[PACapitalChapter] Happy Hanukkah from the NFB of PA!!!!!!!

[Stacie Leap]

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