To Jews friends: Hag semeah

Dear friends and friends,

to my friends of the Jewish faith who follow this my blog, I wish  happy Hanukkah.

This year, the Feast of Hanukkah coincides with our Christmas.
Hanukkah or Chanukah, also Channukah, (Hebrew חנוכה or חֲנֻכָּה, Hanukkah) is a Jewish holiday, also known as the Festival of Lights or Feast of Lights.
In Hebrew the word chanukkah means "unveiling" or "dedication", is in fact the holiday commemorating the consecration of a new altar in the Temple in Jerusalem after the freedom conquered by the Hellenists, the reign of which, in "Eretz Israel" in the second century BC, wanted to divert the Jews from the Torah and especially by some of its precepts as Shabbat and Brit Milah: some Jews were religiously "corrupt" but not the majority; the Assyrian and Hellenic thought then to eradicate the Jewish specificity by forbidding the practice of law but an armed revolt led by Mattathias, an elderly priest of the Hasmonean family, Modin, a town north-west of Jerusalem, allowed - according to the book of Zechariah Zech 4.6 - the victory of spirit over brutal force that threatened Israel with her religious and spiritual life. Mattathias killed a jew who had renounced his religion, to embrace paganism. The apostate was desecrating the Temple of Jerusalem and turn it into a pagan temple dedicated to Zeus.
The Jewish Torah, which with books deuterocanonical form our Old Testament, speaks.
The first book of Maccabees (one of the deuterocanonical books) speaks of the attempt to Hellenization of the Jews operated by the Seleucids, who defiled the Temple in Jerusalem.
The Second Book of Maccabees (another book deuterocanonical) speaks of the dedication of the Temple after the rebellion against the Hellenists.
So even we Catholics have the Hanukkah mentioned in the Bible.
Perhaps, we should see more of our holy book.
In fact, between Hanukkah and our Holy Christmas there is an affinity.
Both festivals take place in the same period; more or less in a period close to the winter solstice, the day of the year with less light, after which the days shooting to get longer.
Moreover, as the festival of Hanukkah marks the commemoration of an event in which the Jewish people found a new life in God who also became our thanks to that Jesus Christ, whose birth is commemorated in our Christmas,
That Jesus Christ brought to life the whole world.
I wish a happy Christmas to Jews friends and to my great friend and collaborator Morris Sonnino and to his family.
Best regards and Hag semeah