Hanukkah: Lighting the Darkness

Rabbi Hesh Epstein of the Chabad of South Carolina explains Hanukkah and why this festival of lights is so important to the Jewish faith. 

Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday that lasts for eight nights and days. It starts on the 25th day of Kislev according to the Hebrew calendar. It celebrates the victory of a small group of Maccabees, Jewish warriors, who banded together to overcome the far more numerous Syrian Greeks who had made it illegal for the Jewish people to practice their faith. The Maccabees recaptured their homeland and rededicated their temple. The Festival of Lights commemorates the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.