Archive.The Future.Sign.Diaryland

2001-12-05

Hannukah 101

Just made myself a little profile. Go read it, it may prove interesting. I shall return later with more so don't you worry! And by the way, sign the guestbook if you visit, don't just leave without saying goodbye!

The following was added at 7.58 pm after Lauren made another layout change.

So many layout changes, yes I know. I get bored easily or I always seem to find something better. I hope this one isn't too brown or anything. I quite like it actually, it's very like me in some ways.

Well I sent in for my diary to be critiqued as you call it. I think I botched up my chances though. I had to give a convincing reason for them to critique my diary. The problem is though, I don't have one! Oh well, when you're up you're up and when you're down you're down.

Tomorrow just happens to be the annual Christmas concert and I finally get to be in it this year. Being in the senior band does have its perks you know. The only problem with the concert though, is that it's in a church. Now please, please, please, if you are of the Catholic religion or any other branch of it and you go to church, don't take any offense at all to what I am about to reveal to you. I, personally, don't like churches. They scare me. They are quite frightening if you aren't in one every Sunday and don't know what everything in there is for. As a person of the jewish religion, I do not go to church therefore I am not accustomed to being in one. The statues, the stain glass, the gloominess, it just plain freaks me out. Of course not all churches are the same, I know, but still. I get a certain feeling of dread when I walk into one and I want to flee from the place as soon as possible. It's just plain uncomfortable.

A sad story lurks behind my summer vacation on Westcoast Connection. I got my report card yesterday and I am one percent less than the amount needed to get an honourabl mention. Adding to that fact, my exam marks from December are not able to boost my overall mark up. This is terrible. There goes my bank account. The trip that I want to take is now coming out of my own pocket because of a stupid course named I.T.T and another stupid course named M.R.E. These two simpleton courses are a waste of time, next to Geography of course. Introduction To Technology is nothing, but a large scientifically correct arts and crafts class, while Moral Religious Education is useless and uninforming. Oh dear, what is our educational system coming to?

In the spirit of Hannukah, which starts on December tenth I believe, I would like to retell its story. If you know it, that's good for you, if not, sit back and relax and put in some eyedrops so you don't get screen sight.

Once upon a very long time ago, there lived a large band of the jewish people. I believe they resided somewhere in Greece. They lived happily, worshipping their one God in their sacred temples and keeping their faith strong. One day, a Greek king named Antiochus (not quite sure of the spelling), decided that these jews should worship the greek gods instead of their One. He sent forth his armies to enforce his religion and his idols upon the jewish people. His armies destroyed their holy temples and placed numerous idols within them. The jewish people were devastated and had no choice, but to submit to praying to these idols. Except for one family of faithful jews who lived in the mountains. Mattatiyahu (again I'm not quite sure of the spelling), father of a few strong sons, began to plan a revolt against the king and his idols. Judah, the strongest and eldest of all Mattatiyahu's sons, formed a band of freedom fighters known as the Maccabees. These Maccabees lured the king's armies to the mountains where they were hiding and launched a surprise attack. Due to their mountanous advantage, the Maccabees defeated the king's armies. The jewish people began to rejoice, but soon realized that the holy flame had been put out when the temple's were massacred. The Maccabees traveled to the temples and cleaned them up, removing the statues and returning them back to normal. When they reached the holiest of temples, they realized that the holy flame had been unlit. They combed the temple for oil, but only found enough to keep the flame going for one day. It would take eight days to make more oil. So they lit the holy flame and the first day passed, then the second, then the third, and for eight days the flame burned until there was more oil. A miracle had kept the flame burning for eight days. That is why we celebrate Hannukah and why we say Nes gadol haya sham, meaning a great miracle happened here.

Hope you enjoyed the story. It took me a while to type, I was using only one hand.

Previous Next