🡄 (Previous category) :: 📁 Sigd Festival Readings

📁 Ḥag haBanot (Eid el Benat) Readings :: (Next Category) 🡆

Ḥanukkah Readings

This is an archive of public readings prepared for the festival of Ḥanukkah.

Click here to contribute a special reading you have prepared for Ḥanukkah.

Filtered by name: “Unknown Author(s)” (clear filter)

Sorted Chronologically (old to new). Sort most recent first?

Selections from 1 & 2 Maccabees and Pesiqta Rabbati on the Desecration and Rededication of the Temple and the Rekindling of the Sacred Fire

Selections from 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, and Pesiqta Rabbati which inform the story of Ḥanukkah: the desecration and re-dedication of the Temple (especially as it relates to Sukkot and the Brumalia), divine intervention in the Maccabean battles, and the Rekindling of the Sacred Fire. . . .

Categories: Second Temple Period, Ḥanukkah Readings

Tags: 2nd century B.C.E., 37th century A.M., Angels, Classical Antiquity, combating anti-Jewish oppression, dedications and consecrations, kindling, Maccabean Revolt, המקבים Maccabees, נר תמיד ner tamid, המזבח the Mizbe'aḥ

Contributor(s): Jason of Cyrene, Septuagint (translation/Greek), Unknown Author(s) and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

💬 מְגִילַּת אַנטְיוּכַס | Megillat Antiokhus for Ḥanukkah in Aramaic, translated in Hebrew, Yiddish, and English

The Megillat Antiochus was composed in Palestinian Aramaic sometime between the 2nd and 5th century CE, likely in the 2nd Century when the memory of the Bar Kochba revolt still simmered.. The scroll appears in a number of variations. The Aramaic text below follows the critical edition prepared by Menaḥem Tzvi Kaddari, and preserves his verse numbering. The English translation by Rabbi Joseph Adler (1936) follows the Hebrew translation in the middle column, the source of which is a medieval manuscript reprinted by Tzvi Filipowsky in 1851. Adler and Kaddari’s verse ordering loosely follows one another indicating variations in manuscripts. Where Aramaic is missing from Kaddari’s text, the Aramaic version from Adler’s work is included in parentheses. Adler also included a Yiddish translation which we hope will be fully transcribed (along with vocalized Hebrew text, a Hungarian translation, and perhaps even a Marathi translation from South India) for Ḥanukkah 5775 , G!d willing. . . .

Categories: Extracanonical Megillot, Ḥanukkah Readings

Tags: 2nd century C.E., 40th century A.M., Aramaic, Bar Kochba Rebellion, English Translation, ארץ ישראל Erets Yisrael, Hebrew translation, Late Antiquity, המקבים Maccabees, Megillat Antiokhus, Yiddish translation

Contributor(s): Tsvi Hirsch Filipowski (translation), Unknown Author(s) and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

💬 מגילת אנטיוכס עם טעמי מקרא | Megillat Antiokhus, with a novel cantillation by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation by Tsvi Filipowski, 1851)

Perhaps Megillat Antiokhus could be read a la Esther on Purim (the holiday with the most similarities), going to Eicha trope in the upsetting parts. A few notes: on the final mention of Bagris the Wicked I included a karnei-farah in the manner of the karnei-farah in Esther. I also included a merkha kefulah in the concluding section, which (according to David Weisberg’s “The Rare Accents of the Twenty-Eight Books”) represents aggadic midrash material. It also serves as a connection to the Chanukah haftarah, which is famously the only one that has a merkha kefulah. –Isaac Mayer . . .

Categories: Extracanonical Megillot, Ḥanukkah Readings

Tags: 2nd century C.E., 40th century A.M., Bar Kochba Rebellion, Classical Antiquity, English Translation, ארץ ישראל Erets Yisrael, Hebrew translation, Late Antiquity, Megillat Antiokhus, Seleucid Greek Occupation

Contributor(s): Tsvi Hirsch Filipowski (translation), Unknown Author(s), Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

💬 מְגִילַּת אַנטְיוּכַס | Megillat Antiokhus in Aramaic, critical text by Menaḥem Tsvi Kaddari with English translation by John C. Reeves

The critical text of Megillat Antiokhus in its original Aramaic, prepared by Menaḥem Tsvi Kaddari and translated into English by John C. Reeves. . . .

Categories: Extracanonical Megillot, Ḥanukkah Readings

Tags: 2nd century C.E., 40th century A.M., Aramaic, Bar Kochba Rebellion, English Translation, ארץ ישראל Erets Yisrael, Late Antiquity, המקבים Maccabees, Megillat Antiokhus

Contributor(s): John C. Reeves (translation), Menaḥem Tsvi Kaddari, Unknown Author(s) and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

💬 מְגִילַּת אַנטְיוּכַס | Megilat Antiokhos — in the original Aramaic, cantillated according to the British Library manuscript Or 5866

This is a direct transcription, including cantillation and non-standard vocalizations, of the cantillated Megilat Antiokhos found in the British Library manuscript Or 5866, folios 105v-110r. . . .

