The Prophetic Light of Hanukkah

It’s Hanukkah, and that means it's time to talk about prophecy.   But obviously, first off, Shabbat Shalom.  

 As all of you know, this is the seventh day of the week. This is the day that Yahweh set apart. He consecrated, and he made holy to him. This is a gift that he gave us, a day to rest.

And it's a holy appointment, kind of like a weekly date night, % to spend time with our Creator. So just as a weekly date night is to focus on your spouse and to reconnect, just as that's so important in our fleshly, earthly marriages, how much more so is it to do with our bridegroom Yeshua or Jesus?

So Ken or Steve, if you would, would one of you like to open us up in prayer?

So Hanukkah, before I dive into the backstory and history and all of those things that really get me excited, because I know how most people are with history. Boring, right? But I'm a weirdo, I know.

 So I want to cut to the chase at least just a little bit. I'm going to try not to slip in any spoiler alerts yet. But first, a lot of people ask, what does this Jewish feast have to do with me as a Christian, as a believer in Jesus?  Isn't it just Jewish Christmas? Or like a wish.com knockoff of the Christian Christmas?

No, Hanukkah, meaning feast of dedication, commemorates the great victory in Israel of your king Antiochus Epiphanes, the pagan tyrant who tried to eradicate the Jewish people in 165 BC. It also marks the rededication of the temple, which was defiled by the Hellienists at that time. But don't let me lose you yet. Think about the timing of this.

 The Old Testament, the Torah, those were already in place. But Jesus hadn't come on the scene yet. He hadn't been born of a woman yet, he had not resurrected or ascended yet.

So, that means there's no New Testament at this time. Only the Old Testament and the writings and the prophets. So, think about this.

The king was trying to erase the Jewish people from the earth. Not only erasing their culture and their way of life, but the people too. Without this victory, the victory of Hanukkah, there would have been no Jewish people for our Messiah to have been born into.

And I'm sure that was exactly the plan of our enemy, to try and prevent the birth of our Messiah. But God's promises always prevail. So, this victory is critical to our existence and our salvation.

So I know a lot of us are Bible buffs. So as we go through this, I want you to really listen to see if anything you hear sounds familiar. Like, have you heard any of this anywhere else?

So over the next few minutes, or several minutes, we're gonna go over the story of Hanukkah. We're gonna talk about why is it celebrated for eight days? What prophetic implications does it have, if any? And then, really, what does this mean to me, and my Christian walk? So buckle up, here's the story of Hanukkah.

 First off, we find this story in a couple of places. It's referenced by the renowned historian, Flavius Josephus. And the story is also told in the first book of Maccabees.

It's an undisputed historical account, and it was even included in our canon of scripture at some point, but was later removed and only cited as historical, rather than inspired. But nevertheless, God was clearly on the side of Israel and leading this victory. And this story is so good.

And honestly, mind-blowing to hear it. I don't want to take away from it, and I don't want to read it verbatim, but I am going to be reading it in parts. But to set the stage, Alexander the Great had been the ruler of the known world for about 12 years, and he was dying.

There was no heir to leave his throne, so he divided up his kingdom amongst his four top military generals. And so this is how the story begins, with a world order being divided into four parts.

Let’s Read from 1 Maccabees

1 After Alexander son of Philip, the Macedonian, who came from the land of Kittim, had defeated^[a] King Darius of the Persians and the Medes, he succeeded him as king. (He had previously become king of Greece.) ² He fought many battles, conquered strongholds, and slaughtered the kings of the earth. ³ He advanced to the ends of the earth and plundered many nations. When the earth became quiet before him, he was exalted, and his heart was lifted up. ⁴ He gathered a very strong army and ruled over countries, nations, and princes, and they paid him tribute.

⁵ After this he fell sick and perceived that he was dying. ⁶ So he summoned his most honoured officers, who had been brought up with him from youth, and divided his kingdom among them while he was still alive. ⁷ And after Alexander had reigned for twelve years, he died.

⁸ Then his officers began to rule, each in his own place. ⁹ They all put on crowns after his death, and so did their descendants after them for many years; and they caused many evils on the earth.

And there sprang from them a sinful shoot, named Antiochus Epiphanes, and he became king. In those days, there arose out of Israel lawless men, who persuaded many, saying, let us go make a treaty with the heathen around us. For ever since the time we became separated from them, many misfortunes have overtaken us.

And the plans seemed good in their eyes. They built a gymnasium in Jerusalem, exactly in the heathen fashion, and submitted to uncircumcision, and disowned the holy agreement, or the Torah, their covenant with God. Meanwhile, Antiochus goes on to subdue and conquer Egypt.

And next up for him is Jerusalem. It says in his arrogance, he went into the sanctuary, the temple. It describes how he stole all of the temple furnishings, the altars, the lampstand, the table of showbread, the censors, and even the curtains. (1^st Maccabees 1:10-28)

All of the temple treasures were either ruined or stolen. And then he massacred many people, and he spoke with great arrogance. And according to the writing of Flavius Josephus, Antiochus put a stop to the daily sacrifice to Yahweh for three and a half years, or rather 42 months.

