Page 46 - Attractive Deception - The False Hope of the Hebrew Roots Movement

knowledge and gifts to mankind, the act is one of immense evil.

As I mentioned at the end of the preceding chapter, another association between Hanukkah and
Saturnalia is derived from the alternate name The Feast of Dedication. The rabbis in the Talmud, and
the authors of I and II Maccabees, inform us that it was the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem that is in
reference here. Yet, if we peel away the deceit, and look back to a more ancient source for this
celebration, we find that Saturnalia was held on the day that the Temple of Saturn was dedicated in
Rome in the year 497 B.C., long before the reported victory of Judas Maccabeus over the Seleucid
armies. Two further associations to Hanukkah are observed as we read what is revealed in the
Wikipedia article on the feast of Saturnalia.

Saturnalia is a festival of light leading to the winter solstice, with the abundant presence of candles
symbolizing the quest for knowledge and truth...

Gambling and dice-playing, normally prohibited, or at least frowned upon, were permitted for all,
even slaves.
[Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturnalia]

The Roman Saturnalia was referred to as the “Festival of Light.” This same name is given to the
Jewish celebration of Hanukkah. From the second statement above we derive another
correspondence. Other than the nine-candle menorah, one of the most widely associated symbols of
Hanukkah today is the Dreidel.

Dreidels

Dreidels are given as gifts, especially to children, during the eight days of Hanukkah. The dreidel
originates from a gambling device called the teetotum. It is basically a dice that spins. The Wikipedia
entry on the teetotum contains the following information.

In its earliest form the body was square (in some cases via a stick through a regular six-sided die),
marked on the four sides by the letters A (Lat. aufer, take) indicating that the player takes one from
the pool, D (Lat. depone, put down) when a fine has to be paid, N (Lat. nihil, nothing), and T (Lat.
totum, all), when the whole pool is to be taken.
[Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teetotum]