The origins of the Hanukkah menorah

HANUKKAH IS NEARLY HERE: The Hanukkah Menorah and Its Obscure Origins and Evolution. Ancient Jews also marked Hanukkah with fire, but the menorahs we know today are a modern innovation (Elon Gilad, Haaretz).

On Hanukkah Jews the world over light a menorah to commemorate a miracle that occurred at the height of the Maccabean revolution against their Greek oppressors in the 2nd century BCE. But that is a postfact explanation for a tradition whose origins are shrouded in mystery.

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