http://unscriptured.com/2006/12/20/festival-of-lights/ and now, a word from our creator Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:10:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 http://unscriptured.com/2006/12/20/festival-of-lights/#comment-77 Thu, 21 Dec 2006 15:21:04 +0000 http://unscriptured.com/2006/12/20/festival-of-lights/#comment-77 Except, of course, that Hannukah is an ersatz holiday in America. Only here is there a big deal with dreydels, menorah and gift giving and the point was, in fact, to compete with Christmas in the hearts of little Jewish boys and girls. Sad, if you ask me. But in any case, Hannukah is *not* part of the religious calendar - it celebrates the Macabee rebellion in Judea about the same time as Christmas - unlike Sabbath, Rosh Hashonah/Yom Kippur and so on. In fact, as holidays go, I'd say Hannukah is basically redundant to Passover since they celebrate such similar underlying themes (e.g., oppression, the right to worship as one chooses, etc.). Except, of course, that Hannukah is an ersatz holiday in America. Only here is there a big deal with dreydels, menorah and gift giving and the point was, in fact, to compete with Christmas in the hearts of little Jewish boys and girls. Sad, if you ask me. But in any case, Hannukah is *not* part of the religious calendar - it celebrates the Macabee rebellion in Judea about the same time as Christmas - unlike Sabbath, Rosh Hashonah/Yom Kippur and so on. In fact, as holidays go, I’d say Hannukah is basically redundant to Passover since they celebrate such similar underlying themes (e.g., oppression, the right to worship as one chooses, etc.).

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