Free Hanukkah Screensaver

Hanukkah Free Screensaver

Hanukkah (also spelled Chanukah), also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish holiday beginning on the 25th day of the month of Kislev, which may fall anytime from late November to late December. It celebrates the re-kindling of the Temple menorah at the time of the Maccabee rebellion. The festival is observed in Jewish homes by the kindling of lights on each night of the holiday - one on the first night, two on the second, and so on. Hanukkah, from the Hebrew word for dedication or consecration , marks the re-dedication of the Temple after its desecration by Antiochus IV and commemorates the miracle of the container of oil. According to the Talmud, at the re-dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem following the victory of the Maccabees over the Seleucid Empire, there was only enough consecrated olive oil to fuel the eternal flame in the Temple for one day. Miraculously, the oil burned for eight days - which was the length of time it took to press, prepare and consecrate new oil. Hanukkah is also mentioned in the deuterocanonical books of 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees. 1 Maccabees states: For eight days they celebrated the rededication of the altar. Then Judah and his brothers and the entire congregation of Israel decreed that the days of the rededication...should be observed...every year...for eight days. According to 2 Maccabees, the Jews celebrated joyfully for eight days as on the feast of Booths.