Matthew Kraus

Chanukah Through the Ages

This project examines the nexus of secular and religious aspects of Jewishness through the prism of Chanukah as refracted from antiquity to the present day. Since the categories of secular and religious in the Jewish experience are fluid, in tension, or in harmony, the book applies myth/ritual theories of Catherine Bell and others. Narrative and ritual can be productive or unproductive means for mediating dynamic tensions. More of a history through Chanukah than a history of Chanukah, the book demonstrates that the nature of the Chanukah story and its rituals make it a particularly acute locus for the direct interaction between secular and religious Jewishness. Not only does this account for the framing of Chanukah in various periods of Jewish history as Hasmonean propaganda, a Zionist holy day or as a frenemy of Christmas, to name a few, it also provides a pathway for generating new configurations of the holiday.