It is Hanukkah once again, and it’s time we give up the secret. Because Santa and the joy of Hanukkah have something in common — they’re both a lie.
The miracle of the light that we celebrate on Hanukkah is a coverup, likely fabricated to instill hope. Because the real story is too dark, too scary, too painful, and definitely not for children.
It is this:
Around 2,200 years ago, the land of Judea had been occupied by the Greek Seleucid Empire. And in 168 BCE, King Antiochus IV Epiphanes launched a campaign of oppression against the inhabitant Jews, in which he went so far as to ban the practice of Judaism. In Judea.