How does Hanukkah affect the Jewish community?

Answer 1

Not much. Hanukkah is a minor Jewish holiday that commemorates the victory of the Jews against the Syrian-Greeks in the Maccabean War of 165 BCE.

Answer:
The impact of the first Hanukkah was tremendous. (See the background-information below). It is that impact which we strive to relive each Hanukkah.
The Seleucids (Syrian-Greeks) under Antiochus Epiphanes (2nd century BCE), at the instigation of the Hellenizers, had forbidden various Torah-practices such as Sabbath-observance and circumcision, rededicated the Temple to a Greek idol, and pressed the Jews to offer up sacrifices to the idol. One of the leading elder Jewish sages called upon the people to keep observing the Torah anyway; and if necessary, to use force in resisting the decrees. When a Hellenized Jew offered a sacrifice to the Greek idols in a nearby village, the sage killed him as well as the Greek overseer. This brought a violent reaction from the Greeks; and the loyal Jews, led by the Hasmonean family, were forced to retreat from their towns and strike out at the Greeks in an attempt to oust them from the Holy Land and to enable the people to once again observe the Torah. The Torah-Jews were heavily outnumbered by the attacking Greek armies, but God gave them miraculous victories again and again. After three years of struggle, the Greek armies retreated from Jerusalem, and the Hasmoneans (also called Maccabees) entered the Holy Temple which the Greeks had defiled, reconsecrated it to God, and began the Temple service once more. Among other things, they wanted to relight the olive oil candelabrum (Exodus ch. 25), but could only find one day's supply of undefiled oil - and it would take eight days to make and bring some more.
Miraculously, the menorah stayed lit for eight days (Talmud, Shabbat 21b), allowing enough time for new oil to be prepared and brought. The significance of the miracle is that it demonstrated that God's presence was still there. The Torah-community was overjoyed, because God's presence meant everything to them.
This is what Hanukkah represents: the closeness to God; and the avoidance of Hellenization (assimilation).
The Torah Sages instituted the festival of Hanukkah at that time (Talmud, Shabbat 21b), to publicize the miracle (Rashi commentary, ibid). This is why we light our Hanukkah-menorahs.
(The Hanukkah-menorah, or hanukkiyah, is a special form of the original seven-branched menorah. Our Hanukkah-menorahs have eight spaces for oil, or candles, to mark each of the eight days for which the oil lasted and a ninth to hold the shamash, a candle used to light the others.)
The eight-day rededication of the Temple is also mentioned in pre-Talmudic sources: Megillat Taanit (ch.9), the book of Maccabees (I, 4:56-59; and II, 1:18); and Josephus (Antiquities ch.12).
The Al-Hanisim prayer which we recite during Hanukkah centers around the Hasmoneans' victory and rededication of the Temple, while the candle-lighting commemorates the miracle of the oil.
Though the military victory is prominently mentioned in the prayers, it wouldn't have been celebrated if not for the miracle of the oil, just as we have no special occasion to mark Abraham's victory (Genesis ch.14), or those of Moses (Numbers ch.21), Joshua, Deborah (Judges ch.4), Gideon (Judges ch.6-7), Jephthah (Judges ch.11), or King David. And though the Hasmonean battles continued for two decades after the retaking of the Temple, the Sages instituted Hanukkah immediately after the miracle of the oil.
It should also be noted that the main goal for which the Maccabees fought was not political independence. They fought to enable the people to observe the Torah's commandments; as we say in the Al Hanisim prayer: "the Greeks sought to cause us to forget Your Torah and leave Your statutes."

Answer 2

Hanukkah has only a minor effect on the Jewish people, because it's not a major holiday. But it makes us remember a time when Jews didn't have religious freedom.

