Shana Tova u’Metuka!

What makes Rosh ha-Shanah special








“8 Facts” about the Jewish Feast of Dedication

A teddybear holding a burning candle sits alongside an eight-branched lampstand

Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Jens Ziehe

The history of the Jewish Festival of Lights is about the one temple in Jerusalem. To be precise, about its re-consecration (“Hanukkah”) in the year 164 B.C.E. after it had stood for many years under Syrian-Greek control.



During this period of foreign rule, two groups were in conflict: on the one side was the Seleucid Empire under Antiochus IV Epiphanes, while on the other side were the courageous Maccabees led by the priest Mattathias and his sons.  continue reading