Olive Oil's Significance to Hannakah

Olive Oil’s Significance to Hanukkah

Lucia December 5th, 2007

My mom is a history teacher so I can regurgitate dates and historical facts at the drop of a hat. Still, I have to confess that because of her maternal influence, I really am interested in history too. Don’t groan! As my mom said to me when I was grumbling about studying such dull stuff, “History is people, and their stories, sometimes funny, sometimes sad, and often weird.”

She’s right. I’ve discovered world history is rich with stories about olive oil, one of my special interests. She told me about the war fought by the Jews who revolted against the Greek (and Syrian) army.

On this second day of Hanukkah, I thought that the time would be appropriate for me to talk about how olive oil is connected to why Jews celebrate this holiday.

Over two thousand years ago, Antiochus IV, a Syrian-Greek leader, tried to force the Jews in Israel to assimilate and become Greek. He wanted them to renounce their culture, and, most of all, renounce their religion. Judah Maccabee led a revolt against Antiochus’s army. Though greatly outnumbered, the Jews were victorious, but it was nearly a Pyrrhic victory. In other words, the cost of the victory nearly destroyed them because the Greek army defiled the olive oil used to light the lamp in the Temple.

You see, a menorah, a special lamp that burned olive oil, must be lit for religious ceremony. Though the victorious Jews searched everywhere, they found only one vial of olive oil that had not been defiled. They filled the menorah, a special lamp in the Temple with this pure olive oil, and lit it. The lamp should have burned for only a short time. Miraculously, the oil burned for eight days, giving them time to get more pure oil for the menorah in the holy Temple.

After that, to commemorate this miracle of the oil that burned for eight days, the Jews began lighting small menorahs in their homes. Through the centuries, Hanukkah has been a celebration and commemoration of this miracle of the olive oil that burned for eight days.

This Hanukkah season when our Jewish friends light the menorah, I’ll feel a special connection to it because I understand more fully the miracle it commemorates.

Our differences make us interesting. Our similarities unite us. I think the world is a much more interesting place when we learn why people celebrate special days in special ways.

Don’t you?

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