Mae's Real Stories

Many books tell the story of the Macabees, who fought for the freedom to celebrate holidays and worship in the way they thought was right. After the Macabees won this war, they wanted to burn lights in the Temple.

They didn't think that they had enough oil to keep the lights burning, but a little bit of oil lasted for eight days and nights. This is why we have eight nights of Hanukkah. A miracle is something that people can't explain. The people said that it was a great miracle that the oil lasted so long. At the right is a picture of an ancient oil lamp like the ones at the time of the Macabees.

To remember the Macabees and the story of the oil that lasted, we light Hanukkah candles for eight nights. One hundred years ago, when my father was born, people did not have electric lights, so they always used oil or candles to light their houses. When my father was a little boy, people made oil lamps for Hanukkah, and burned oil the way that the Macabees did. The picture at the top shows a Hanukkah lamp from Poland a century ago or more.

Here is a picture from a book about Judah Maccabee, the fighter who won the war.