What's Chanukah All About?
by Rabbi Robert O. Miller
“Then came the Feast of Chanukah at Jerusalem. It was winter, and YahShua was in the Temple… (John 10:22)”
What was this Holy Day that King Messiah was celebrating? Chanukah is the Holy Day commemorating the rededication (164 BCE) of the Second Temple of Jerusalem after its desecration three years earlier by order of whom history calls Antiochus IV Epiphanes (god manifested) but whom we like to call Epimanes (the Madman); the Greco-Syrian king that was frustrated in his attempt to destroy the faith of Yahweh.
“And darkness symbolizes Greece, which darkened the eyes of Israel with its decrees, ordering Israel, 'Write on the horn of an ox that ye have no portion in the Elohim of Israel.” (Midrash Rabbah – Bereishit 2:4)
Though modern Israel tends to emphasize the military victory of YaHudah the HaShemite (Judas Maccabeus), the distinctive rite of lighting the menorah also recalls the Talmud story of how the small supply of non-desecrated holy oil for the Temple Golden Menorah, enough for one day, miraculously burned in the Temple for eight full days until new oil could be obtained. Beginning on Kislev 25 in the Winter, Chanukah is celebrated for eight days. During this time, in addition to the lighting of the candles, gifts are exchanged and children play holiday games.
The Talmud emphasizes primarily the spiritual aspect of the Chanukah miracles. Our Sages ask, "What is Chanukah?" In other words for which miracle was the holiday instituted?
Their answer recounts the episode of the Menorah without elaborating on the military victory over the Syro-Greeks. Although the miracle of the Menorah could not have taken place without the military victory, the victory itself does not define Chanukah.
Chanukah is a Holy Day of spiritual light; even the war against the Syro-Greeks was essentially spiritual, since it was a struggle to preserve the Faith from the taint of secular influence.
Why did the Syro-Greeks insist that Israel write on the horn of an ox that we have no portion in the Elohim of Israel? The decree was a "walking advertisement", a means of putting the rejection of the Faith of Yahweh on parade. This is why the central mitzvah of Chanukah, lighting candles in order to publicize the miracle, counteracts this "negative publicity". We are putting our Faith on parade.
Today, Israel is again threatened by the secular nations of this world trying to force Israel to negotiate away her sovereignty to Arab Terrorists and their Muslim Allies. Years ago the US Joint Chief of Staff told Israel what they had to do to be secure: Gen. Earle Wheeler said: "returning Israel to pre-1967 boundaries would drastically increase its vulnerability. Israel would be threatened by West Bank artillery and tactical SAMs - a sword constantly over its head and the need to maintain readiness with prohibitive mobilization costs. For stable future Arab-Israeli agreements, Israel must feel it can wait out a crisis rather than strike pre-emptively. Israel should retain...the Gaza Strip, mountains and plateaus of the West Bank, the tip of the Sinai, Sharm el Sheikh, the Golan Heights east of Quneitra, and all of Jerusalem."
Five were negotiated away as of August 2005. The entire Golan Heights will go to Syria and most of the West Bank to the Palestinians if the Road Map to Peace were adopted. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said he’s willing to give up crucial parts of Jerusalem including the Temple Mount as of December 2007. Chanukah is the only Holy Day that commemorates a national liberation struggle and victory in the Land of Israel, modern-day Israel would do well to remember the Chanukah story.
Though it looks pretty bleak for Covenant Israel right now; though it looks like the Hellenistic Secularists are winning – “the darkest hour is just before dawn.” [1650 T. Fuller Pisgah Sight II. xi.]
Like no other time of year is the pagan influences of Western culture made to press in on the True Believer endeavoring to live a sanctified life.
“Then YaHudah and his brothers said, ‘Now that our enemies have been crushed, let us go up to purify the sanctuary and rededicate it.’
