Jewish Australians are celebrating Hanukkah, lighting a menorah for eight nights and enjoying traditional foods like latkes and donuts. Rabbi Aycee Abrahams talks about the significance of the holiday's miracle and the importance of celebrating despite a recent increase in racist and hate-fuelled incidents against Jews and Muslims in Australia.
Jewish Australians are celebrating the Festival of Lights, known as Hanukkah . This year, the eight-day holiday began on Christmas night and goes until the 2nd of January. It's a time when Jewish people gather with family and friends, with the ritual of lighting a nightly candle.The holiday marks what's known as the Miracle of Hanukkah .
Rabbi Aycee Abrahams from The Soul Centre explains that the miracle is two-in-one with the rededication of a temple desecrated by Syrian Greek occupiers and lighting a menorah for eight days with a tiny amount of oil. 'One is the actual military victory, the fact they took on a massive, mighty army and that they were able to defeat them, and secondly that this oil miraculously, instead of lasting just one night, it was able to last eight days. We have this Hanukkah festival now where we light the Menorah, and we actually have oily foods because of the miracle of the oil. So, we have donuts which are fried in oil, we have latkes, which are like a hashbrown which are fried in oil.' And aside from oily foods, another favourite Hanukkah tradition of the young and those young at heart is a betting game played with what are known as dreidels.'It's a spinning top that spins and there are symbols on every face of it and different symbols give you different amounts of money.' But the most famous tradition is lighting a multibranched candelabra - known as a Menorah - with a candle for each of the eight days of the festival.This year, conflict between Israel and several of its neighbours in the Middle East has seen an increase of racist and hate-fuelled incidents against Jews and Muslims in Australia, including the recent firebombing of a synagogue in Melbourne.Rabbi Abrahams says it's important to not let these acts of hatred scare Jewish people from celebrating their faiths. 'I think a lot of people in today's climate are feeling very insecure and very unsafe
Hanukkah Jewish Australians Rabbi Aycee Abrahams Miracle Of Hanukkah Hate Crimes
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