What do the Hanukkah lights symbolize?

Here’s the grown-up version: “Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem in 165 BCE after the Temple had been profaned by the Hellenistic Emperor Antiochus IV. Each year, Jews light candles in their hanukkiot (Hanukkah menorahs) to symbolize the miracle.

What is the purpose of the Feast of Lights?

Also known as the “Festival of Lights,” Hanukkah is an eight-day celebration that commemorates the rededication of the Holy Temple after the Jewish people battled the Syrian-Greeks (Seleucids) to reclaim it in the second century BCE.

What are the four symbols of Hanukkah?

The Hebrew letters inscribed on a dreidel are a Nun, Gimel, Hey or Chai, and Shin. The letters form an acronym for the Hebrew saying Nes Gadol Hayah Sham, which can be translated to “a great miracle happened there,” referring to the miracle which Hanukkah is centered around.

What are the seven symbols of Hanukkah?

Dreidel, latkes and more: Six words to explore the Hanukkah story and traditions

• Hanukkiah. The most famous symbol of Hanukkah is the hanukkiah, the nine-branched candelabra which is lit each night, and can often be seen in house windows.
• Shammash.
• Dreidel (or sevivon)
• Hanukkah ‘gelt’
• Fried food.
• Maccabees.

What is the symbol of the Festival of Lights?

Diwali celebrates the light overcoming the dark, according to the SCFI’s website, DiwaliFestival.org. The light symbolizes knowledge and wisdom, while darkness is a symbol for all negative forces, such as wickedness, destruction, violence, lust, envy, injustice, greed, oppression and suffering.

What is the meaning of the Hanukkah candles?

Eight candles symbolize the number of days that the Temple lantern blazed; the ninth, the shamash, is a helper candle used to light the others. Families light one candle on the first day, two on the second (and so on) after sundown during the eight days of Hanukkah, while reciting prayers and singing songs.

Why are there different menorahs?

Since biblical times, the seven-branched menorah has symbolized Judaism. For many Jews in antiquity, the menorah’s seven branches represented the five visible planets, plus the sun and the moon, and its rounded branches suggested their trajectories across the heavens.

What do the 9 candles of Hanukkah represent?

1. Light the Menorah. The centerpiece of the Hanukkah celebration is the hanukkiah or menorah, a candelabra that holds nine candles. Eight candles symbolize the number of days that the Temple lantern blazed; the ninth, the shamash, is a helper candle used to light the others.

Do all menorahs have 9 candles?

A menorah, which has only seven candleholders, was the lamp used in the ancient holy temple in Jerusalem — now a symbol of Judaism and an emblem of Israel. A Hanukkiah, however, has nine candlesticks — one for each night of Hanukkah and an extra one to light the others.

What does the Star of David represent?

The star was almost universally adopted by Jews in the 19th-century as a striking and simple emblem of Judaism in imitation of the cross of Christianity. The yellow badge that Jews were forced to wear in Nazi-occupied Europe invested the Star of David with a symbolism indicating martyrdom and heroism.

Why do we light a candle on Hanukkah?

This signifies the arrival of Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights. A small candle ignites among my enormous egoistic desires, a tiny part where bestowal and benefiting others alights. The tiny part of this desire that yearns to enjoy together with the spiritual light of love, bestowal and connection is considered as our soul.

What does Hanukkah mean to you?

Hanukkah signifies the need to constantly fight the battle against our inner egoism in order to rise above it and discover a new, united world. When we persevere in the struggle to unite above our differences, then our differences strengthen our unity.

What is the war at Hanukkah?

The war at Hanukkah is an inner war on the barrier between the corporeal and spiritual worlds, i.e. egoistic powers versus those of unity, love and bestowal. Our egoistic desires and thoughts are what stand between us and the sensation of eternity, harmony and wholeness, which is what we rejoice in when we win the war that Hanukkah symbolizes.