So the whole army assembled, and went up to Mount Zion. They found the Sanctuary desolate, the altar desecrated, the gates burnt, weeds growing in the courts as in a forest or on some mountain, and the priests' chambers demolished. Then they tore their clothes and made great lamentation; they sprinkled their heads with ashes and fell with their faces to the ground. And when the signal was given with trumpets, they cried out to Heaven.
YaHudah appointed men to attack those in the citadel, while he purified the Sanctuary. He chose blameless Priests, devoted to the Torah; these purified the sanctuary and carried away the stones of the Abomination to an unclean place. They deliberated what ought to be done with the altar of burnt offering that had been desecrated.
The happy thought came to them to tear it down, lest it be a lasting shame to them that the Gentiles had defiled it; so they tore down the altar. They stored the stones in a suitable place on the temple hill, until a prophet should come and decide what to do with them. Then they took uncut stones, according to the Torah, and built a new altar like the former one. They also repaired the Sanctuary and the interior of the Temple and purified the courts. They made new sacred vessels and brought the Menorah, the altar of incense, and the table into the Temple. Then they burned incense on the altar and lighted the lamps on the Menorah, and these illuminated the Temple. They also put loaves on the table and hung up curtains. Thus they finished all the work they had undertaken.
Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, that is, the month of Kislev, in the year one hundred and forty-eight, they arose and offered sacrifice according to the law on the new altar of burnt offering that they had made. On the anniversary of the day on which the Gentiles had defiled it, on that very day it was Chanukah - consecrated with songs, harps, flutes, and cymbals.
All the people prostrated themselves and adored and praised Heaven, who had given them success. For eight days they celebrated the dedication of the altar and joyfully offered burnt offerings and sacrifices of deliverance and praise. They ornamented the facade of the Temple with gold crowns and shields; they repaired the gates and the Priests' chambers and furnished them with doors. There was great joy among the people now that the disgrace of the Gentiles was removed.
Then YaHudah and his brothers and the entire congregation of Israel decreed that the days of the Chanukah - dedication of the altar should be observed with joy and gladness on the anniversary every year for eight days, from the twenty-fifth day of the month Kislev. (1 Maccabee 4:36-59)”
“The Jews celebrated joyfully for eight days as on Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles), remembering how, a little while before, they had spent Sukkot living like wild animals in caves on the mountains. Carrying lulavs – palm, myrtle, willow and citron fruit , they sang hymns of grateful praise to him who had brought about the purification of his own Place. By public edict and decree they prescribed that the whole Jewish nation should celebrate these days every year. Such was the end of Antiochus surnamed Epiphanes. (2 Macabees 10:6-9)”
“For our Rabbis taught: On the 25th of Kislev begin the days of Chanukah, which are eight, during which lamentation for the dead and fasting are forbidden. For when the Greeks entered the Temple, they defiled all the oils in it, and when the Hasmonean dynasty prevailed against and defeated them, they [the Hasmoneans] searched and found only one cruse of oil which possessed the seal of the High Priest, but which contained sufficient oil for only one day's lighting; yet a miracle occurred there and they lit [the Menorah] for eight days. The following year these days were appointed a Festival with the recitation of praise and thanksgiving…Our Rabbis taught: It is incumbent to place the Chanukah lamp by the door of one's house on the outside; if one dwells in an upper chamber, place it at the window nearest the street. (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Shabbat, page 21b)”
We celebrate this Chanukah by lighting lights for eight days. Symbolically, at the time of the lighting of the Chanukah candles, there is a revelation of part of the "Ohr Haganuz," the great Divine Light hidden away since the beginning of Creation -- the light of Messiah. And that is why the festival is called Chanukah -- because it is a spiritual preparation ןונכ "chinuch" for our destined Redemption.
The Law of the Jealous Husband
From Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) to the 1st Day of Chanukah (Feast of Dedication) the “Law of the Jealous Husband” was taught. The Rabbis would teach the masses as they came up to the Temple.
