As this holiday season has approached, I’ve been debating and attempting to understand the meanings and core of this holiday. It is no longer the fun filled morning that it was when I was a little youngin in Binghamton, New York.<\/p>\n
\tI’ve been discouraged by the commercialism that proliferates this holiday, and people’s willingness to be persuaded into showing their emotions by buying.<\/p>\n
\tAs someone who could no longer honestly can profess to be a Christian this search has taken on new meaning and urgency. I am inspired by the fact that many religions and cultures hold a celebration of lights during the winter months, and value them as a time to come together and celebrate the bonds we’ve formed as family and friends. While we take this one day to stop and acknowledge the bonds that make us family, friends and human beings, it should only be a reminder of those precious bonds and the value that they are to us in our lives. Nothing exists within a vacuum, and neither can we humans exist without the connections of family and friends. They are what makes us human and what makes life the precious thing that it is.<\/p>\n
\tIn that tradition I bring you little snippet about the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah.<\/p>\n
With best wishes for a great year!<\/p>\n
Nick<\/p>\n
Holidays for All Ages: The Hanukkah Story <\/p>\n
The Rev. W.U. Saunders <\/p>\n
The Christian Festival of Christmas nearly coincides with the Jewish Festival of Hanukkah. Hanukkah is a Festival of Lights. It is the Jewish celebration of religious freedom. In 165 B.C., Judah the Maccabee overcame the Greco-Syrian armies under the leadership of Antiochus IV, who were occupying Palestine. One of the Maccabees’ first acts after reconquering Palestine was to rededicate the Temple, particularly the new altar. Their feast of dedication lasted eight days. On the first day, only one candle was lit; on the second, two. On the eighth day, eight candles were lit.<\/p>\n
This morning we shall light all eight, and, as in the Jewish custom, we light each candle with a special thought.<\/p>\n
Taken from a selection from Celebrating Christmas, edited by Carl Seaburg.<\/p>\n