Also known as the Festival of Lights, the Jewish festival of Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem during the 167-160 BCE Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire. This year, Hanukkah begins at sundown on December 22, and we will take the opportunity to acknowledge an element of our Judeo-Christian heritage and consider the meaning of this celebration as it relates to our Unitarian Universalist faith. We will also hear from members and friends of our Congregation who identified spiritually and/or culturally as Jewish about their memories of Hanukkah growing up, and how their experience of it or, perhaps, their lack of experience of it, figured into their faith development and how they now regard and/or observe Hanukkah.

We will also, of course, light the Menorah, the iconic symbol of Hanukkah.

Topics: Religious Exploration