“And Yahweh said to Moses, say to the Israelites, ‘If any man's wife goes astray and commits an offense of guilt against him, and a man lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband and it is kept secret though she is defiled, and there is no witness against her nor was she taken in the act, and if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he is jealous and suspicious of his wife who has defiled herself--or if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he is jealous and suspicious of his wife though she has not defiled herself-- then shall the man bring his wife to the priest, and he shall bring the offering required of her, a tenth of an ephah of barley meal; but he shall pour no oil upon it nor put frankincense on it [symbols of favor and joy], for it is a cereal offering of jealousy and suspicion, a memorial offering bringing iniquity to remembrance. And the priest shall bring her near and set her before Yahweh. And the priest shall take holy water [from the sacred laver] in an earthen vessel and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the Tabernacle and put it in the water. And the priest shall set the woman before Yahweh, and let the hair of the woman's head hang loose, and put the meal offering of remembrance in her hands, which is the jealousy and suspicion offering. And the priest shall have in his hand the (cup of the) water of bitterness that brings the curse. Then the priest shall make her take an oath, and say to the woman, “If no man has lain with you and if you have not gone astray to uncleanness with another instead of your husband, then be free from any effect of this water of bitterness which brings the curse. But if you have gone astray and you are defiled, some man having lain with you beside your husband,” then the priest shall make the woman take the oath of the curse, and say to the woman, “Yahweh make you a curse and an oath among your people when the Lord makes your thigh fall away and your body swell. May this water that brings the curse go into your bowels and make your body swell and your thigh fall away.” And the woman shall say, “Amien! (So let it be, so let it be). The priest shall then write these curses in a book and shall wash them off into the (cup of the) water of bitterness; and he shall cause the woman to drink the water of bitterness that brings the curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter into her [to try her] bitterly. Then the priest shall take the cereal offering of jealousy and suspicion out of the woman's hand and shall wave the offering before Yahweh and offer it upon the altar. And the priest shall take a handful of the cereal offering as the memorial portion of it and burn it on the altar, and afterward shall cause the woman to drink the water. And when he has made her drink the water, then if she is defiled and has committed a trespass against her husband, the curse water which she drank shall be bitterness and cause her body to swell and her thigh to fall away, and the woman shall be a curse among her people. But if the woman is not defiled and is clean, then she shall be free [from the curse] and be able to have children. This is the law of jealousy and suspicion when a wife goes aside to another instead of her husband and is defiled, or when the spirit of jealousy and suspicion comes upon a man and he is jealous and suspicious of his wife; then shall he set the woman before Yahweh, and the priest shall execute on her all this law. The [husband] shall be free from iniquity and guilt, and that woman [if guilty] shall bear her iniquity. (Numbers 5:11-31)”
Messiah YahShua was teaching this same thing, taking his lesson from the Book of Hosea (Salvation).
The Book of Hosea contains 14 chapters, in chapters 1-3 the prophet likens the relationship between Yahweh and Israel to that of a man who is married to an unfaithful woman. The description of this relationship is personalized—that is, the husband in the book is Hosea himself, and the unfaithful wife is his wife Gomer. The covenant, between Yahweh and Israel, was formerly seen by Israel as based on law, however Hosea envisioned the covenant as a spiritual bond of love. The remaining chapters consist of short prophecies dealing with the spiritual corruption of the people; the moral unfitness of the kings, priests, and prophets; the judgment and punishment that result from infidelity and corrupt behavior, ending with a plea for Israel to return to her spiritual husband - Yahweh.
“Return, O Israel, to Yahweh your Elohim. your sins have been your downfall! Take words with you and return to Yahweh. Say to him: ‘Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips.’ (Hosea 14:1, 2)”
Hosea is saying the marriage covenant is a type of Torah.
The Torah was given by Yahweh to maintain Covenant. And Moses said unto the people, "Fear not; for Elohim has come to test you, and that His fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not." (Exodus 20:20).
