Hanukkah and Christmas 25 December 2024 ( 25 Kislev 5785)
Week of 20 -27 December 2024
Dear readers and friends, shalom from Israel-Jerusalem, Hag Sameah!
Hanukkah and Christmas
The Jewish celebration of Hanukkah (25 of Kislev) and the celebration of Christmas (25 of December), are very close to each other. This year we celebrate both practically on the same date.
The celebration of Hanukkah emphasises the centrality of light, specifically lighting 8 lights during the eight days of the Hanukkah celebration. The light that comes to drive out darkness, this is the presence of God represented by light.
Hanukkah: is part of the minor festivals in the Jewish calendar of festivals established post biblical period. It is celebrated on the 25th of the month of Kislev. Hanukkah marks the rededication of the Temple by the Maccabees following its desecration by Antiochus Epiphanes, when practically all Jewish religious life was prohibited, such as the reading of the Torah and the practice of circumcision, in addition to the desecration of the Temple, thus causing the total denial of Jewish identity. The movement led by the Maccabees successfully managed to overcome Hellenistic power and restore Jewish territorial and religious autonomy. This great event and model of liberation for the Jewish people is celebrated Hanukkah, rededication of the Temple.
The oral tradition of Israel will express this great victory over the danger of extermination of Jewish identity perpetrated by Hellenistic power and culture, through the symbol of fire or light as rabbinical literature in the Talmud teaches us as the miracle of the oil that kept the light burning for eight days, as the time set for the festival following the model of the festival of Sukkot: “The Gemara asks: What is Hanukkah, and why are lights kindled on Hanukkah? The Gemara answers: The Sages taught in Megillat Ta’anit: On the twenty-fifth of Kislev, the days of Hanukkah are eight. One may not eulogize on them and one may not fast on them. What is the reason? When the Greeks entered the Sanctuary, they defiled all the oils that were in the Sanctuary by touching them. And when the Hasmonean monarchy overcame them and emerged victorious over them, they searched and found only one cruse of oil that was placed with the seal of the High Priest, undisturbed by the Greeks. And there was sufficient oil there to light the candelabrum for only one day. A miracle occurred and they lit the candelabrum from it eight days. The next year the Sages instituted those days and made them holidays with recitation of hallel and special thanksgiving in prayer and blessings” (T. B. Shabbat 21b).
The root in Hebrew Ch-N-kh comes from the root meaning to inaugurate, to dedicate, to consecrate, see Dt 20: 5; King 8: 63 (Solomon’s Temple). In the beginning the festival was possibly held in connection with the festival of Sukkot, as being a second festival, as it appears in some quotes from books I and II of Maccabees, as we can see in the sequence. When the author of the text addresses the Jews of Egypt, he speaks of the feast of Sukkot: “And now see that you keep the feast of booths in the month of Chislev, in the one hundred and eighty-eighth year … Since on the twenty-fifth day of Kislev we shall celebrate the purification of the temple, we thought it necessary to notify you, in order that you also may celebrate the feast of booths and the feast of the fire given when Nehemiah, who built the temple and the altar, offered sacrifices. For when our fathers were being led captive to Persia, the pious priests of that time took some of the fire of the altar and secretly hid it in the hollow of a dry cistern, where they took such precautions that the place was unknown to any one” (IIMac 1, 9. 18-19).
“And they celebrated it for eight days with rejoicing, in the manner of the feast of booths, remembering how not long before, during the feast of booths, they had been wandering in the mountains and caves like wild animals. Therefore, bearing ivy-wreathed wands and beautiful branches and also fronds of palm, they offered hymns of thanksgiving to him who had given success to the purifying of his own holy place. They decreed by public ordinance and vote that the whole nation of the Jews should observe these days every year” (IIMac 10,6-8).
As it is a celebration centred on light, we find a long teaching about its value and the way to celebrate this light which is a way of bearing witness to the presence of God in the world and in the context first meant bearing witness to the God who reveals himself to Israel and who is the One and Unique God.
