) sought to impose restrictions on the Jewish way of life, prohibit religious freedom and force the Jewish people to accept a foreign religion. During the occupation of Jerusalem and the Temple, the Greeks desecrated and defiled the oils prepared for the lighting of the Menorah, which was part of the daily service in the temple.

"Upon recapturing the Temple from the Syrian Greeks, the Jewish people found only one jar of undefiled oil -- enough to burn only one day, but it lasted miraculously for eight days until new, pure olive oil was produced," the information continues.

"Hanukkah means rededication, the ritual rededication of the light, the eternal light," Lennick said.

"By returning to and reclaiming the Temple, the Maccabees recommitted themselves to a Jewish way of life, to all that they held dear," reads the website of the Union for Reform Judaism. "Thus, Hanukkah prompts a rededication not only to Judaism, but also to the values at the center of the Jewish faith."

In commemoration of this event, the Jewish people celebrate Hanukkah for eight days by lighting an eight-branch candelabra known as a Menorah, the Chabad information reads. The Menorah is placed in a highly visible place to publicize the miracle, with its message of hope and religious freedom to all.

"Today, people of all faiths consider the Hanukkah holiday as a symbol and message of the triumph of freedom over oppression, of spirit over matter, of light over darkness."

Lennick sees opportunity in the confluence of Hanukkah and Christmas. "Christians celebrate during Advent the light of Christian messiah, and Hanukkah celebrates the advent of the tenacity of human spirit to be free.

"Like Christmas, Hanukkah is a very universal message about removing oppression from human experience and respecting each individual and the highest potential they can attain.

"The story of people standing up for the right to be themselves is a message everybody can hear."

The winter solstice, Hanukkah, the Hindu Festival of Lights, Christmas -- all are celebrated in the same part of the year and all tell of bringing light as part of their message, Lennick continued.

"The confluence of all these events isn't coincidence," Lennick said. "It leads us to be bearers of light and bring light to others -- to testify to the great human capacity to stand up to the forces of darkness."

NAN Religion on 12/24/2016