Even if her goal was only to get him out of his head, she's doing a decent enough job of it, seeing as this particular holiday has little to do with his current problems. "The history's pretty long and complicated, but the short version is, the Jewish people had to deal with a lot of people trying to either kill them off or convert them to other religions, which is what the Greeks were doing. Jewish identity is a big deal - it's always been a relatively small tribe, compared to some other cultural and religious groups on Earth. There are a lot of specific traditions that only Jews follow, and the religiously observant have a code of law that they're supposed to live their lives by, handed down by a prophet thousands of years ago. Having a miracle like the oil was seen as proof of God's favor with the Jewish people, and an affirmation of Jewish identity in the face of those who would make you forsake who you are."

He smiles slightly, shrugging. "It used to be a really minor holiday, way back when. Kinda got more important when Christmas got popular around the same type of year, since most Jews don't really celebrate that one."