Well, that's 1260 days. The people of Israel were overcome with grief and mourning. After two years, Antiochus sent back an officer to collect tribute.

And he spoke with him craftily in peaceful terms. (deception)  And they began to trust him. But then suddenly, he fell on the city and struck it in a great blow, and he destroyed many of the people of Israel.

He plundered the entire city, burning much of it down. He took women and children captive. And he put sinful heathen there, who did not obey the law, and they entrenched themselves there.

They shed innocent blood all around the temple, and polluted the sanctuary itself.

Then the king wrote to his whole kingdom, that they should all become one people. So everyone should give up their own particular practices. And then all the heathen ascended to the command of the king.

Many from Israel agreed to his kind of worship, and they offered sacrifice to idols, and they broke the Sabbath. And the king sent word by messengers to Jerusalem and to the towns of Judah, to follow practices that were foreign to them, to put a stop to their offerings, to break the Sabbaths, and to profane the feast, to pollute the sanctuary, to build altars, and idol temples, and sacrifice pigs, to not circumcise their sons, to defile themselves with every unclean and profane practice, so that they might forget the law of God, and change all their religious ordinances. And anyone who did not obey the command of King Antiochus would die.

 It was on the 15th day of Kislev in the 145th year that he erected a dreadful desecration up on the altar. And whenever he or his men found a book of the law, the Torah, or the Bible, the king's decree condemned that person to death. On the 25th day of Kislev, that sacrifice on top of the holy altar was made.

The women who had circumcised their babies were put to death while their dead babies hung from around their neck. Yet many of Israel still stood firm. They refused to eat unclean.

They refused to profane anything sacred. They preferred death to sin. So many in Israel died under King Antiochus Epiphanes' decrees.

There was a family in the town of Moden who was approached by the king's men. They were promised favor and more if they would turn from their covenant with God and follow the king's orders, as their influence would encourage others to do the right thing in the King’s eyes as well. The patriarch of this family was Matthias Maccabee. But as a man of the word of God, he did just the opposite. He made a loud proclamation to his faith in Yahweh and the commitment of him and his family to remain in covenant with God. Meanwhile, another Jew stands up, and he decides that he will go make a sacrifice on the altar of Yahweh, but to a god of Antiochus.

In righteous anger, Matthias runs up, and he slaughters this Jew who was willing to sin against God in fear of man. And then, Matthias also turns around, and he kills the officer of the king who had been persuading them to do so. And Matthias makes one of his most memorable decrees.

He says, Let everybody who is zealous for the Torah to stand in agreement and come out after me. So Matthias and his family, as well as many others, they fled the towns of Judea, and they fled into the mountains to go live a life in accordance to the word of God. But once Antiochus heard of this rebellion, and he was intent on putting a stop to it.

So he decided to attack them on their Sabbath, their day of resting. Initially, the Jews didn't want to fight back. It was their day of rest, and many were slaughtered as a result.

But with their backs against the wall and their culture on the brink of annihilation, they sought God, and they realized they must persevere. They decided that they will fight to the death to defend their God and to defend the continuation of a covenanted way of love. On his deathbed, Mathias gives another remarkable speech, reminding his family and his followers of the goodness and the faithfulness of God.

He cited all the heroes of our faith, and how in the face of adversity and even death, that Yahweh was faithful to deliver his people every time. And he appoints his son Judah Maccabee to lead on. So he tells his people, You must gather about you all of those that observe the law, and you all must avenge the wrongs of your people.

So Judah, his family, and this group of ordinary people, defended themselves and became unarmed conquerors. But this made Antiochus furious, and he vowed to crush them, to destroy them, and even efface their memory from the earth. Knowing this, Judah and his brothers immediately sought refuge in God.

They gathered, they fasted, they prayed in sackcloth and ashes, they called on the Nazarites, and they read from God's law, from the Torah. They even blew their shofars, and they shouted, and they called on God to help them. They went on to win the battles, and they would always first praise Yahweh.

Then, they were able to pillage and claim treasures like silver and purple cloth. Many things that I suspect that they would use later in the temple. Even yet, another major battle was fought, and won again by the Jewish people.

Again, average, ordinary people, victorious over well-trained, well-armed armies of thousands. Judah declares that it's time to go and take back the temple. But when they arrived, they found it trampled down, polluted, and profaned.

So, they began to cleanse their temple. They tore down the pagan idols, they broke down the altars, they cleansed their temple, and they built a new altar, holy unto the Lord. And it was on the 25th day of Kislev, when they had completed all of their work, and they declared an eight-day feast of the rededication of the temple to Yahweh.

A feast of gladness and of joy. And they declared it to be celebrated each year at this time. So the tradition of Hanukkah began.

The root word of Hanukkah is the Hebrew word chanak, which means dedication. It's Strong's H 2596. The word alone means so much.

It means to train, devote, to dedicate, inaugurate, or set apart for a particular purpose. It's first used in scripture in Numbers chapter 7, when Yahweh was giving instructions on the tabernacle in the wilderness. He gave them directions on exactly what to do after it was built, to anoint, to sanctify, and dedicate the tabernacle to him.

