ZAGREB, Dec 14 (Hina) - Croatian President Stjepan Mesic on
Thursday sent a message to all Jewish faithful in Croatia extending his best
wishes for Hanukkah.
The Culture Minister and president of the
government's commission for relations with religious communities, Bozo
Biskupic, also extended best wishes to members of the Coordinating Body of
Jewish Communities and the Jewish Bet Israel Community in Croatia.
Hanukkah is the annual Jewish festival celebrated on eight successive days
beginning on the 25th day of Kislev, the third month of the Jewish calendar,
corresponding, approximately, to December in the Gregorian calendar.
It is also known as the Festival of Lights, Feast of Dedication, and Feast of
the Maccabees. Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Temple of
Jerusalem by Judas Maccabee in 165 BC after the Temple had been profaned by
Antiochus IV Epiphanes, king of Syria and overlord of Palestine.
The
festival is observed in Jewish homes by the kindling of lights on each of the
festival's eight nights, one on the first night, two on the second night and so
on.
ZAGREB, Dec 14 (Hina) - Croatian President Stjepan Mesic on Thursday sent a message to all Jewish faithful in Croatia extending his best wishes for Hanukkah. Croatian President Stjepan Mesic on Thursday sent a message to all Jewish
faithful in Croatia extending his best wishes for Hanukkah. The Culture Minister and president of the government's commission for relations with religious communities, Bozo Biskupic, also extended best wishes to members of the Coordinating Body of Jewish Communities and the Jewish Bet Israel Community in Croatia. Hanukkah is the annual Jewish festival celebrated on eight successive days beginning on the 25th day of Kislev, the third month of the Jewish calendar, corresponding, approximately, to December in the Gregorian calendar. It is also known as the Festival of Lights, Feast of Dedication, and Feast of the Maccabees. Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem by Judas Maccabee in 165 BC after the Temple had been profaned by Antioch