PrintDecember 5, 2010
Hanuka For Jews and Christians
Hanuka celebrates a spiritual and military victory in Israel nearly 2,200 years ago that has inspired generations of Jews and many Gentiles. A few faithful Jews were victorious over their assimiliationist brethren and the Hellenist Syrians of the Greek-founded Seleucid Empire.The events commemorated by Hanuka were necessary for the continuation and ultimate spread of monotheism in that they insured the survival of Judaism. Less than two centuries later, Judea, in all its flux and difficulties under Roman occupation, was the scene of Jesus of Nazareth's life and teachings. While Jews have continued to celebrate Hanuka and remember, many Christians learn about the events by reading the Books of Maccabees in the Protestant Apocrypha and the Roman Catholic Canon of the Old Testament. In the Middle Ages, tapestries and statues lionizing Judah Maccabee were created, and they are still in view in various European Christian communities (Cologne and Nuremberg, Germany; Innsbruck,...(Read Full Article)
