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Hanukkah And Christmas

Decent Essays
Hanukkah and Christmas are two very important celebrations to many cultures. Hanukkah is mostly celebrated by the Jewish, whereas Christmas is celebrated by Christians and other members of society that don't have a specific religion. Throughout, this will look at the differences between the two. These being; the religious aspects of them both, the date differences of the celebrations, the cultural background behind them and symbols that represent these celebrations. In 165 B.C., on the 25th day of Kislev in the Hebrew calendar, the Jewish rebel forces known as the Maccabees successfully reclaimed the Temple in Jerusalem from the Greek forces that had occupied it since 168 B.C. The Temple had been defiled by the worship of pagan gods like Zeus, and by practices such as the sacrificing of pigs upon the altar. Besides being non-kosher, pigs have a uniquely infamous significance under Jewish law, according to Chabad.org, and the Maccabees were intent upon the purification of the Temple. To accomplish the purification, the Maccabees wanted to burn ritual oil on the Temple's menorah for eight days, but they were only able to find enough oil in the Temple to keep the menorah lit for one day. Miraculously, the menorah remained lit for the entire eight days, and the Jews have celebrated the successful rededication of the Temple ever since.

Christmas can have many meaning to different people depending on how they interpret it. However, if looking at the Christian aspect of it. The
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