On This Day December 7th

 OTD

December 7th is the 341st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 24 days remain until the end of the year.

 

 Events

1703 – The Great Storm of 1703, the most significant windstorm ever recorded in the southern part of Great Britain, makes landfall. Winds gust up to 120 mph, and 9,000 people die.

1732 – The Royal Opera House opens at Covent Garden, London, England.

1787 – Delaware became the first state to ratify the United States Constitution.

1842 – First concert of the New York Philharmonic, founded by Ureli Corelli Hill.

1917 – World War I: The United States declares war on Austria-Hungary.

1930 – W1XAV in Boston, Massachusetts, telecasts video from the CBS radio orchestra program, The Fox Trappers. The telecast also includes the first television advertisement in the United States for I.J. Fox Furriers, which also sponsored the radio show.

1941 – World War II: Attack on Pearl Harbor: The Imperial Japanese Navy carried out a surprise attack on the United States Pacific Fleet and its defending Army and Marine air forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

1972 – Apollo 17, the last Apollo Moon mission, is launched.[7] The crew takes the photograph known as The Blue Marble as they leave the Earth.

1995 – The Galileo spacecraft arrives at Jupiter, a little more than six years after Space Shuttle Atlantis launched it during Mission STS-34.

 

Birthdays

1598 – Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Italian sculptor and painter (d. 1680)

1863 – Richard Warren Sears, American businessman, co-founded Sears (d. 1914)

1904 – Clarence Nash, American voice actor and singer (d. 1985)

1910 – Louis Prima, American singer-songwriter, trumpet player, and actor (d. 1978)

1928 – Noam Chomsky, American linguist and philosopher

1956 – Larry Bird was an American basketball player and coach.

1973 – Terrell Owens, American football player

1976 – Sunny Sweeney, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

1986 – Nita Strauss, American guitarist

 

Holiday Spotlight.

Hanukkah

  The eight-day Jewish celebration known as Hanukkah or Chanukah commemorates the rededication during the second century B.C. of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, where Jews had risen against their Greek-Syrian oppressors in the Maccabean Revolt. This group of Jews is known as the Maccabees. The name was formed from the first letters of a Hebrew phrase, “Mi Kamocha Ba’eilim Hashem,” which translates to “Who is like You, God.”

 The history of Hanukkah – much like the histories of many religious or ancient holidays – has various starting and ending points. The events that inspired the Hanukkah holiday occurred during a particularly turbulent phase of Jewish history. Around 200 B.C., Judea —modern-day Israel/Palestine — came under Antiochus III, the Seleucid king of Syria, who allowed the Jews who lived there to continue practicing their religion. His son, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, proved less benevolent. Ancient sources recount that he outlawed the Jewish faith and ordered the Jews to worship Greek gods.

 In 168 B.C., Antiochus IV Epiphanes soldiers descended upon Jerusalem, massacring thousands of people and desecrating the city’s holy Second Temple by erecting an altar to Zeus and sacrificing pigs within its sacred walls.

 The Jewish priest Mattathias and his five sons led a large-scale rebellion against Antiochus and the Seleucid monarchy. When Matthathias died in 166 B.C., his son Judah, known as Judah Maccabee — ‘the Hammer — took the helm. Within two years, the Jews had successfully driven the Syrians out of Jerusalem, relying primarily on guerilla warfare tactics. The revolts were successful, and the Jews regained the right to practice their religion in their temples. To do so, Judah called on his followers to cleanse the temple and light a menorah with oil that had been blessed by the high priest all night every night until the new altar could be built over the old one.

 This is the gold candelabrum whose seven branches represented knowledge and creation and was meant to be kept burning every night. But only one flask of oil left would last for only one night. They lit it anyway, and it stayed lit for eight days, the amount of time needed to press new oil.

 According to the Talmud, one of Judaism’s most central texts, Judah Maccabee and the other Jews who rededicated the Second Temple witnessed what they believed to be a miracle. Even though there was only enough untainted olive oil to keep the menorah’s candles burning for a single day, the flames continued flickering for eight nights, leaving them time to find a fresh supply. This wondrous event inspired the Jewish sages to proclaim a yearly eight-day festival.

 The story of Hanukkah does not appear in the Torah because the events that inspired the holiday occurred after it was written. It is, however, mentioned in the New Testament, in which Jesus attends a ‘Feast of Dedication.’

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 Other Include

Feast of St. Ambrose

Frankenstein Day

International Cabernet Sauvignon Day

International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances

International Whale Shark Day

Muharram (Islamic New Year)

National Beach Day

National Grief Awareness Day

National Holistic Pet Day

National Toasted Marshmallow Day

Raksha Bandhan

Slinky Day

Tug of War Day

Willing to Lend a Hand Wednesday