Categories: Extracanonical Megillot, Ḥanukkah Readings

Tags: 2nd century C.E., 40th century A.M., Aramaic, Bar Kochba Rebellion, English Translation, ארץ ישראל Erets Yisrael, Late Antiquity, המקבים Maccabees, Megillat Antiokhus

Contributor(s): Tsvi Hirsch Filipowski (translation), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut) and Unknown Author(s)

💬 מדרש לחנוכה | Midrash l’Ḥanukkah, an interwoven miscellany of Ḥanukkah stories

The following is the Midrash l’Ḥanukkah, one of a collection of three midrashim and two megillot containing the details of the story of Ḥanukkah in the Jewish rabbinic tradition. Those already familiar with these other works will quickly recognize portions or summaries of them here albeit with precious additional information added not found anywhere else. . . .

Categories: Midrash Aggadah, Ḥanukkah Readings, Ḥag haBanot (Eid el Benat) Readings

Tags: Angels, colonization, cosmological, Droit du seigneur, Early Middle Ages, חג הבנות Ḥag HaBanot, Needing Vocalization, Seleucid Greek Occupation, sexual predation, sexual violence

Contributor(s): Aliza Arzt, Isabel Bard (translation) and Unknown Author(s)

💬 מַעֲשֶׂה חֲנֻכָּה א׳ | Ma’aseh Ḥanukkah “alef,” a tale of the people’s resistance to the Seleucid Greek occupation

This digital edition of Midrash Ma’aseh Ḥanukkah was transcribed from the print edition published in Otzar Hamidrashim (I. D. Eisenstein, New York: Eisenstein Press, 5675/1915, p.189-190). With much gratitude to Anat Hochberg, this is the first translation of this midrash into English. . . .

Categories: Midrash Aggadah, Ḥanukkah Readings, Ḥag haBanot (Eid el Benat) Readings

Tags: colonization, Droit du seigneur, Early Middle Ages, eating animals, חג הבנות Ḥag HaBanot, Late Antiquity, sexual predation, sexual violence

Contributor(s): Anat Hochberg (translation), Unknown Author(s), Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

💬 מְגִילַּת יְהוּדִית לְאָמְרָהּ בַּחֲנֻכָּה | Megillat Yehudit, the Medieval Scroll of Judith to be said on Ḥanukkah

This is a faithful transcription of the text of the medieval Megillat Yehudith (the Scroll of Judith), not to be confused with the deutero-canonical Book of Judith, authored in Antiquity. We have further set this text side-by-side with the English translation made by Susan Weingarten, and vocalized and cantillated the Hebrew so that it may be chanted. . . .

Categories: Extracanonical Megillot, Ḥanukkah Readings, Ḥag haBanot (Eid el Benat) Readings

Tags: 14th century C.E., 52nd century A.M., anti-predatory, dairy foods, derivative work, חג הבנות Ḥag HaBanot, heroic women, High Middle Ages, Judith, Megillat Yehudit, resistance, soporifics, women

Contributor(s): Susan Weingarten (translation), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Moshe Shmi'el Dascola and Unknown Author(s)

Stable Link: https://opensiddur.org/index.php?cat=3018

Associated Image:

"Construction in progress (24/365)" by John Liu (license: CC-BY)

(This image is set to automatically show as the "featured image" in shared links on social media.)

Terms of Use: Be a mentsch (a conscientious, considerate person) and adhere to the following guidelines:

Properly attribute any information in the description of this archive page to the Open Siddur Project (<https://opensiddur.org>).
Clearly indicate the date you accessed this page and in what ways, if any, you modified it. (If you have adapted the work, let us know so that the contributor might consider endorsing your revision.)
Provide the stable link to this archive: <https://opensiddur.org/index.php?cat=3018>.
Indicate that the original page was shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license. (To redistribute or remix this page in any format, modified or unmodified, you must refer to the terms of the CC BY-SA license.)

Additional Notes:

The views expressed on this page and in these shared works represents the views of their creator(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the Open Siddur Project's developers, its diverse community of volunteer contributors, or its institutional partners.
We strongly advise against printing sacred texts and art containing divine names as these copies must be regarded with reverence, complicating their casual treatment and disposal.
If you must dispose of a printed sacred text (one containing Divine Names), please locate the closest genizah (often established by a synagogue) and contact its custodians for further instructions. We also recommend using Morah Yehudis Fishman's Prayer for Adding a Work to the Genizah.

Support this work: The Open Siddur Project is a volunteer-driven, non-profit, non-commercial, non-denominational, non-prescriptive, gratis & libre Open Access archive of contemplative praxes, liturgical readings, and Jewish prayer literature (historic and contemporary, familiar and obscure) composed in every era, region, and language Jews have ever prayed. Our goal is to provide a platform for sharing open-source resources, tools, and content for individuals and communities crafting their own prayerbook (siddur). Through this we hope to empower personal autonomy, preserve customs, and foster creativity in religious culture.

ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." –Psalms 90:17

Pocket Reddit Facebook Bluesky Telegram WhatsApp SMS Email