The Torah is then a good thing for us for it tells us exactly what Yahweh, the Creator, desires of us – His Bride: “The Torah of Yahweh is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of Yahweh is sure, making wise the simple. (Psalms 19:7)”
“Therefore the Torah is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. (Romans 7:12)”
But what happens when there is a split? The Ten Commandments includes a prohibition against adultery “You shall not commit murder. You shall not commit adultery. (Exodus 20:13-14)”, it is defined in the book of Leviticus, "The man who commits adultery with another man's wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress, shall surely be put to death. (20:10)"
Yahweh has promised to judge those who are adulterers. “Do you not know that the unrighteous and the wrongdoers will not inherit or have any share in the Kingdom of Yahweh? Do not be deceived (misled); neither the impure nor immoral… nor adulterers… will inherit or have any share in Kingdom of Yahweh. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)”
“Let marriage be held in honor (esteemed worthy, precious, of great price, and especially dear) in all things. And thus let the marriage bed be undefiled (kept undishonored); for Yahweh will judge and punish the unchaste [all guilty of sexual vice] and adulterous. (Hebrews 13:4)”
Adultery is a sin against the Community of Faith for it destroys friendships, marriages, and families, contributing to the destruction of many children's lives! It is a hurt that keeps on hurting.
Yahweh hates divorce. “But to the married people I give charge--not I but Yahweh--that the wife is not to separate from her husband. But if she does [separate from and divorce him], let her remain single or else be reconciled to her husband. And [I charge] the husband [also] that he should not put away or divorce his wife. (1 Corinthians 7:10-11)”
This is what YahShua the Messiah is teaching at the Temple when he literally fulfills Numbers 5:11-31: “…YahShua went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn he appeared again in the Temple Courts; where all the people gathered around Him, and He sat down to teach them. The Rabbis of the Torah and the Parushim (Pharisees) brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to YahShua, ‘Rebbe, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Torah Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’ They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But YahShua bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
(“Therefore, O harlot [Israel], hear the word of Yahweh! Thus says Yahweh Elohim: Because your brass [coins and gifts] and your filthiness were emptied out and your nakedness uncovered through your harlotries with your lovers, and because of all the [filthy] idols of your abominations, and the blood of your children that you gave to them, therefore behold, I will gather all your lovers with whom you have taken pleasure, and all those whom you have loved with all those whom you have hated; I will even gather them [the allies you have courted] against you on every side and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness [making you, Israel, an object of loathing and of mockery, a spectacle among the nations]. And I Yahweh will judge you as women who break wedlock and shed blood are judged, and I will bring upon you the blood of [your divine Husband's] wrath and jealousy.” - Ezekiel 16: 35-38)
At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only YahShua was left, with the woman still standing there. YahShua straightened up and asked her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’
‘No one, Adonai,’ she said. (“…if you confess with your mouth YahShua is Adonai and believe in your heart that Yahweh has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (Rom 10:9)”)
‘Then neither do I condemn you,’ YahShua declared. ‘Go now and leave your life of sin.’ (John 8:1-11)”
This woman whose guilt was not in question was brought before Messiah YahShua by the members of the Sanhedrin who had this woman in custody on their way to bringing her to the High Priest and the Bitter Cup.
They ask him, “What is your rendering or halacha that we should do to this woman?”
It appears that Messiah YahShua is on the horns of a dilemma. If he lets her go He is damned for He has broken Torah. If He convicts her He is damned because it is not in His authority because He is not then a High Priest or a judge. Rather he does a unique thing, He writes in the dust. “And the priest shall bring her near and set her before Yahweh. And the priest shall take holy water [from the sacred laver] in an earthen vessel and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the Tabernacle…The priest shall then write these curses in a book and shall wash them off into the (cup of the) water of bitterness; and he shall cause the woman to drink the water of bitterness that brings the curse.” Messiah YahShua began to write the offenses that Israel had committed against Yahweh. “You have built also for yourself a vaulted chamber (brothel) and have made a high place [of idol worship] in every street. At every crossway you built your high place [for idol worship] and have made your beauty an abomination [abhorrent, loathsome, extremely disgusting, and detestable]; and you have made your body available to every passer-by and multiplied your [idolatry and spiritual] harlotry.”
