Editing Hanukkah (section)

==Modern history==
===Zionism===
{{Quote box|width=256px|bgcolor=#c6dbf7|align=right|quote=
"Hanukkah is an ancient holiday, but a modest one. The holiday of the Hasmoneans is new, yet it is full of spiritual exaltation and national joy. What was Hanukkah forty years ago? 'Al ha-nissim' and Hallel; a short reading in the synagogue; lighting the tiny, slender wax candles or oil lights; at home, levivot [latkes-potato pancakes], cards for the older children, and sevivonim [dreidels-spinning tops] for the little ones. But what is Hanukkah today? The holiday of the Hasmoneans. A holiday of salvation. A great national holiday, celebrated in all the countries of the Diaspora with dances and speeches, melody and song, outings and parades, as if a new soul has been breathed into the ancient holiday, another spirit renewed within it. One thing is clear: if those tiny, modest candles had been extinguished in Diaspora times, if our grandparents had not preserved the traditions of Hanukkah in the synagogue and at home . .., the holiday of the Hasmoneans could never have been created. There would have been nothing to change, nothing to renew. The new soul of our times would not have found a body in which to envelop itself."
| source=[[Joseph Klausner]], 1938, in [[Haim Harari (educator)|Haim Harari]]'s ''Sefer Hanukkah''{{sfn|Conforti|2012|p=159}}{{sfn|Zion|Spectre|2000|p=13}}}}

The emergence of Jewish nationalism and the [[Zionism|Zionist]] movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries had a profound impact on the celebration and reinterpretation of [[Jewish holiday]]s. These developments resulted in increased emphasis on certain Jewish celebrations, of which Hanukkah and [[Tu BiShvat]] are prominent examples.{{sfn|Conforti|2012|loc=p. 158-159, "Jewish nationalism and Zionism breathed new life into the Jewish holidays. The traditional Jewish calendar is full of holidays and days of commemoration, which served as a basis for the revival of modern Jewish nationalism. From its inception, Zionism made broad use of the reserve of Jewish memories and myths from biblical times and from the Second Temple period. This was the case for the renewal of biblical names and symbols as well as the significance of national holidays. Significant examples of this are the holidays of Hanukkah and Tu bi-Shvat. These two holidays were initiated relatively late in history, and had relatively little importance in the religious sense. But beginning with the Zionist awakening in the 1880s, these holidays took on central meaning. In the 1890s, many of the newly founded Zionist organisations adopted the names 'Hasmoneans and 'Maccabees', in an attempt to create a clear connection between the heroic foundations of the ancient biblical golden age and the renaissance of Jewish nationalism… Hanukkah, celebrated in the Diaspora as the festival of lights, mainly expressed God's might and the principles of the Jewish faith. But at the inception of the Zionist project, this holiday was transformed into a symbol of the power and rebellion of the entire nation against its foreign oppressor (Don-Yehiya 1992). The connection that the Zionist movement made between ba-vamim ha-hem u-ba-zman ha-zeh [*in days past, and in these times'] expressed the Zionist desire to return to a heroic past and 'the lost Jewish masculinity'. It also reflected the aspiration to create a new Jew, in contrast to the Diaspora Jew (Bashkin 1998). Instead of God's might, the Zionists began to emphasise the strength of the rebel Maccabbees. In the arts, Boris Schatz's sculpture "Mattathias the Hasmonean' was given a position of honour in Zionist iconography."}}

