Hanukah oil salah: A Mythic Reality plus a Muslim Hope

Sr. Dawn Mills points out that in ancient days, the most common lamp oil in the Mediterranean was olive oil. The olive branch has from ancient times been a symbol of peace. Today, more than ever, our world needs people who have stored up the oil of peace in order that God’s light of peace may burn bright.

The oil that fuels our own light is the holy oil of joy that God pours out on us as long as we keep using it. We must pour it out for others; we must open it to burn within us to help others.

Proverbs 11:25 states: “A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.” Counting our blessings leads to generosity, which results in personal and communal growth. As we express gratitude, God uses us to bless others, creating a cycle of mutual enrichment.

Psalm 100:4 says: “Enter his (God’s) gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.” And Ecclesiastes 3:12-13 responds: “I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their work—this is a gift of God.” A daily counting of our blessings is an age-old religious advice that actually helps improve our mood and mindset.

Hanukah (Hebrew for Dedication) began December 25 at sundown this year. Hanukah refers both to: The rededication of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem after it was profaned in 168 BCE by an idol installed in it by the Syrian Greek king Antiochus IV; and the dedication and valor of the Makabees and all those who joined them in their Jihad resistance to the attempt by the ruling powers to force the Jews to abandon their God given religion, and conform to Greek forms of worship and culture. Abandoning circumcision was one example.

Those who resisted, and their 25 year long dedication to the Jihad struggle, eventually led to religious freedom and national independence for the Jews living in the Land of Israel.

The oppression of Judaism by Antiochus IV, the Syrian Greek king, was the first known attempt at suppressing a minority religion, but unfortunately not the last. Other well known attempts were the three century long Roman persecution of Christianity, and the persecution of Muhammad and his followers by the majority of the pagan Arabs in Makkah.

All three religions emerged from their varying periods of persecution stronger than ever, and this is the ongoing spiritual lesson of the Hanukah lamp. A oil lamp, once lit by faithful believers, filled with hope and trust in God, can last longer than all the realists and negativists thought was possible.

The history: In 200 BCE, King Antiochus III of Syria defeated Egypt and made the Land of Israel a part of the Seleucid Empire. King Antiochus III wanting to conciliate his new Jewish subjects guaranteed their right to “live according to their ancestral customs” and to continue to practice their religion in the Temple of Jerusalem.

However in 175 BCE, his son Antiochus IV invaded Judea to put in power a pro Syrian high Priest. As the first century Jewish historian Josephus relates: “The king came upon the Jews with a great army, took their city by force, slew a great multitude of those that favored Egypt, and sent out his soldiers to plunder them without mercy. He also spoiled the temple (erecting an idol in it that looked like himself, and thus) put a stop to the daily offerings (to God) for three years and six months.”

The tradition: When the Temple in Jerusalem was looted and services stopped, Judaism was outlawed. In 167 BCE Antiochus IV (who named himself ‘Manifest God’) ordered an altar to Zeus be erected in the Temple. He banned circumcision and ordered pigs to be sacrificed at the altar of the Temple.

This provoked a large-scale revolt. Mattityahu, a small town Jewish priest, and his five sons Jochanan Simeon, Eleazar, Jonathan, and Judah led a rebellion against Antiochus. They became known as HaMakabim (the Hammers).

In 166 BCE Mattathias died, and Judah Makabee took his place as leader. By 165 BCE the Jewish revolt against the Seleucid monarchy was largely successful. The Temple was liberated and (Hanukah) rededicated. The festival of Hanukah was instituted to celebrate this event.

The oil: Judah Makabee ordered the Temple to be purified, and a new altar to be built in place of the one polluted by pig’s blood. According to the Torah, pure olive oil was needed for the two six branched menorahs in the Temple, which were required to burn day and night throughout the year.

However, there was only enough pure oil found to burn for one or two days, and it would take a week to prepare a fresh supply of pure oil for the two menorahs. Some said delay the Hanukah of the Temple for a week. Others said kindle the Temple Menorahs and pray for the oil to last until new pure oil could be made.