Messiah YahShua says “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Messiah YahShua was not being disrespectful. The Torah required that the witnesses cast the first stone: “At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is to die be put to death.
The hand of the witnesses shall be first upon him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall put away the evil from the midst of you. (Deuteronomy 17:6-7).”
There is an interesting doctrine held by the exiled Priests at Qumran: “No one who has knowingly violated a single word of the commandment will be considered a reliable witness against his fellow until he is considered fit to return to full fellowship. (Damascus Document 4Q270 frag. 9 col. 10 lines 2-3)
This is exactly what Messiah YahShua is saying here. As he wrote He began to verbalize the sin of Israel. “They listened to Him, and then they began going out, conscience-stricken, one by one, from the oldest down to the last one of them, till Rebbe YahShua was left alone, with the woman standing there before Him in the center of the court.”
These men had been an unfaithful bride to Yahweh and this is implied by his writing in the dust of the Temple floor of which was used to judge an unfaithful bride (Numbers 5:12-31). He then wrote their names in the dust (“O Yahweh, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you, will be put to shame. Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken Yahweh, the spring of living water. (Jeremiah17:13)”) indicating that they were unfaithful brides to Yahweh and should be judged as well and therefore were not valid witnesses.”
Then Messiah YahShua got up and said to the woman, ‘Woman, where are your accusers? Have you no husband to condemned you?” Where was her husband? She was caught in the very act of adultery, why doesn’t her husband bring charges on her. He is the only one who can! “Because he has brought an evil reputation upon a virgin of Israel. And she shall be his wife; he may not (bring charges) divorce her all his days.” He was not there because he knew she was not a virgin when He married her. Israel was that adulterous wife.
She responds to Messiah YahShua by accepting Him as her King. “No one, Adonai! And Messiah YahShua said, I do not condemn you either. Go on your way and from now on sin no more.”
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Messiah YahShua, because through Messiah YahShua the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the Torah was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, Yahweh did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the Torah might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:1-4)”
Then Messiah YahShua did a strange thing He turned and faced the Outer Court of the Temple (where the Gentiles were) and said to those there, "I am the Light of the world. The one who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the Light of life." (John 8 :12)
“[Messiah] was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him… (John 1:9, 10)”
The Light of the World
As Messiah YahShua progressed toward Chanukah again He proclaimed Himself to be the Light of the World: “…He saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’
‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned,’ said YahShua, ‘but this happened so that the work of Yahweh might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of Him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’
Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. ‘Go,’ he told him, ‘wash in the Pool of Siloam’ (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, ‘Isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg?’ Some claimed that he was. Others said, ‘No, he only looks like him.’ But he himself insisted, ‘I am the man.’
"How then were your eyes opened?’ they demanded.
He replied, ‘The man they call YahShua made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.’
‘Where is this man?’ they asked him.
‘I don't know,’ he said.
They brought to the Parushim the man who had been blind. Now the day on which YahShua had made the mud and opened the man's eyes was a Sabbath. Therefore the Parushim also asked him how he had received his sight. ‘He put mud on my eyes,’ the man replied, ‘and I washed, and now I see.’
Some of the Parushim said, ‘This man is not from Yahweh, for he does not keep the Sabbath.’
But others asked, ‘How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?’ So they were divided.
Finally they turned again to the blind man, ‘What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.’
The man replied, ‘He is a prophet.’
The Jews still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man's parents. ‘Is this your son?’ they asked. ‘Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?’
‘We know he is our son,’ the parents answered, ‘and we know he was born blind.
But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don't know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.’ His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged that YahShua was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. That was why his parents said, ‘He is of age; ask him.’
