It has been said that rituals are only valid if thy
change the individuals that participate. Hanukkah is a festival
that was designed to do just that. The G-d-given traditions of
Hanukkah are filled with prophetic insight and Messianic symbolism
that were designed by G-d to prepare the people of Israel for
the New Covenant that would be written on the tablets of their
hearts rather than the tablets of stone according to the prophet
Jeremiah (31:31-33). The rabbis say that Hanukkah is meant to
serve as an introduction and preparation for the future redemption
of Israel when the Messiah will come to transform the darkness
of the world into the light of the Messiah's reign on earth. Hanukkah
is meant to draw the participants into the Bible's final prophetic
unfolding of the final deliverance from the final galut (exile
from G-d).
The Festival is based upon an event that took place during the period known to Christianity as the intertestmental period, the 400 silent years between the last prophet of the Old Testament, Malachi, and the first prophet of the New Testament, John (the baptist) son of Zecharias.
Malachi prophesied that G-d would send Elijah before the coming of the Messiah. Yeshua said that John, son of Zecharias, was (a type of) the Elijah that Malachi predicted (Matthew 11:14) would appear. During the 400 intervening years, Israel was under the rule of the Medes and Persians, the Greeks, and lastly, the Romans. The story of Hanukkah took place during the period of Greek rule.
Antiochus IV became the ruler of Syria to the north of Israel. He wanted to rule the entire world and be worshipped as G-d. Antiochus issued a decree in Israel that all Jews were to stop worshiping in the Temple and cease practicing their religious laws or face death. Antiochus IV, who called himself Epiphanes (G-d manifest), sent his troops to sacrifice a pig on the bronze altar of sacrifice in Jerusalem, thus desecrating the Holy Temple. He dedicated the Temple of G-d to himself and his gods.
Two years later, Antiochus IV sent an official to the town of Modi'in to make sure his decrees were being carried out. An elderly priest, Mattathias, killed the king's emissary and fled with his family to the mountains. Mattathias and his five sons joined other fugitives and formed a small army that fought against the king's soldiers. Under the leadership of Mattathias' son Judah Maccabee, they battled successfully against Antiochus' troops although greatly outnumbered. They returned to Jerusalem to begin the enormous task of re-purifying the Temple and ridding it of the Syrian idols.
When the priests were preparing for the service of re-dedication, they could only find one small cruse of unprofaned oil which would have been sufficient for only one day. On the 25th day of the month of Kislev, three years after it was polluted, Judah Maccabee rededicated the Temple and lit the lamps of the Temple menorah using the unpolluted cruse of oil. The small amount of oil miraculously lasted eight days.
This event has spawned traditions that were meant to keep the victory fresh in the minds of each successive generation in order to maintain the Messianic hope, especially in the dark periods of Jewish history. For instance, it is customary to eat oily foods during the eight-day holiday such as doughnuts, pancakes, and latkes (potato pancakes) as reminders of the miracle of the flask of oil that lasted eight days. And, children are given Hanukkah gelt (money) as a reward for their Torah studies, reminding children that knowing and obeying G-d's word can bring a Reversal of Fate or Change of Fortune as the Hanukkah story implies G-d did on behalf of the Israelites.
The themes of the Festival not only speak of the past military victory; but also point to the hope of personal victory in one's life-struggles. In the past, the themes also served to encourage those suffering persecution in foreign lands. They are:
The Hanukkah menorah is different from the Temple menorah in that it has nine branches instead of seven. It is called the Hanukkiyah, meaning "to begin again with G-d". One candle is called the Shammash or Servant Candle. It sits higher than all the others and is lit first. The other eight candles must be lit by the Shammash rather than by a match. It is customary to put the Hanukkiyah in the window so passersby can see it and be enlightened to the eight days of miracles which G-d performed on behalf of the Israelites.
One of the most popular traditions is typically used to occupy children today. The game of dreidl, though, was originally invented to disguise Torah study during periods of history when Jews were forbidden to read or study the Word of G-d.
The dreidl has different Hebrew letters on four sidesthe letters nun, gimel, hay, and shin. These letters form an acronym for the phrase Nais Gadol Hoyoh Shom, "A great miracle happened there." In Israel, the letter shin is replaced by the letter peh, changing the phrase to Nais Gadol Hoyoh Poh, "A great miracle happened here." Each Hebrew letter also has a meaning in themselves, giving parents the opportunity to teach their children about G-d's character:
Nun the letter of faith and qualities of the soul
Gimel symbolizes G-d's loving-kindness
Hay the symbol of the Divine Presence
Shin stands for Shaddai, the All-sufficient One
Peh represents the mouth and speech
A most significant facet of the dreidl lies in biblical numerology. In Hebrew, each letter of the alephbet has a corresponding numerical value. The numerical value of the four Hebrew letters on the dreidl used outside Israel (in the Diaspora) equals 358, the same as the numerical value of the word Mashiach (Messiah), expressing the hope that the Messiah will come to rescue them and bring them back to the land of Israel. As such, the dreidl became a secret symbol of Messianic hope for the Jews living in the Diaspora.