Rabbi's Chayva's Chat

This could also be called, “How to stump your friends at holiday trivia!” 

Is Hanukkah a military, religious, or harvest festival? 

All three! Though it depends on which moment in the development of the holiday you’re looking at. 

Hanukkah was originally a military holiday. The land of Israel was ruled by the Seleucid Empire, a Greek state that tried to assimilate its citizens into Hellenistic culture. In an attempt to subdue Jewish resistance, King Antiochus Epiphanes sent soldiers to Jerusalem who wrecked the Temple. The fundamentalist priestly family known as the Hasmoneans or the Maccabees fought back, and of course, they won. Sources dispute whether the 25th of the Hebrew month of Kislev (which we celebrate as the first night of Hanukkah) was the day the Temple was desecrated or the day it was rededicated, but regardless, the Jews instituted a tradition of celebrating its rededication after the war ended.

Several hundred years later, the Temple was fully destroyed by the Romans, and rabbinic Judaism began to develop in earnest. The Babylonian Talmud opens its discussion of Hanukkah with a simple question: “What IS Hanukkah?” As you can see in this paragraph, they recount the military victory, and then add the story of the miracle of the oil. With a divine miracle, Hanukkah became a religious holiday as well.

In response to the initial question, I imagine someone said, "It’s both military and religious, but definitely NOT a harvest festival.” In a way, you’re right. What are we harvesting in mid-winter…potatoes? But why do you think Hanukkah is eight days long? The religious explanation is the eight-day miracle of the oil; the historical explanation is that amidst the fighting, the Jews could not celebrate the major pilgrimage festival of Sukkot. According to the book II Maccabees, Judah Maccabee combined the victory celebration with a delayed Sukkot observance, and so now we celebrate for eight days every year.

What are the books of the Maccabees? Are they in the bible?

There are four books of the Maccabees, and for whether they are in the bible or not, it depends on who you ask. None of them are in the Tanakh, the first two are in the Septuagint (often called the Greek Old Testament, the predecessor to be included in the Catholic bible), and the first three are canonical in the Eastern Orthodox tradition. See here for a handy table. All four books are excluded from the Protestant bible, but are considered Apocrypha (biblical writing that was not included in the bible). 

Each book of Maccabees is slightly different. The first book is a historical account of the political and military events that happened under Antiochus Epiphanes. Based on its content and grammar, it was probably originally written in Hebrew, but the oldest known text is in Greek in the Septuagint. 

The Second Book of Maccabees is also a historical account that focuses on the persecution of the Jews in that period and the Maccabean Revolt against Antiochus Epiphanes. Linguistic analysis shows that it was likely originally written in Greek. 

The Third Book of Maccabees is totally unrelated to the other three books! Originally written in Greek, it recounts Pharaoh Ptolemy IV’s persecution of the Jews in Ptolemaic (Greek-conquered) Egypt around 210 BCE.

The Fourth Book of Maccabees is a Greek philosophical discourse on the power of martyrdom, told through the martyrdom stories of II Maccabees: the woman with seven sons and the scribe Eleazar, whom Antiochus Ephiphanes tortured to death before they would renounce their Jewish identity. IV Maccabees concludes that one should obey halacha even in extreme suffering because martyrs will be rewarded in the afterlife.

What counts as Hanukkah food?

Ashkenazi Jews eat latkes on Hanukkah, as we will at the Chanukah Fair on Sunday! Beyond latkes and sufganiyot (donuts), Jewish communities around the world have their own fried foods to celebrate the miracle of the oil.

Romanian Jews eat papanasi (pronounced “papranash”), which is a doughnut filled with cheese curds and topped with jam and sour cream. Italian Jews make cheese-filled latkes, or fry cheese pancakes. Moroccan Jews make sfinj or sfenj, a simple ring-shaped deep-fried donut dipped in honey or sprinkled with sugar. Sephardic Jews of many regions make bimuelos - also called bunuelos or in Egypt, zalabia - which are Hanukkah fritters that can be made of dough or squash. And have you ever gotten gulab jamun after dinner at an Indian restaurant? Those fried balls of dough are Hanukkah food in the Indian Jewish community!

The list goes on, and there are numerous online articles and recipes if you want to try something new this year. I hope to share a bite with everyone at the Chanukah Fair on Sunday, December 8 and our community candlelighting on Friday, December 27!