Meaning
and celebration of the Feast of Chanukah
חנכה
The
victory over darkness!
Chanukah, חנכה means
"dedication". The word also means to educate, to initiate.
Although
this feast is not a Biblical one, its significance is very important
and represents the spiritual warfare between the Light of the
Torah and the darkness of a world without it.
The
story of Chanukah commemorates the victory of the Hasmoneans
over the Greeks and the Jewish independence in Israel which started
with the purification of the Temple and the restoration of G.od's
worship.
On
the 25th of the month of Kislev, Judah
Maccabee,
the leader of the revolt, rededicated the Beth Hamikdash
(Temple) and lit the golden menorah. But only one pure
olive jug was found and the menorah was to burn non stop
day and night. Acting out of faith, the Hasmoneans lit
the menorah and the oil lasted miraculously for eight days,
the time needed to prepare some new pure oil. The feast
of Chanukah was established in order to celebrate this
miracle and the victory of the Torah over the darkness
of the Greek thinking.
A
few points are necessary to understand here:
Judaism
assimilates Greece to one of the four exiles the Jewish people
went through, the three others being: Babylon, Persia, and Rome.
Those four exiles are linked to the first words of Bereshit
(Genesis):
The
earth was unformed
תהו
and void
ובהו
darkness וחשך
was
on the face of the
deep תהום, and
the Spirit of God hovered over the surface of the water. Genesis
1:2
Greece
is linked with darkness. Darkness because of the attempt of the
Greeks to destroy the soul of Judaism by "converting" the Jews
to Hellenism, forbidding the reading and teaching of the Torah,
the practice of circumcision, Shabbat and new months celebration
and forcing the new Jewish brides to sleep with a Greek officer
before the wedding day defiling the holiness of marriage and family.
The
Greeks, under the rule of the terrible Antiochus IV, who was called
Epiphanies ("the Splendid One", and also "divine manifestation"),
defiled the Temple, offering pork to sacrifice on the altar and
defiling all the olive oil jugs for the lighting of the golden
menorah.
The
menorah was the symbol of G.od's light in the Temple, shining
day and night and the purpose was clear:
To
prevent G.od's light to shine and testify of the Truth.
The
corrupted Greek world was still at that time the super power,
and its goal was to Hellenize the rest of the world through the
Greek culture, language and customs. A lot of those customs were
deeply pagan and impure with no place for holiness.
It
is interesting to note that G.od had given the gift of art, and
aesthetic to the descendants of Yefet through Noach
's mouth:
May
God enlarge Yefet; he will live in the tents of Shem,
but Kena'an will be their servant.
Genesis
9:27
Yefet, in Hebrew means "beauty". One of his descendant
was Yavan (Genesis 10:2), which means Greece in Hebrew.
Up to the Talmud, this verse means that the gift of beauty
and arts that was given to Yefet must dwell in the tent
of Shem, which symbolizes the spiritual values. No beauty
if not to glorify the Creator.
Athens
was the capital of modernism; everything was made for the sake
of humanism, personal achievement, beauty of the body, pleasure
of the eyes and the flesh that finally lead to corruption.
Jerusalem
was the spiritual centre of the world, and represented G.od's
wisdom, the Temple was testifying the presence of G.od, the shekhina
on earth.
What
the Greeks wanted was not to destroy physically the Jews, like
Haman or Hitler wanted to do, but to capture their mind
and change their worldview.
The
Jews then didn't have any choice: to resist or to die. The ones
who compromised lost their identities and became corrupted.
Today
our western world has much inherit from the Greek thinking and
Shaul (Paul) was already warning us to be careful:
In
other words, do not let yourselves be conformed to the standards
of the 'olam hazeh (this world) Instead, keep letting yourselves
be transformed by the renewing of your minds; so that you will
know what God wants and will agree that what he wants is good,
satisfying and able to succeed.
Romans 12:2
In
the renewed Covenant (NT) we see a mention of this commemoration:
Then
came Hanukkah in Yerushalayim. It was winter, and
Yeshua was walking around inside the Temple area, in Shlomo's
Colonnade.
John:
10:22-23
No
wonder why He was there for the Feast of the Lights, as is this
celebration also called. The menorah speaks of the wonderful
light He brought to the world and to our lives:
Yeshua spoke to them again: "I am the light of the world;
whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the
light which gives life. »
John 8:12
This
message is very relevant for the Church today. As the olive tree
that cannot be easily hybridized and its olive oil mixed
up, we need to watch the purity of source of inspiration and lit
the Menorah of G.od's Word with pure oil, sanctified with His
Spirit and never forget that as Yitz'chaq never left the
Holy Land having being consecrated as an holocaust for G.od, neither
can we fully receive the revelation of Yeshua without understanding
the role of Yisra-El in the plan of Redemption.
Celebration
of the Feast:
The
Feast starts on the 25th of Kislev at night which will
be this year:
On
the eve of Tuesday, December 7th
You
need to light a Chanukah Menorah, a chanukia which holds
8 candles plus the Shamash (an extra candle used to light
the others height). On the first night one candle is lit and three
blessings are recited:
"Blessed
are You, Lord our G.od, King of the universe, Who sanctified us
with His commandments, and
His blood*,
and commanded us to kindle the light of Chanukah.
Blessed
are You, Lord our G.od, King of the universe, Who performed miracles
for our forefathers, whom
we are the spiritual descendants through Avraham,
in those days at this time.
Blessed
are You, Lord, our G.od, King of the universe, Who has given us
life, and sustained us, and brought us to this day and
Who is the Light of the world."
On
the first light one candle is lit, the second night two candles
and so on till the eight night when all of the candles are kindled.
Start from the far right to the left. The Shamash (server)
is used for the kindling.
Everybody,
men, women and children are required to light the chanukkia
as everybody needs the Light in his life.
There
are beautiful hymns sung on Chanukah. The most popular
is Maoz Tzur Yeshuati (the Rock of my salvation).
Holiday
Customs:
The
top spinning, Sevivon, a game of luck. Four letters are
printed on the fourth sides:
Ness Gadol Haya Po (A great
miracle happened here)
נס גדול היה פה
We
usually eat potatoes pancakes (Levivot) and doughnuts
filled with jam (sufganiot).
Check
on http://www.aish.com/ for songs, art crafts and
recipes.
We
wish you a Happy Chanukka feast and may the Light of His Spirit
shine in your hearts and lead you to holiness!
Chag
Sameach!
חג שמח
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*Messianic
additions in red
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