THERE IS MORE TO THE STORY

WELCOME TO THE MONTH OF KISLEV

Today, which began as the moon rose last night, is the 1st day of the Hebrew month of Kislev 5781.

As the moon brings us into the month of Kiskev, it is worth noting that Hanukkah, which begins this month, is the only Jewish Holiday that starts in one month (25th of Kislev - the 9th month) and ends in another (2nd of Tevet - the 10th month). 

Hanukkah has two moons!  Given Jew's very special relationship with the moon, this aspect makes Hanukkah special indeed. Here are 10 classic Jewish teachjngs about the Moon. 

Since there is meaning in both Hebrew letters and Hebrew numbers, Hanukkah is a holiday with extra meaning. Hanukkah goes from the 9th month to the 10th month -- from 9 tp 10. The letter TET is 9 and the letter YOD is 10. (The Hebrew alpha-bet numbers go from 1-9, 10-90 and 100-400.) 

Since there are more moons, more months, more letters and numbers associated with Hanukkah I see both irony and a message in this additional fact.

Hanukkah is the one Jewish holiday that history has "lost" the Hebrew for. The Book of Maccabees, which tells the story that the holiday ritual is based on, is the one Hebrew book that is lost. We have the original Hebrew for every other holiday. But with Hanukkah we only have a Greek translation of The Book of Maccabees that was done based on the Hebrew at about the same time. This begs the question:  Did we lose any of the meaning when we lost the Hebrew?  

I believe the answer is yes. We did lose a part of the meaning in the common understanding of the story.  

The translation from Greek to English changed one letter which changed the translation of one word. The scholars say the common translator from Greek to English made the change because they believe that the original Greek translation done in the day made a mistake. Mind you that the Greek translator who lived in the day had the Hebrew to base their translation on! Whereas the translators from Greek to English is using context and logic many centuries later.  Nonetheless, that English version became the standard. 

However, that one word changed from the Greek to the English changed the story of Hanukkah in a VERY important way. I believe that important way is highly relevant to what is happening in our world today. 

I plan to do my best to explain when I teach about Hanukkah latter this month.