Hanoukkah

Description

Origin of Hanoukkah


Hanukkah is celebrated in the heart of winter, for 8 days from 25 Kislev, a lunar month falling between November and December.
The Festival of Lights celebrates the victory of the Jewish people, oppressed by the Hellenic invaders in Judea in the 2nd century BC.

The Greeks forbade the Jews to worship and study the Torah. The story of this oppression and the ensuing battle is told in the first Book of Maccabees in the Talmud. This victory of Judah Maccabees and his troops enabled the Jews to reclaim the Temple in Jerusalem and to inaugurate it a second time.

Sculpted pen with Hanukkah symbols

At the re-inauguration of the Temple in Jerusalem, the Maccabees found a small vial of oil. This was normally used to light the seven-branched menorah for a whole day. Miraculously, the oil burned for eight days! Since then, on the Festival of Lights, Jews celebrate this miracle, and an eight-branched menorah, the hanukkiah, is lit during the festivities. A ninth branch is sometimes used to light the others.

During this festival, children also play the dreidel, a square spinning top bearing the Hebrew letters “noun”, “guimel”, “hé”, “shin”, meaning
“a great miracle took place there”.
 
On this pen are carved the symbols of Hanukkah: the Hanukkah menorah, the Torah, the Star of David, the set of dreidel, the dish of sufganiot and the vial of oil.
The whole is framed by interlacing and surmounted by the inscription: “חנוכה”(Hanukkah).
It is a limited edition of 26 pieces, a sacred number in Judaism.