Known as the Festival of Lights, Hanukkah is celebrated by the Jewish people for eight days. Hanukkah usually begins in November or December. It follows the Jewish calendar and starts on the 25th of Kislev (History.com Staff). The Jewish people celebrate this special time of year with games, traditional food, presents for each night and the lighting of the menorah. Hanukkah is one of the most important celebrations in the Jewish culture. The Jewish faith has made a massive impact on the world through their culture, language, and even their most commonly practiced religious holiday Hanukkah the festival of lights.
Antiochus III, the king of Syria in 200 B.C.E., controlled Judea. He allowed the Jewish people to practice their religion (History.com Staff). Most of the time, the rulers during the Hellenistic time we…show more content… At home, the families take this time to celebrate and spend time with each other every night during the eight nights of Hanukkah. The worshiping services that the Jewish people partake in are “al hanissim”, “Birkat (ReformJudaism.org). The “al hanissim” worship service is a prayer that they pray while standing up. The prayer “Birkat”, is a worship prayer that happens to be prayed after mealtime. Along with those worship prayers that the Jewish people recite at certain times, there are also daily readings from the Torah. The readings are read each day during Hanukkah and from a certain passage in the Torah. The passage that is read each night comes from Numbers 6:22-8:4 and recollects the dedication of the temporary place of worship called the “mishkan” (ReformJudaism.org). Other additional readings take place during the Shabbot and reading passages from the Haftarah. When it is the Shabbot, is when the Jewish people read the weekly messages. Other passages are read during Hanukkah from the sections of Zechariah 4:1-7 and Kings 7:40-50 both from the Prophetic books