Reply to Jewish Families: What are your holiday traditions?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][i]I have never been to fond of Chanukah. It commemorates a victory in a war the Jews ultimately lost.[/i]

That the Hasmoneans failed as rulers, and were overtaken by Rome, does not mean that particular war was lost.  We are thankful for Hashem granting us chances, even when we go on to blow those chances.

[i] Furthermore, there's that asinine story about the Ner Tamid lasting for 8 nights. But the Books of the Maccabees never mentions any light lasting for 8 nights. It merely says that the festival is to be celebrated for 8 nights.[/i]

Because it is rededicating the Beit Hamikdash. Which was originally dedicated on sukkot.  Which lasts (effectively) 8 days.  To really grok hanukkah, you have to constantly bear in mind the connection to Sukkot.  Which the Maccabees could not celebrate appropriately that year.

[i]
 The 8 night miracle was written by some rabbi centuries[/i]

Creativity! Reinvention! yay!

[i]later who felt that the Books of the Maccabees were lacking because they had no miracles.[/i]

It already had a miracle - the victory of the few over the many, [/quote]

You call that a miracle?  History is full of events where few defeated many. In 1982, a small group of British marines took the Falklands back from a much larger Argentine army. No one said it was a miracle. When the Manchus invaded China and overthrew the Ming dynasty and replaced it with the Ching, they claimed they did it to help China defeat northern invaders. But the invaders defeated the Ching. The Ching asked for volunteers. 150 monks from the Shoalin Temple in Fukien volunteered. They defeated the invaders without suffering a single casualty. No one claimed devine intervention, the monks were just master martial artists. When Napoleon left Elba with a small group of soldiers, Louis XVIII sent his army to crush him. But Napoleon won. No one claimed devine intervention.  When Franco invaded Spain with a small group from Morrocco, not only did he face the whole Spanish army, but he faced brigades organized by Stalin from all over the world, like the International Brigades and even the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Now Hitler provided neither manpower nor much aid, but he gave lip service to Franco. Therefore, I doubt anyone but the most die hard Catholic would say that Hashem was on Franco's side. Yet he defeated a much larger and better armed force.  Smaller,  weaker forces have beaten larger, better armed forces throughout history, and they're not always the good guys.  Nothing to do with miracles. [/quote]

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