It’s now the first night of Chanukah. This year one of the insights that I learned was more of the history between the Greeks that were both in Syria, and Egypt during that time period. They both were at war with each other to dominate the region. The Syrian Greeks were led by Antiochus (the main evil leader of the Greeks who set out against the Jews), fearing the Egyptian Greeks would invade north, and a possible invasion by the growing Roman empire from the coast, Antiochus set his army in the land of Israel, where he came eye to eye with a people who wouldn’t trade their traditions for anything in the world. The Greeks wanted us to leave everything having to do with Judaism and become like them. Chanukah comes from the Hebrew word Chinuch, which means education. It’s our job as dad’s to educate ourselves about the meaning behind our traditions and pass it on to our little candles at home.
Something cool you can do with your kids is try playing with Google Maps and show them where Israel, Syria, Egypt, Greece and Rome are. Then explain to them the dynamics of the story using what I explained above. Happy Chanukah
