Should We Celebrate Hanukkah?
The Feast of Dedication or Hanukkah is not commanded in Scripture and it’s not one of God/Yahweh’s Appointed Times. Hanukkah occurred in the 400 years between the Testaments. It commemorates the Temple’s rededication at the end of a revolt against the Greeks in the 2nd Century BC. It’s recorded in 1 and 2 Maccabees. This war was led by a family of priests called the Maccabees. It was ignited by outlawing Yahweh’s Commands (Sabbath, circumcision and defiling the Temple with a altar to Zeus). The forced sacrifice of pigs, initiated the battle. After several years, the Greek occupiers were thrown out and the work of restoring the Temple began.

Hanukkah is a celebration of removing Greek/pagan influences (Hellenization) and returning to God/Yahweh’s instructions for life and worship, which is the Torah. It was not only a rededication of the Temple, but one’s life to Yahweh.

"At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem; it was winter, and Jesus/Yeshua was walking in the Temple in the portico of Solomon. The Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” – John 10:22-24

It was during the Feast of Dedication when people were remembering a victory of a righteous priestly deliverer and in the context of the Roman occupation that the Jews asked Yeshua, “If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” His response was not what they expected. They were looking for salvation from an earthly deliverer from like the Maccabees.
Yeshua spoke of eternal life and not being snatched from the Father’s hand. He stated, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). He was the Deliverer they were looking for, but for a life beyond earthly troubles. While being fully engaged in this world, there is another world that we are a part of.

Some say Yeshua did not “celebrate” the Feast of Dedication. They say He was just walking in the Temple. They say because it’s not a required feast, we should not celebrate it at all. It was approximately a 75-mile journey form Nazareth to Jerusalem. Yeshua made the journey in winter in order to be in the Temple during the feast. If the feast is somehow repulsive to Yahweh, Yeshua never mentioned it. He had ample opportunity to speak about it. Yeshua said nothing prohibiting or inhibiting the celebration.
From its inception, the “Feast of Dedication” is a time and season for rededication to Yahweh. Yeshua was celebrating with Israel the rededication of Temple and returning to Yahweh. There is no Scriptural compulsion to celebrate Hanukkah, as it’s optional. There is no restriction against celebrating Hanukkah, either.
"Yeshua said, "I am the Light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness" (John 8:12).
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