Answer:

Hanukkah is a happy time of giving thanks to God. Here is background information:

The Seleucids (Syrian-Greeks) under Antiochus Epiphanes (2nd century BCE), at the instigation of the Hellenizers, had forbidden various Torah-practices such as Sabbath-observance and circumcision, rededicated the Temple to a Greek idol, and pressed the Jews to offer up sacrifices to the idol. One of the leading elder Jewish sages called upon the people to keep observing the Torah anyway; and if necessary, to use force in resisting the decrees. When a Hellenized Jew offered a sacrifice to the Greek idols in a nearby village, the sage killed him as well as the Greek overseer. This brought a violent reaction from the Greeks; and the loyal Jews, led by the Hasmonean family, were forced to retreat from their towns and strike out at the Greeks in an attempt to oust them from the Holy Land and to enable the people to once again observe the Torah. The Torah-Jews were heavily outnumbered by the attacking Greek armies, but God gave them miraculous victories again and again. After three years of struggle, the Greek armies retreated from Jerusalem, and the Hasmoneans (also called Maccabees) entered the Holy Temple which the Greeks had defiled, reconsecrated it to God, and began the Temple service once more. Among other things, they wanted to relight the olive oil candelabrum (Exodus ch. 25), but could only find one day's supply of undefiled oil - and it would take eight days to make and bring some more.

Miraculously, the menorah stayed lit for eight days (Talmud, Shabbat 21b), allowing enough time for new oil to be prepared and brought. The significance of the miracle is that it demonstrated that God's presence was still there. The Torah-community was overjoyed, because God's presence meant everything to them.

This is what Hanukkah represents: the closeness to God; and the avoidance of Hellenization (assimilation).

The Torah Sages instituted the festival of Hanukkah at that time (Talmud, Shabbat 21b), to publicize the miracle (Rashi commentary, ibid). This is why we light our Hanukkah-menorahs.

(The Hanukkah-menorah, or hanukkiyah, is a special form of the original seven-branched menorah. Our Hanukkah-menorahs have eight spaces for oil, or candles, to mark each of the eight days for which the oil lasted and a ninth to hold the shamash, a candle used to light the others.)

The Al-Hanisim prayer which we recite during Hanukkah centers around the Hasmoneans' victory and rededication of the Temple, while the candle-lighting commemorates the miracle of the oil.

Though the military victory is prominently mentioned in the prayers, it wouldn't have been celebrated if not for the miracle of the oil.

It should also be noted that the main goal for which the Maccabees fought was not political independence. They fought to enable the people to observe the Torah's commandments; as we say in the Al Hanisim prayer: "the Greeks sought to cause us to forget Your Torah and leave Your statutes."

Answer 3

It depends entirely on the Jew in question. There is a famous saying: "For every two Jews, there are three opinions." For something as open-ended as this, you can get many different answers.

Zionism

Hanukkah represents that Jewish Independence and Self-Determination has required Jews to take up arms and defend what they hold dear as opposed to waiting for a future Messianic Figure. In the days of Mattathias, when Jewsh culture and ceremony were lambasted and ridiculed by the Syrian Greeks (the Seleucid Empire), the Jews had to rise up to militarily expel the Greeks and create a Jewish State. In this state, the Jews were free from the persecution of their adversaries. This was the same set of actions taken by the Zionists who fought the Turks, Britons, and Arabs to achieve independence for a Jewish polity, the Modern State of Israel. This shows a continuity in the Jewish experience and a living re-creation of our history.

Preservation of Traditions

Hanukkah is the story about how Jews were faced with the question of whether to assimiliate into a very attractive and desirable Hellenistic Greek Civilization and dissapear as a unique ethnoreligious group or to choose to preserve those beliefs and traditions that give them their unique character. Many Jews chose the former path and are lost to history; nobody remembers them. However, the Jews who chose to preserve Judaism are the ones we remember to this day.

Living as a Jew and avoiding assimilation: this is the chief lesson of Hanukkah (this too is explained in the Related Link).

Divine Deliverance

Hanukkah demonstrates how we can see the Hand of God in history. The Seleucid Empire was one of the strongest states of that time period, controlling much of Turkey, the northern Middle East (Arabia was uncivilized at that point) and large swathes of Iran. The Jewish rebel Maccabees were composed of several thousand men with a pittance for weaponry who were hunted from cave to cave by a massive trained army. After decades of fighting, the Seleucids withdrew and gave the Jews their independence, not because they recognized the validity of the Jewish cause, but because of dynastic struggles in the Seleucid Empire. The opportuneness of these internal Seleucid problems cannot be overemphasized. Had they not taken place, the Jewish Revolt would have been crushed. Many Jews see the Seleucid loss to the much weaker Maccabees to be indicative of Divine Deliverance.

