Rabbinic Literature

There are no systematic statements about calendars in the Jewish literature written between Jubilees and the Mishnah ( c. 200 ce ). The month names that were used in the Hellenistic world naturally occur in Jewish writings in the Greek language (for example, 1–2 Maccabees). We should not overlook the fact that the Books of Maccabees do make an important contribution to the festal calendar in that they introduce the festival of Hanukkah. The eight day holiday was first celebrated in connection with the rededication of the temple in 164 bce , after it had been profaned for some years as a result of Antiochus IV’s decrees against Judaism. The participants in the celebration decreed that Jews should observe the same eight days every year after this (1 Macc. 4:36–59). The eight days of Hanukkah, which begin on Chislev (the ninth month) 25, are perhaps modeled on King Hezekiahs rededication of the temple in 2 Chr. 29. It is interesting that 2 Macc. 1:9; 10:8 designate it the Festival of Booths (another eight day holiday) in the month of Chislev. Writers such as Josephus often made comments touching on the calendar, but one can learn little from them. Josephus used Jewish, Macedonian, and Roman month names at many places in his writings, and in the New Testament again there are occasional calendrical references which reproduce biblical givens (for example, in the passion accounts in which the festivals of Nisan are prominent). For more detailed information we have to turn to rabbinic literature.