The eight-day Jewish celebration known as Hanukkah or Chanukah commemorates the rededication during the second century B. Second Temple in Jerusalem, where according to legend Jews had risen up against their Greek-Syrian oppressors in the Maccabean Revolt. Hebrew, begins on the 25th of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar and usually falls in November or December. Fried potato pancakes for hanukkah events that inspired the Hanukkah holiday took place during a particularly turbulent phase of Jewish history.

Judea—also known as the Land of Israel—came under the control of Antiochus III, the Seleucid king of Syria, who allowed the Jews who lived there to continue practicing their religion. The story of Hanukkah does not appear in the Torah because the events that inspired the holiday occurred after it was written. It is, however, mentioned in the New Testament, in which Jesus attends a “Feast of Dedication. Led by the Jewish priest Mattathias and his five sons, a large-scale rebellion broke out against Antiochus and the Seleucid monarchy. When Matthathias died in 166 B. Jews had successfully driven the Syrians out of Jerusalem, relying largely on guerilla warfare tactics. The Hanukkah ‘Miracle’ According to the Talmud, one of Judaism’s most central texts, Judah Maccabee and the other Jews who took part in the rededication of the Second Temple witnessed what they believed to be a miracle.

Even though there was only enough untainted olive oil to keep the menorah’s candles burning for a single day, the flames continued flickering for eight nights, leaving them time to find a fresh supply. Other Interpretations of the Hanukkah Story Some modern historians offer a radically different interpretation of the Hanukkah tale. Jewish laws and traditions, even if by force. Jewish scholars have also suggested that the first Hanukkah may have been a belated celebration of Sukkot, which the Jews had not had the chance to observe during the Maccabean Revolt.