For Jews around the world, Hanukkah begins at sundown Sunday. This holiday commemorates the re-dedication of the temple in Jerusalem in 165 BCE.
At that time, the Seleuicid Greeks controlled Jerusalem and surrounding areas. Antiochus IV Epiphanes (215-164 BCE) was an infamous anti-Semite. He ordered the Jews to worship Jupiter and other Greek gods and declared practice of Jewish rituals illegal.
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