The two six branched menorahs were lit; and they did not go out prior to the arrival of the new pure oil. An eight-day festival was declared to commemorate this miracle.

The eight days: In Biblical days the two most widely celebrated Jewish Holy days were the week long pilgrimage festivals of the Passover Exodus from Egypt; and Sukkot—the fall harvest festival. Each lasted seven days, but in the Torah, Sukkot had an extra day attached to it making it a combined eight day festival. When Solomon dedicated the First Temple in Jerusalem the celebration lasted seven days and on the eighth day when the people went back home.

For three years, while the Temple was polluted by the Syrian Greek statue of the king, Jews boycotted the Temple. When the Makabees recaptured Jerusalem and the Temple Mount just eight weeks after the end of Sukkot, they purified the Temple and called it’s eight day (like Solomon) rededication ‘Sukkot in December”.

The lights: These can be candles or oil lamps. Most Jewish homes have a special eight branched candelabrum referred to as a hanukiah, or an oil lamp holder for Hanukah, which holds eight lights plus the additional light used to light the others each day.

The reason for the Hanukkah lights is not to “light the house within”, but rather to “illuminate the house without,” so passersby should see it and be reminded of the holiday’s miracle. Thus, lamps are set up at a prominent window or near the door leading to the street. Some Ashkenazim (Jews from European Lands) have a separate menorah for each family member (customs vary), whereas most Sephardim (Jews from Muslim Lands) light one for the whole household.

The spiritual politics: In the generation after the massive failure of the Bar Kochbah rebellion against the Roman Empire, the sages of Israel carried out a sustained campaign against Hanukah with the intent of demilitarizing and emasculating Hanukah and turning it from a celebration of Jihadi military victories and political successes, into a spiritual Jihad tribute to the ability of faith and trust in God to deliver Israel from danger.

The rabbis eliminated the feast of Nikanor´s Day, which celebrated Judah Makabee´s killing of a Syrian Greek general named Nikanor, in direct hand to hand combat. The Rabbis decided that the Fast of Queen Esther mentioned in book of Esther took place on the same day as Judah Makabee’s victory, and since it is impossible to observe both a feast and a fast on the same day Queen Esther’s piety squelched Judah Maccabees’s military prowess.

For the Jews of Babylonia, Hanukah and the story of the victorious military struggle presented a problem. They feared their young people would be influenced by the model of the Makabees and become “militant activist” opponents of authority. When the majority of Jews lived in the Land of Israel a revolt might succeed; but when the majority of Jews lived as small minorities throughout the Roman and Persian Empires a revolt would lead to catastrophe.

It was not possible to eliminate Hanukkah; it had become firmly entrenched in the hearts and minds of the people. But the Hanukah miracle could be, 4-5 centuries later, enhanced and changed from one celebrating a miraculous military Jihad victory against overwhelming odds, into a miraculous spiritual Jihad story of faith and hope symbolized by a “little jar of oil.”

The jar of oil story is first told in the Babylonian Talmud (Shabbat 21b): “Our rabbis taught: On the 25th day of Kislev begin the eight days of Hanukkah on which fasting is forbidden. When the (Syrian) Greeks entered the Temple, they defiled all the holy oil; and when the Makabees prevailed and defeated them, they searched and found only one jar of oil with the official seal of the High Priest, but it had only enough for one day’s lighting; yet a miracle occurred, they lit the (always burning) lamp with it and it (burned) for eight days. The following year these days were decreed a festival.”

The rededicated Jerusalem Temple was destroyed by the Romans 235 years later in the year 70 CE. Exactly 500 years later Prophet Muhammad was born and shortly after after his death Arab armies conquered Jerusalem. About 60-70 years afterwards the Muslim government minted coins in Jerusalem, and on these coins the seven branched Temple menorah appears in the center of one side, with the Shahada in Arabic stating “There is no god but Allah.” The other side bears the inscription: “Muhammad (is the) Messenger of God.”

Thus the light of the three Abrahamic monotheism religions still shines. May these coins and Hanukah also bring Jews and Muslims closer together in our day. Then as Prophet Isaiah predicted (19:23-25): “On that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together.

“On that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.”