Hanukkah took on renewed meaning following the rise of Jewish nationalism as a [[National day|nationalist holiday]], symbolizing the struggle of the Jewish people against foreign oppression and their desire for national re-creation{{Sfn|Zion|Spectre|2000|loc=p. 12, "The rabbinic religious tradition - in so far as it recalled the Hasmoneans at all - emphasized the religious miracle in their battle against persecution of Judaism and the desecration of the Temple (see the traditional praver "Al Ha. Nissim"). However the Secular Zionists rejected the miracle and emphasized the earthly realism of Hasmonean heroism. Zionism made Hanukkah a nationalist holidav. The secularization and nationalization of religious celebrations focused on minor religious holidavs and reprioritized their significance. Lag BaOmer became a celebration of Bar Kochba's revolt against the Roman Empire (132-135 CE): Tu B'Shvat became a celebration of the redemption of Eretz Yisrael through reforestation. However. Hanukkah was the main site of national re-creation. The early religious Zionist Rabbi Shmuel Mohi-lever proposed that Hanukkah be the official holiday of the proto-Zionist organization in Russia - Hovevei Zion (1881). This minor holiday provided neutral ground for religious and secular Zionists to share their nationalist program."}} (although the struggle of Jews against foreign oppression has always been a core component of Hanukkah, as shown by the [[Al HaNissim]], which has been part of Jewish liturgy since at least 700 CE).<ref>{{Cite web |title=What is the origin of Al Ha Nissim for Hanukka? |url=https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/138758/what-is-the-origin-of-al-ha-nissim-for-hanukka |access-date=2024-12-23 |website=Mi Yodeya |language=en}}</ref> Hanukkah served as a common ground where both religious and secular Zionists could unite around their nationalist agenda. Rabbi [[Samuel Mohilever|Shmuel Mohilever]], an early religious Zionist, proposed making Hanukkah the official holiday of the proto-Zionist organization [[Lovers of Zion|Hovevei Zion]] in Russia in 1881. Public celebrations of Hanukkah gained prominence in the early 20th century, with parades and public events becoming common. Schools in [[Mandatory Palestine|Mandate Palestine]] played an early role in promoting these celebrations.{{sfn|Conforti|2012|p=160ps:"Schools in the Yishuv as well as adults followed the tradition of visiting the tombs of the Maccabees. Thus beginning in this period, Hanukkah was given a renewed interpretation that was nationalist, romantic, and activist, as opposed to the traditional interpretation. From the inception of Zionism in the 1880s and '90s, Hanukkah took on a central position as a national holiday. The pioneers of the First Aliya to Palestine (1882-1903), as well as members of the Zionist organisations in Europe, raised Hanukkah to the level of a national holiday. Hanukkah would not have taken its central place in the national calendar without the close cooperation between religious and secular Zionists from the beginning of Zionism until the period of the British mandate and the Jewish settlement (Yishuv) in Palestine (Dotan 1988:38-43). With the revival of Jewish nationalism, Hanukkah took on a new character. It was celebrated not only at home, but in public as well. In the 1920s, the holiday began to receive increasing public expression. Parades were held in celebration of Hanukkah, the festival of lights. For example, schoolchildren in Tel Aviv marched in a torch procession organised by the school in conjunction with the Tel Aviv municipality (Arieh-Sapir 2002). This process of adapting a 'useful past' for the purpose of strengthening the national narrative was not necessarily made "from the top down'. Rather, it had many agents, all of which contributed to the success of Hanukkah celebrations throughout all of Palestine. Although institutions were involved in moulding the character of the holiday, many citizens also participated "from the bottom up'. Furthermore, the religious character of the symbols did not completely disappear from the public arena. For example, the Great Synagogue on Allenby Street in Tel Aviv served as the starting point for the festival parade in the 1930s, with the menorah lit on top of the building. The revolution that Zionism led in the celebration of Hanukkah is just one example of the broader revolution it initiated in other Jewish holidays by granting them a new Zionist interpretation. Examples of this are Shavuot celebrations among the workers' settlements and Purim festivities in Tel Aviv, as well as other holidays, in the 1920s and '30s (Helman 2007; Shoham 2006)."}}

With the advent of Zionism and the state of [[Israel]], the themes of militarism were reconsidered. In modern Israel, the national and military aspects of Hanukkah became, once again, more dominant.<ref name="Haberman2014">{{cite book|last=Haberman |first=Bonna |title=Rereading Israel: The Spirit of the Matter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HAG5BQAAQBAJ&pg=PA152 |date=1 October 2014 |publisher=Urim Publications |isbn=978-965-524-202-7 |page=152}}</ref><ref name="Berkowitz2004">{{cite book|last=Berkowitz |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Berkowitz |title=Nationalism, Zionism and Ethnic Mobilization of the Jews in 1900 and Beyond |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V1ueQ2-5siUC&pg=PA244 |year=2004 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-13184-2 |page=244}}</ref>

