Why do Christians celebrate Hanukkah???

Has anyone here heard of Christians celebrating this Jewish holiday? What on earth for? I have a friend who does this and I can't for the life of me figure him out...I'm confused.

Back ground for those who are as clueless as me:-)

"Hanukkah (/ˈhɑːnÉ™kÉ™/ hah-nÉ™-kÉ™; Hebrew: ×—Ö²× Ö»×›Ö¸Ö¼×” khanuká, Tiberian: khanuká, usually spelled חנוכה, pronounced [χanuˈka] in Modern Hebrew, [ˈχanukÉ™] or [ˈχanikÉ™] in Yiddish; a transliteration also romanized as Chanukah or Ḥanukah) is a Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple (the Second Temple) in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire. Hanukkah is observed for eight nights and days, starting on the 25th day of Kislev according to the Hebrew calendar, which may occur at any time from late November to late December in the Gregorian calendar. It is also known as the Festival of Lights and the Feast of Dedication.

The festival is observed by the kindling of the lights of a unique candelabrum, the nine-branched menorah (also called a Chanukiah/Hanukiah), one additional light on each night of the holiday, progressing to eight on the final night. The typical menorah consists of eight branches with an additional visually distinct branch. The extra light, with which the others are lit, is called a shamash (Hebrew: שמש”Ž”Ž, "attendant") and is given a distinct location, usually above or below the rest. Other Hanukkah festivities include playing dreidel and eating oil-based foods such as doughnuts and latkes. Since the 1970s, the worldwide Chabad Hasidic movement has initiated public menorah lightings in open public places in many countries."

About the possible roots of the jewish tradition:

The story of Hanukkah is preserved in the books of the First and Second Maccabees, which describe in detail the re-dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem and the lighting of the menorah. These books are not part of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) which came from the Palestinian canon; however, they were part of the Alexandrian canon which is also called the Septuagint (sometimes abbreviated LXX).[8] Both books are included in the Old Testament used by the Catholic and Orthodox Churches,[9] since those churches consider the books deuterocanonical. They are not included in the Old Testament books in most Protestant Bibles, since most Protestants consider the books apocryphal. Multiple references to Hanukkah are also made in the Mishna (Bikkurim 1:6, Rosh HaShanah 1:3, Taanit 2:10, Megillah 3:4 and 3:6, Moed Katan 3:9, and Bava Kama 6:6), though specific laws are not described. The miracle of the one-day supply of oil miraculously lasting eight days is first described in the Talmud, committed to writing about 600 years after the events described in the books of Maccabees.[10]

from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanukkah
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also:

The story of Hanukkah begins during the period between the Old and New Testaments, when Antiochus IV Epiphanes became the ruler of the Greek empire. While the Hellenization of the area already threatened the survival of the Jewish religion, Antiochus seemed obsessed with ensuring the demise of the Jewish faith and thereby, the future of the Jewish people.

He not only murdered the High Priest, Onias III, but he slaughtered 40,000 inhabitants of Jerusalem. All sacrifices, the service of the Temple, and the observance of the Sabbath and of feast days were prohibited. The Temple was dedicated to Zeus, the Holy Scriptures were destroyed, and the Jews were forced to take part in heathen rites.

In his attempt to destroy every trace of the Jewish religion, the final assault was the slaughter of a pig on the sacrificial altar of the Temple, thereby desecrating it. The Maccabean family, from the priestly line of Aaron, led a revolt against this evil ruler and miraculously experienced victory after victory over the mighty Greek forces, until at last the Temple could be purified and its services restored.

This rededication of the Temple to the God of Israel is celebrated during Hanukkah, originally known as the Festival of Dedication. Hanukkah is a Hebrew word derived from the word "to dedicate."

from: http://www.charismanews.com/opinion/standing-with-israel/46721-here-s-why-christians-should-celebrate-hanukkah

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It is alluded to that " Jesus entered the Temple during the Feast of Dedication" in John 10 was the festival of Hanukkah as its practiced now by Jewish people.

So it might be a wonderful way to witness to your Jewish friends during the time of year, as you can share John 10 and the story of baby Jewish coming to the temple to be dedicated.

But WHY do they do it? What do they believe is taking place on the spiritual plane when they observe this holiday? I must confess that I am not really up to speed on the whole Jewish roots thing sorry.

Just to clarify my comments where not to encourage believers in Jesus to have the candles and light them but to witness and speak the Gospel to Jewish people during the time of their celebration and have knowledge of what they do so you can share with them the Gospel through it.

I personally believe that Christians should not practice any jewish festivals etc. Especially gentile believers.

Brother William I agree. At first it can be harmless but then these groups can suck an innocent believer into more and more things until eventually they bring them back under the law and require the full observance of the Torah as if Jesus had never fulfillled it as the scriptures teach. So an innocent candle lighting ceremony can lead to being sucked into these cult like Jewish roots groups. Better to keep away and not encourage them in my opinion.

"I personally believe that Christians should not practice any jewish festivals etc. Especially gentile believers."

Can you expound on why you believe they should not practice any of these things brother Greg?

Can you expound on why you believe they should not practice any of these things brother Greg?

Brother Mark,

I am sure others can do a much better job in sharing good reasons in this regard of not keeping jewish festivals as believers. One underlining thought for me is that they are all earthly shadows of the heavenly and as believers in the Kingdom of God we set our minds on things above and not things of the earth. These earthly things point to a heavenly.

Our Lord also replaced passover with the institution of the Lord's Supper, "do this in remembrance of Me." (1 Corinthians 11:24).

God told Peter to not call anything unclean, as the inner principle of the heart being clean was replacing the old shadow for believers in Jesus (Acts 10:28).

It is not clear if the early Christians kept the feasts though living in Jerusalem it was a marker for the time of year they were in (Acts 12:1-4).

There was a minority view that was seeking to keep the laws of Jewish belief in the Church (Acts 15: 4-5). Galatians also shares about this and Hebrews warns believers not to put any trust in the old system of sacrifice as the One True Sacrifice of Jesus has been done.

Acts 15:11 No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are."

Festivals and keeping of any of the customs of early Jewish belief was not important. Though basic moral commands and obedience to the Lord was underlined ie:

Acts 15:19-20 "we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood."

abstain from food polluted by idols\t-\tLeviticus 17:8-9 "Say to them: 'Any Israelite or any alien living among them who offers a burnt offering or sacrifice and does not bring it to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting to sacrifice it to the LORD--that man must be cut off from his people.' " To guard carefully against idolatry, this command was interpreted by the Jews to prohibit eating any meat that had been offered in a prohibited manner. In Rev. 2:14, 20 the words of Jesus show agreement with that interpretation.

from sexual immorality\t-\tLeviticus 18:6-26 lists a wide range of sexually immoral activities and ends with, "The native-born and the aliens living among you must not do any of these detestable things,"

from the meat of strangled animals\t-\tLeviticus 17:13,15 "Any Israelite or any alien living among you who hunts any animal or bird that may be eaten must drain out the blood and cover it with earth,

"Anyone, whether native-born or alien, who eats anything found dead or torn by wild animals must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be ceremonially unclean till evening; then he will be clean." These were interpreted by the Jews to prohibit eating the meat of strangled animals.

and from blood\t-\tLeviticus 17:10 "Any Israelite or any alien living among them who eats any blood--I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from his people."