A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. ‘Give glory to Yahweh’ they said. ‘We know this man is a sinner.’
He replied, ‘Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!’ (John 9:1-25)” That was a fact that the Parushim could not argue away, even with the fanciest of legal wrangling. The man had been healed of a lifelong blindness.
Israel was that blind man: "I, Yahweh, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. (Isaiah 42:6, 7)” Not only was this man healed of physical blindness, but he was healed of a far more profound blindness – spiritual blindness.
“For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: for this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the Full Messianic Message, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the father's sakes. For the gifts and calling of Yahweh are without repentance. (Romans 11:25-29)”
Now his eyes were opened to the healing and life-giving teachings of the Saviour. Where everything had been dark to his mind before, now he could see clearly in the Light.
Do we suffer from some degree of blindness, still? Of we do! Compared to the infinite light of Yahweh, we are all groping in some degree of darkness. The question is not whether we are blind, but what kind of blindness. Is it the kind of blindness where you are unwilling to see the light because you would have to change your attitudes and your behavior? Or is it the kind where you are literally straining to see to see?
“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:11-13)”
"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see Yahweh. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of Yahweh. (Matthew 5:3-9)"
The winter of 1775 was a bitter winter, “Terrible cold. We are sitting in Valley Forge and waiting. Why? I don't know. Perhaps for better days than these. I am the only Jew here. Perhaps there are other Jews among us, but I haven't seen any. We hunger for bread. We have no warm clothing or shoes to protect our feet. Most of the soldiers curse George Washington for going to war against Britain.
There are those who hope for his downfall, but I believe that his cause is just. We must expel Britain from America. She wants to put her hands in everything her eyes see. Although we are suffering here terribly, I am loyal with all my heart to George Washington. More than once I see him at night, passing through the camp, between the rows of sleeping soldiers. He gazes with compassion upon the soldiers who are suffering from the cold. And sometimes he approaches one of the sleeping soldiers and covers him, as a father would cover his son.
There are times when the hunger and the freezing cold torture me to death. But I don't curse General Washington who is fighting for the freedom of America. At moments like this I think of my father in Poland. I think about all that he suffers at the hand of the cruel " Poritz " or King. I remember: I was a child then and I saw my father dancing before the King. What an awful thing to see! My father was wearing the skin of a Polar bear - and danced like a bear before the King and his guests.
What terrible pain! What great shame! My father dancing like a bear - and the King laughing and rejoicing at the sight. I decided then and there that I will never dance like my father before the King. Afterwards, I escaped to America.
And now I am lying in Valley Forge and shivering from cold. They say that Washington is losing and that he can't win this war. But I don't believe all that. I lie at night and pray for him.
The first night of Chanukah arrives. On this night, years ago, I left my father's house. My father gave us this Chanukah menorah and said to me, "My son, when you light the Chanukah candles, they will illuminate the way for you".
Since then, the Menorah has been like a charm for me. Wherever I go, I take it with me. I didn't know what to do - to light the Chanukah candles here, among the goyim, or not. I decided to wait until they were all asleep, and then I took out my father's Menorah. I made the blessing and lit the first candle. I gazed at the light and remembered my parents' home. I saw my father dancing like a bear before the King and I saw my mother's eyes filled with tears. My heart was filled with pain and I burst out crying like a small child. And I decided then in my heart, that for the sake of my father and mother, for my brothers and sisters in Poland. I must help George Washington make America a free country, a land of refuge for my parents and brothers who are subjected to the cruelty of the King.