===North America===
[[File:Carter Menorah.jpg|thumb|upright|left|US President [[Jimmy Carter]] attends Menorah Lighting, [[President's Park|Lafayette Park]], [[Washington, D.C.]], 1979]]
In North America, Hanukkah in the 21st century has taken a place equal to [[Passover]] as a symbol of Jewish identity. Both the Israeli and North American versions of Hanukkah emphasize resistance, focusing on some combination of [[national liberation]] and [[religious freedom]] as the defining meaning of the holiday.<ref>{{cite web|last=Zion|first=Noah|date=4 December 2012|title=Reinventing Hanukkah: The Israeli Politics of the Maccabean Holiday|url=https://hartman.org.il/Blogs_View.asp?Article_Id=1047|access-date=6 October 2018|publisher=Shalom Hartman Institute}}</ref><ref name="ChristmasEffect" />

Diane Ashton attributed the increased visibility and reinvention of Hanukkah by some of the American Jewish community as a way to adapt to American life, re-inventing the festival in "the language of individualism and personal conscience derived from both Protestantism and the Enlightenment".<ref name=Ashton/>

=== Relationship to Christmas ===
{{See also|Jews and Christmas}}
In North America, Hanukkah became increasingly important to many Jewish individuals and families during the latter part of the 20th century, including a large number of [[Jewish secularism|secular Jews]], who wanted to celebrate a Jewish alternative to the [[Christmas]] celebrations which frequently overlap with Hanukkah.<ref name="ChristmasResponse">{{cite journal |last1=Abramitzky |first1=Ran |last2=Einav |first2=Liran |last3=Rigbi |first3=Oren |title=Is Hanukkah Responsive to Christmas? |journal=The Economic Journal |date=1 June 2010 |volume=120 |issue=545 |pages=612–630 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-0297.2009.02305.x |s2cid=17782856 |url=https://web.stanford.edu/~leinav/pubs/EJ2010.pdf |access-date=30 December 2019| issn=0013-0133 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=How Christmas Transformed Hanukkah in America|url=https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/hanukkah-american-style/|access-date=2020-12-10|website=My Jewish Learning|language=en-US}}</ref> Diane Ashton argues that Jewish immigrants to America raised the profile of Hanukkah as a kid-centered alternative to Christmas as early as the 1800s.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Ashton|first=Dianne|url=http://archive.org/details/hanukkahinameric0000asht|title=Hanukkah in America : a history|date=2013|publisher=New York : New York University Press|others=Internet Archive|isbn=978-0-8147-0739-5}}</ref> This in parts mirrors the ascendancy of Christmas, which like Hanukkah increased in importance in the 1800s.<ref name="federalholidays">{{cite web|author=Jacob R. Straus|date=November 16, 2012|title=Federal Holidays: Evolution and Current Practices|url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41990.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140103115217/http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41990.pdf|archive-date=January 3, 2014|access-date=January 2, 2014|publisher=Congressional Research Service}}</ref> During this time period, Jewish leaders (especially [[Reform Judaism|Reform]]) such as [[Max Lilienthal]] and [[Isaac Mayer Wise]] made an effort to rebrand Hanukkah and started creating Hanukkah celebration for kids at their synagogues, which included candy and singing songs.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Rubin|first=Debra|title=Since the 1800s, Hanukkah in the US is a response to Xmas|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/since-the-1800s-hanukkah-in-the-us-is-a-response-to-xmas/|access-date=2020-12-10|website=www.timesofisrael.com|language=en-US}}</ref> By the 1900s, it started to become a commercial holiday like Christmas, with Hanukkah gifts and decorations appearing in stores and Jewish Women's magazines printing articles on holiday decorations, children's celebrations, and gift giving.<ref name=":0" /> Ashton says that Jewish families did this in order to maintain a Jewish identity which is distinct from mainline Christian culture, on the other hand, the mirroring of Hanukkah and Christmas made Jewish families and kids feel that they were American.<ref name=":0" /> Though it was traditional for [[Ashkenazi Jews]] to give "gelt" or money to children during Hanukkah, in many families, this tradition has been supplemented with the giving of other gifts so that Jewish children can enjoy receiving gifts just like their Christmas-celebrating peers do.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/hanukkah-gifts/ |title=Hanukkah Gifts |publisher=My Jewish Learning |last=Rosenstock |first=Natasha |date=1 October 2016 |access-date=6 October 2018}}</ref> Children play a big role in Hanukkah, and Jewish families with children are more likely to celebrate it than childless Jewish families, and sociologists hypothesize that this is because Jewish parents do not want their kids to be alienated from their non-Jewish peers who celebrate Christmas.<ref name="ChristmasResponse" /> Recent celebrations have also seen the presence of the [[Hanukkah bush]], which is considered a Jewish counterpart to the [[Christmas tree]]. Today, the presence of Hanukkah bushes is generally discouraged by most [[rabbi]]s.<ref>{{cite book | last=Diamant | first=Anita | title=Choosing a Jewish Life: A Handbook for People Converting to Judaism and for Their Family and Friends | publisher=Schocken Books | year=1998 | isbn=978-0-8052-1095-8|quote=Rabbis are emphatic and virtually unanimous in their feeling that there is no place for Christmas celebrations within a Jewish home.}} But that would seem to be overstating the case, vide {{cite book |title=Ask the Rabbi: The Who, What, When, Where, Why, & How of Being Jewish |author=Ron Isaacs |year=2003 |publisher=Jossey-Bass |isbn=0-7879-6784-X}}</ref>

