Second Temple

“הרחמן הוא יקים לנו את סוכת דוד הנופלת – May the All-Merciful One reestablish the fallen sukkah of [King] David.”  Birkat Hamazon

The Significance of the Rabbinic Choice of Haftarah for Shabbat Chanukah

Why the rabbis came to imagine Ahasuerus as a usurper who halted the rebuilding of the Temple and his wife Vashti as a wicked and grotesque Babylonian princess, who lived as a libertine and persecuted Jews.

An overview of Persian history starting from Cyrus the Great’s conquest of Media (549 B.C.E.) until Alexander the Great’s conquest of Persia (334-329 B.C.E.), including related biblical references and Jewish texts.

Biblical concepts about the Second Temple, its purification, and dedication strongly inform the development of Chanukah’s earliest customs and symbols.