The Jewish Community of the Algarve will be celebrating Chanukah, the Festival of Lights, with a picnic lunch in Portimão on December 13.
The history of Chanukah is recorded in the Deuterocanonical book of the Maccabees and it goes back some 22 centuries when the Jewish people were under the rule of Antiochus IV of Syria.
In a small village near Jerusalem, an old man was forced by soldiers to bow to an idol; he refused and had to flee for his life to the mountains. From there, he created a guerrilla army against the oppressors.
He was succeeded by Judah the Maccabee who defeated the Syrian army thereby re-conquering the badly desecrated Holy Temple in Jerusalem.
The Temple was cleaned, but when relighting the Menorah (an eight armed candelabra) there was only sufficient oil for one day.
But the oil lasted for eight days. It is this miracle and the spiritual survival of Judaism that is commemorated
and celebrated.
Members of the community will be lighting their Menorahs during the lunch.
For further information, please contact Ralf Pinto on 282 416 710 or email [email protected]