Suddenly I felt a gentle hand touching my head. I lifted my eyes and it was he - he himself was standing over me and he asked, "Why are you crying, soldier? Are you cold? ". Pain and compassion were in his voice. I couldn't bear to see him suffer. I jumped up, forgot that I was a soldier standing before a General, and said what came from my heart, like a son speaking to his father: "General Washington," I said, "I am crying and praying for your victory. And I know that with the help of G-d we will win. Today they are strong, but tomorrow they will fall because justice is with us. We want to be free in this land. We want to build a home here for all those who flee from the hands of the King, for all who suffer across the ocean. The King will not rule over us! They will fall and you will rise!" General Washington pressed my hand. "Thank you, soldier," he said. He sat next to me on the ground, in front of the Menorah. "What is this candlestick?", he asked. I told him, "I brought it from my father's house. The Jews all over the world light candles tonight, on Chanukah, the holiday of the great miracle". The Chanukah candles lit up Washington's eyes, and he asked joyfully, "You are a Jew from the nation of Prophets and you say we will be victorious?!" "Yes sir," I answered with conviction. "We will win just like the Maccabees won, for ourselves and for all those who come here after us to build a new land and new lives." The General got up and his face was shining. He shook my hand and disappeared in the darkness.
My faith prevailed. Washington's victory was complete. The land was quiet. My General became the first President of the United States and I was one of its citizens. I soon forgot the terrible days and nights in Valley Forge. But I kept the memory of that first night of Chanukah in my heart like a precious dream. I did not relate it to anyone because I said to myself: Who will believe me? I was certain that the General forgot it completely. But that was not the case. He didn't forget.
The first night of Chanukah (1776) 5538. I was sitting in my apartment in New York, on Broome Street, and the Chanukah candles were burning in my window. Suddenly, I heard a knock at my door. I opened the door and was shocked: my General, President George Washington, was standing in the doorway (there himself), in all his glory. "Behold the wonderful candle. The candle of hope of the Jewish People," he proclaimed joyously when he saw the Chanukah candles in my window.
He put his hand on my shoulder and said, "This candle and your beautiful words ignited a light in my heart that night. Soon you will receive a Medal of Honor from the United States of America, together with all of the brave men of Valley Forge. But tonight, please accept this token from me." He hung a golden medallion on my chest and shook my hand. Tears filled my eyes and I couldn't speak. The President shook my hand again and departed...
I came to, as if from a wonderful dream, then I looked at the medallion and saw an etching of a beautiful Chanukah Menorah. Under it was written: "A token of gratitude for the light of your candle - George Washington".” As this one Jewish soldier lit his Menorah candles and inspired General George Washington to victory at Valley Forge, may we be a light to fellow Believers trying to find their way from the darkness of vain theology into the light of Torah understanding through King Messiah YahShua.
King Messiah YahShua At Chanukah
“Then came the Feast of Chanukah – Dedication or Consecration – at Jerusalem. It was winter, and YahShua was in the Temple area walking in Solomon's Porch. The Jews gathered around him, saying, ‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.’
YahShua answered, ‘I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one.’
Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but YahShua said to them, ‘I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?’
‘We are not stoning you for any of these,’ replied the Jews, ‘but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be Elohim.’
YahShua answered them, ‘Is it not written in your Torah, “I have said you are gods?” (Psalm 82:6) If he called them “elohim,” to whom the Word of Elohim came—and the Scripture cannot be broken— what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, “I am Yahweh's Son?” Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.’ Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.
Then YahShua went back across the Jordan to the place where Yochannan had been immersing in the early days. Here he stayed and many people came to him. They said, ‘Though Yochannan never performed a miraculous sign, all that Yochannan said about this man was true.’ And in that place many believed in YahShua. (John 10:22-42)”
“Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Miriam and her sister Martha. It was that Miriam who anointed the King with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, ‘Sovereign, behold, he whom You love is sick.’
When YahShua heard that, He said, ‘This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of Yahweh, that the Son of Yahweh may be glorified through it.’
Now YahShua loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was.’ Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.’
The disciples said to Him, ‘Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?’
YahShua answered, ‘Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the Light of this World. But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.’ These things He said, and after that He said to them, ‘Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.’ (John 11:1-11)”
“Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of Yahweh is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but Yahweh shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side. Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. (Isaiah 60:1-5)”
"You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. (Matthew 5:14,15)”
