Published by I celebrate Hanukkah because this holiday means a lot to the Jewish people and to me. I like this holiday because of the miracle that happened more than 2300 years ago.
When I think about Hanukkah I think about the miracle of fire (the Menorah in the holy temple was lit from one can of oil with the seal of the high priest, and was supposed to last one day, but it lasted eight days.)
At that time the Greeks prohibited the Jews to study Torah, or to be involved in anything that has to do with Judaism. When the Greeks came to the place where Jews were learning Torah, the Jews would immediately start playing dreidel. The letters on a dreidel stand for “A big miracle happened there”, and certainly there was a big miracle there. The miracle of fire is important because I feel like the dark is kept far away from me; and the light is coming closer to me every second.
My family is from Russia, and there the KGB would arrest you if you celebrated Hanukkah. I am grateful that my family and I aren’t living in Russia anymore. There were very harsh decrees about learning Torah. Under the strong communist rule, lighting a menorah was akin to murdering somebody. I like to explain to people who don’t know about how it was in Russia.
Hanukkah is important because we are celebrating how the Maccabees conquered the Greeks to reclaim the temple. They even found a jug of oil with the seal of the high priest on it, and lit the Menorah with it. I enjoy telling the story of Hanukkah to anyone who doesn’t know about Hanukkah.
When Hanukkah comes, I get together with family and we talk about the miracles and remember how the Jews fought to victory.