Here is a small example of the diversity of interpretation (Beit-Chamaï and Beit-Hillel), but neither one nor the other diminishes the importance of the celebration and the centrality of the light that gives meaning to the festival: “Our Masters teach us in the Baraita: we fulfil our duty of lighting Hanukkah, lighting one lamp per day and per family. The devout light one lamp for each member of the family, and the most fervent, Beit-Chamaï, say: on the first day we light eight lamps, and on the following days we descend, and Beit-Hillel says: on the first day we light one lamp, and on the following days we ascend … Ulla said: There were two amora’im in the West, Eretz Yisrael, who disagreed with regard to this dispute, Rabbi Yosei bar Avin and Rabbi Yosei bar Zevida. One said that the reason for Beit Shammai’s opinion is that the number of lights corresponds to the incoming days, i.e., the future. On the first day, eight days remain in Hanukkah, one kindles eight lights, and on the second day seven days remain, one kindles seven, etc. The reason for Beit Hillel’s opinion is that the number of lights corresponds to the outgoing days. Each day, the number of lights corresponds to the number of the days of Hanukkah that were already observed. And one said that the reason for Beit Shammai’s opinion is that the number of lights corresponds to the bulls of the festival of Sukkot: Thirteen were sacrificed on the first day and each succeeding day one fewer was sacrificed (Numbers 29:12–31). The reason for Beit Hillel’s opinion is that the number of lights is based on the principle: One elevates to a higher level in matters of sanctity and one does not downgrade” (TB Shabbat 21b).
Christmas, proximity of celebration with Hanukkah
Hanukkah celebrates the light (representing God) that invades and dominates darkness and Christmas holds the meaning that light invades creation with the birth of Jesus, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 9:1ff. “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light”. We learned that the celebrations do not evoke contradictory sources and do not lead to understandings of faith of different essence.
I do not intend to make a direct connection between Hanukkah and Christmas, but we have reason to believe that the development of the day, of the meaning given to Christmas celebrated on December 25, did not ignore the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah.
The date of December 25th was chosen under a double influence, on the one hand the speculation of the death of Jesus and on the other hand based on the pagan celebrations of the winter solstice that explored the symbolism of light, therefore, very easy to Christianise.
The symbolism explored by the solstice festival appeared above all as something expected, something that could be used. The theme of Christ as the ‘Sun of Justice’ had existed in Christian literature since the second and third centuries. Justin Martyr, Irenaeus and Tertullian had already interpreted the texts of Scripture related to the sun, particularly Ps 19:5-7: ”In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiced as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof” (Ps 19: 4-6) in terms of Christ, the true light; as also Mal 3:20 (4:2): “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings”.
December 25th remained the great Western feast; its progressive penetration into the Christian world took place during the second half of the 4th century and during the 5th century, and ended in the 6th century. Here is a table showing the main progression of the celebration of this date: Spain became acquainted with the feast of Christmas in 384 (letter of Himericus to Pope Damasus); the first Gallic testimony was given by Saint Paulinus of Nole (+431); in the East, the vital centre of the Empire began the celebration between 370-378 (Cappadocia). A careful reading of John Chrysostom’s Christmas sermon of 386 or 388 reveals that December 25th had been celebrated in Antioch some years earlier: “Indeed, it is not ten years since this day has been known to us; I know well that even now many people argue among themselves, some attack and others defend.” We learn from this statement of Chrysostom that in his day there was no unanimity, and the introduction of the feast of Christmas into Antioch was not easily introduced.
As we saw Hanukkah celebrates the light (representing God) that invades and dominates darkness and Christmas holds the meaning that light invades creation with the birth of Jesus, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 9:1ff. “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light”, a convergence of meaning emerges between both.
We know how our liturgical calendar is marked by the Jewish liturgy. Since the feast of Hanukkah precedes the date of the celebration of Christmas, the proximity of the feast is not a pure coincidence. And the celebration on December 25th for Christmas and the 25th of Kislev, a month and day very close together, is not by chance. Especially given the messianic aspect of the feast of Hanukkah, there is no better day to celebrate the birth of Christ the Messiah proclaimed by Christians.
Happy holidays to all, Jews and Christians! And may the light that comes from God illuminate us all. Hag Sameah!
This week’s Hanukkah and Christmas Commentary was prepared by
Elio Passeto, NDS, Israel, Director
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