=== Relationship to Kwanzaa ===
In December 2022, New York City Mayor [[Eric Adams]], Reverends [[Al Sharpton]] and [[Conrad Tillard]], businessman [[Robert F. Smith (investor)|Robert F. Smith]], Rabbi [[Shmuley Boteach]], and [[Elisha Wiesel]] joined to celebrate Hanukkah and [[Kwanzaa]] together, and combat racism and antisemitism, at [[Carnegie Hall]].<ref name="autoaaa">{{Cite web|url=http://amsterdamnews.com/news/2022/12/21/mayor-eric-adams-the-rev-al-sharpton-others-gather-for-joint-kwanzaa-hanukkah-celebration/|title=Mayor Eric Adams, Rev. Al Sharpton, others gather for joint Kwanzaa, Hanukkah celebration|date=December 21, 2022|website=New York Amsterdam News}}</ref><ref name="auto11a">{{Cite web|url=https://forward.com/news/529652/kwanzakkah-a-way-to-celebrate-dual-heritage-and-combat-hate/|title=Kwanzakkah: A way to celebrate dual heritage, and combat hate|date=December 23, 2022|author= Stewart Ain and TaRessa Stovall|website=The Forward}}</ref><ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.jns.org/wire/mayor-eric-adams-rev-al-sharpton-robert-f-smith-robert-f-smith-rev-conrad-tillard-rabbi-shmuley-boteach-and-elisha-wiesel-join-together-to-host-15-days-of-light-celebrating-hanukkah-and/|title=Mayor Eric Adams, Rev. Al Sharpton, Robert F. Smith, Robert F. Smith, Rev. Conrad Tillard, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and Elisha Wiesel join together to host '15 Days of Light,' celebrating Hanukkah and Kwanzaa|website=JNS}}</ref><ref name="auto13a">{{Cite web|url=https://www.yahoo.com/now/black-jewish-leaders-gather-carnegie-032200862.html|title=Black and Jewish Leaders Gather at Carnegie Hall to Take a Stand Against Antisemitism and Racism|website=Yahoo|date=December 20, 2022|access-date=28 December 2022|archive-date=25 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221225013742/https://www.yahoo.com/now/black-jewish-leaders-gather-carnegie-032200862.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>