Hanukkah table 2007 photo by By MathKnight – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https commons.wikimedia.org
This eight-day Jewish festival begins this evening at sundown. The festival commemorates events that took place in Judea more than 2,000 years ago, when the Syrian king Antiochus ordered the Jews to abandon the Torah and publicly worship the Greek gods. This act provoked a rebellion led by Judas Maccabeus, climaxed by the retaking of the Temple in Jerusalem, which had been desecrated by the Syrians. In an eight-day celebration, the Maccabees (as the rebels came to be known) cleansed and rededicated the Temple (Chanukah means “dedication”). According to the Talmud, there was only enough consecrated oil to relight the candelabra for one day, yet, miraculously, it remained lit for eight days. The central feature of the observance of Chanukah is the nightly lighting of the Chanukiah, an eight-branched candelabra with a place for a ninth candle, the shammes, used to light the others. One candle is lit on the first night of Chanukah, and an additional candle is lit on each successive night, until, on the eighth night, the Chanukiah is fully illuminated.
Every Year
1810s
1850s
1890s
1900s
- 1901: THE NOBEL PRIZES WERE AWARDED FOR THE FIRST TIME
- 1906: PRESIDENT THEODORE ROOSEVELT WON THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
1930s
1950s
- 1950: RALPH BUNCHE BECAME THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN TO WIN THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
- 1950: WILLIAM FAULKNER ACCEPTED HIS NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE WHICH WAS AWARDED TO HIM IN 1949
- BORN 1952: SUSAN DEY (ACTRESS)
- 1954: COLONEL JOHN P. STAPP ATTAINED 632 MPH ON ROCKET SLED
- BORN 1957: MICHAEL CLARKE DUNCAN (ACTOR)
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
COURTESY www.almanac.com