Further to this is the famous story of the eight day light, which is an alleged tale concerning the Great Temple. According to the narrative, when the Temple was recovered from the Syrian Greeks, there was only enough holy oil to light the menorah or large candelabra for one day and new oil could not be brought until eight days later. Miraculously, the one day's worth of oil lasted for all eight days. This miracle is seen as being a symbol of God's protection and the overall miraculousness of the Jewish victory.

Remembering and praising God for His miracles (see the attached Related Link).

Answer 4

It is a time of happiness, since it celebrates a miracle that God did for us. At the lighting of the Hanukkah menorah, each family comes together in the home to say blessings to God, and to play a traditional game (of dreidel), sing traditional songs (Maoz Tzur) and enjoy the potato latkes.

(On Hanukkah, we celebrate the miracle of the oil [Talmud, Shabbat 21b], which occurred during the Hasmonean victory over the Syrian-Greeks; and we also thank God for His having helped us to oust the Syrian-Greeks [Seleucids] and their lackeys, the Hellenizing Jews. The Seleucids, at the instigation of the Hellenizers, had forbidden various Torah-practices, such as Sabbath-observance, and pressed the Jews to offer up idolatrous sacrifices. The Hasmoneans [a religious Jewish family] fought to retake the Holy Temple, which had been seized by the Seleucids, and to enable the people to once again observe the Torah. When they reached the Temple grounds, they found only one day's supply of pure olive oil, but the oil lamps miraculously burned for eight days [ibid.], allowing enough time for new oil to be prepared and brought.

The significance of the miracle is that it demonstrated that God's presence still dwelt in the Holy Temple.

The Al-Hanisim prayer recited during Hanukkah centers around the Hasmoneans' victory, while the candle-lighting commemorates the miracle of the oil.)

Answer 5

Its impact on Jewish culture:

The Seleucids (Syrian-Greeks) under Antiochus Epiphanes (2nd century BCE), at the instigation of the Hellenizers, had forbidden various Torah-practices such as Sabbath-observance and circumcision, rededicated the Temple to a Greek idol, and pressed the Jews to offer up sacrifices to the idol. One of the leading elder Jewish sages called upon the people to keep observing the Torah anyway; and if necessary, to use force in resisting the decrees. When a Hellenized Jew offered a sacrifice to the Greek idols in a nearby village, the sage killed him as well as the Greek overseer. This brought a violent reaction from the Greeks; and the loyal Jews, led by the Hasmonean family, were forced to retreat from their towns and strike out at the Greeks in an attempt to oust them from the Holy Land and to enable the people to once again observe the Torah. The Torah-Jews were heavily outnumbered by the attacking Greek armies, but God gave them miraculous victories again and again. After three years of struggle, the Greek armies retreated from Jerusalem, and the Hasmoneans (also called Maccabees) entered the Holy Temple which the Greeks had defiled, reconsecrated it to God, and began the Temple service once more. Among other things, they wanted to relight the olive oil candelabrum (Exodus ch. 25), but could only find one day's supply of undefiled oil - and it would take eight days to make and bring some more.

Miraculously, the menorah stayed lit for eight days (Talmud, Shabbat 21b), allowing enough time for new oil to be prepared and brought. The significance of the miracle is that it demonstrated that God's presence was still there. The Torah-community was overjoyed, because God's presence meant everything to them.

This is what Hanukkah represents: the closeness to God; and the avoidance of Hellenization (assimilation).

The Torah Sages instituted the festival of Hanukkah at that time (Talmud, Shabbat 21b), to publicize the miracle (Rashi commentary, ibid). This is why we light our Hanukkah-menorahs.

(The Hanukkah-menorah, or hanukkiyah, is a special form of the original seven-branched menorah. Our Hanukkah-menorahs have eight spaces for oil, or candles, to mark each of the eight days for which the oil lasted and a ninth to hold the shamash, a candle used to light the others.)

The Al-Hanisim prayer which we recite during Hanukkah centers around the Hasmoneans' victory and rededication of the Temple, while the candle-lighting commemorates the miracle of the oil.

Though the military victory is prominently mentioned in the prayers, it wouldn't have been celebrated if not for the miracle of the oil. It should also be noted that the main goal for which the Maccabees fought was not political independence. They fought to enable the people to observe the Torah's commandments; as we say in the Al Hanisim prayer: "The Greeks sought to cause us to forget Your Torah and leave Your statutes."