Hanukkah Celebration 2023

Come Celebrate Hanukkah With Congregation Beth Shalom!

10580 Atomic Road, North Augusta, SC 29864

Hanukkah begins Thursday evening, December 7, 2023 and continues through Friday, December 15, 2023

Hanukkah is the Judaic eight-day, wintertime “festival of lights,”  or Feast of Dedication celebrated with a nightly menorah lighting, special prayers and fried foods. 

In the second century BCE, the Holy Land was ruled by the Seleucids (Syrian-Greeks), who tried to force the people of Israel to accept Greek culture and beliefs instead of Torah mitzvah observance and belief in HaShem. Against all odds, a small band of faithful but poorly armed Jews, led by Judah the Maccabee, defeated one of the mightiest armies on earth, drove the Greeks from the land, reclaimed the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and rededicated it to the service of HaShem.

When they sought to light the Temple’s Menorah (the seven-branched candelabrum), they found only a single cruse of olive oil that had escaped contamination by the Greeks. Miraculously, they lit the menorah and the one-day supply of oil lasted for eight days, until new oil could be prepared under conditions of ritual purity.

To commemorate and publicize these miracles, the sages instituted the festival of Chanukah.1

Congregation will celebrate and commemorate Hanukkah with a Hanukkah Party and you are invited. So bring your hanukkiahs; 9 candle menorah, and join us for a fun night of fellowship.

Reference

1. Chabad.org/Hanukkah-Chanukah 2023