[NFBP-Talk] Happy Hanukkah from the NFB of PA!!!!!!!

[Jan Lattuca]

Thanks for this wonderful and informative article.  I join in
extending Happy Hanukkah wishes to all who celebrate it!

Jan Lattuca
On 12/18/22, Stacie Leap via NFBP-Talk <nfbp-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Hey everybody!
>
> Happy Holidays! Happy Holidays! Happy Holidays!
>
> On behalf of the National Federation of the Blind of Pennsylvania,  we
> would like to extend our seasons' greeting to those who celebrate
>  Hanukkah. Today, Sunday, December 18, 2022 marks the first day of
> Hanukkah!
>
> Hanukkah 2022 began in the evening of Sunday, December 18 and ends in the
> evening of Monday, December 26
>
> "There's a lot more to Hanukkah than eight days of gifts. Here's some
> information you probably didn't realize about the winter celebration.
> Because Hanukkah and Christmas fall around the same time of year, people
> often wonder if Hanukkah is a Jewish version of Christmas. At least
> religiously speaking, it is not. Whereas Christmas marks the birth of
> Jesus, Hanukkah, which was celebrated for centuries before Jesus was born,
> commemorates something entirely different.
>
> What is Hanukkah?
> Hanukkah commemorates the victory in 164 B.C. of a group of Jewish people
> (the Maccabees) over the Syrian Greeks, who had been occupying the Land of
> Israel since before 167 B.C. Not only had the Greeks destroyed the Jewish
> Temple in Jerusalem, but they also banned the practice of Judaism entirely.
> After a three-year fight, the Maccabees liberated the temple—and won the
> Jewish people the right to practice their religion.
>
> Scholars believe the first Hanukkah celebration was actually a belated
> celebration of Sukkot, a weeklong holiday that typically takes place in
> autumn. When the Maccabees prevailed over the Syrian Greeks, they wanted to
> celebrate important holidays they’d missed during the Maccabean Revolt.
> Despite the fact that it was early winter, they celebrated Sukkot as they
> rededicated the temple. (Sukkot was never again celebrated in the winter;
> it went back to being a fall holiday.)
>
> The rededication of the temple involved turning on the lights, so to speak.
> Since electricity was a long, long way from being invented, people relied
> on oil lamps. At the time of the rededication, oil was in short supply, and
> there was just enough in the temple to provide light for a single day. But
> miraculously, the oil continued to burn for the entire time the Jewish
> people were celebrating Sukkot, a total of eight days, including the
> dedication. That’s why Hanukkah has always been celebrated for eight
> nights.
>
> The Jewish people continued to celebrate the temple rededication annually,
> but it would take another 250 years before Hanukkah came to be known as the
> Festival of Lights, a term coined by the ancient Jewish historian Flavius
> Josephus. Some historians believe Josephus was referring not to a lighting
> of lamps but to enlightenment—as in a newly acquired freedom to worship.
> Either way, the notion stuck. In fact, many people associate Hanukkah more
> with the miracle of the oil than with the rededication of the temple."
>
> The above information and more can be read at the following article:
> https://www.rd.com/article/hanukkah-facts/
>
> Happy Hanukkah to all those who celebrate it!!!!
>
> Thanks,
> National Federation of the Blind of Pennsylvania
> www.nfbp.org
>