Hanukkah Begins Today!

Hanukkah is the Jewish celebration of the re-dedication of the Holy Temple. 

It's a wintertime festival with a nightly menorah lighting — plus special prayers and fried foods.

This year, Hanukkah begins on Thursday, Dec. 7 and continues through Friday, Dec. 15. 

Hanukkah, also known as the festival of lights, celebrates the Maccabean revolt against the Syrian-Greek army. The lighting of the menorah is perhaps the most well-known tradition. The menorah is usually placed in a window or a doorway. 

"Hanukkah is a Jewish festival of lighting lights during the darkest time of the year. Just as on Christmas, we talk about the star of Bethlehem and about Jesus being a new light. We all want to see the light come back and we all want to look past the winter into spring, and I think that's wonderful," said Rabbi Leonard Gordon of  B'nai Tikvah in Canton.

The holiday commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem during the second century B.C. Although there was only enough oil to keep the menorah on the altar burning for one night, the menorah miraculously burned for eight days.