Hanukkah Traditions Have Evolved

Guest: Alan Avery-Peck, PhD, Kraft-Hiatt Professor of Judaic Studies, College of the Holy Cross Jewish homes celebrating Hanukkah lit the first candle in their menorah Tuesday night to celebrate the miracle of a one-day supply of oil that lasted eight days for the Jewish Maccabees. They were a small army who defeated the much larger forces of Syrian King Antiochus IV. Hanukkah today is known as the Festival of Lights. But light wasn’t always the key feature of the holiday.