These same directions are then followed at Solomon's temple. And when Cyrus called for the rebuilding of the temple, and again, at the dedication of Nehemiah as well.

 According to Proverbs 22.6, we are told to chanuk, to train up or dedicate our children to the ways of Yahweh.

And this is why every Sabbath that it is custom to speak blessings over your children.

But this is also why the Torah commands that every male child be circumcised on the eighth day. As in Genesis 17.10-14, Leviticus 12, and Luke 2.21.

The number eight in Hebrew is always representative of new beginnings. There were eight people on the ark that started this world anew after the flood. It's also representative of a servant, and the first shall be last.

And if you think about the cycle of days, the last is also the first. The eighth day of the week is also the first day of the week. And this cycle is repeated all throughout scripture and can go very deep.

But we see this pattern repeat so many times. If you think about how we count the years of a Jubilee, and even this is part of the last day, of the last of the annual feast of Yahweh's seven commanded holy days. Sukkot has a great eighth day.

This is actually the most recent Israeli war with Hamas, - this war began on the great eighth day. The season of Passover and Unleavened Bread together, or eight days, God's anointed David was the eighth son of Jesse.

The Levitical priesthood of Aaron and his sons, they were anointed on the eighth day. I could go on and on, but it is a significant number, and this pattern was established in the beginning. So following this pattern that had already been set forth in scripture, the holiday of Hanukkah follows suit.

So it's tradition that small gifts are given each one of the eight nights. And that's why many have accused this holiday season of merely being a knockoff of Christmas, or a Jewish Christmas. But I say, no, without first Hanukkah, you would have no nativity.

But then they say, well, gifts are pagan, right? Again, I say, no. Matthew 7, 11 says, if you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father in heaven give good gifts to those who seek him?

And James 1, 17 says, every good and perfect gift is from above. Coming down from the father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows, he chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created.

So, does Hanukkah have any prophetic implications? Well, it was first prophesied in chapter 11 of the Book of Daniel. It started with the kings mentioned. You can follow it down. Alexander the Great, 11:3, whose kingdom was divided into four by his four generals. See, verse 4 of chapter 11.

And continue down to Antiochus, the first through the fourth. The kings before Antiochus, the kings before Antiochus Epiphanies anyway, they were more benevolent, and they allowed religious freedom. But just as Daniel predicted, this one was different.

He added the name Epiphanies, which means God manifest. See chapter 11, verse 46. And he had hatred for the covenant with God.

Verse 30, and he wanted all of the Jews to assimilate, or Hellenize, becoming as the Greeks. And he would murder anyone being caught, being obedient to God's laws. He murdered the mothers for circumcision of their children. And sometimes he murdered the babies and hung them around their mother's neck. He forced them to eat pork and commit abominations or be killed. And many Jews died at his hands.

He also set up what some say were an obelisk. Some say it was a statue of Jupiter or maybe Zeus, but was made to look like himself. On December 25th of the Julian calendar of that time, he ordered the daily sacrifices to Yahweh to be stopped, and he sacrificed a pig on the holy altar of God, completely desecrating the temple, fulfilling verse 31 of chapter 11.

So, if you haven't picked up on all of the clues just yet, this event is a foreshadow to end times. God's prophecies, I would say nearly always, have a dual fulfillment. You can see it clearly in the first Exodus, in the Passover, the sacrifice of the lamb, the application of the blood of the lamb, then Yeshua's greater fulfillment when he was on the cross as the Passover lamb. And we are saved by the blood of Yeshua, the blood of the lamb of God.

Yeshua even confirms this in Matthew, because don't forget the Maccabean revolt happened in 166 to 160 BC. But in Matthew 24, verses 15 through 21, it says, when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, let the reader understand…..

24 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. ² “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

³ As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

⁴ Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. ⁵ For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. ⁶ You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁷ Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of birth pains.

⁹ “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. ¹⁰ At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, ¹¹ and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. ¹² Because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of most will grow cold, ¹³ but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

¹⁵ “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’^[a] spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— ¹⁶ then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. ¹⁷ Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. ¹⁸ Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. ¹⁹ How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! ²⁰ Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. ²¹ For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.

Then let them flee in Judea to the mountains. Let him, which is on the housetop, not come down to take anything out of his house, neither let him go that is in the field to go back for clothes. And woe to him that are with child that gives suck in those days.

And pray that your flight not be in winter or on the Sabbath day, for then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, or ever shall be. 

To all the people who would have been around Yeshua at this time, they thought the prophecy of Daniel had already been fulfilled in the story of Hanukkah. So to hear Yeshua say this was mind-blowing, that it was going to happen AGAIN.

But we see it in Revelation.

But in hearing this verse from Yeshua and Matthew about the abomination that makes desolate, about fleeing from Judea into the mountains and leaving everything you have behind. Even the verse about, woe to those that are with child that gives suck in those days. All of that just lights up and makes perfect sense once you know the story of Hanukkah.

It's not so confusing anymore.

Also, scripture tells us in 1st Corinthians 316, do you not know that you yourselves are God's temple? And that God's spirit dwells in you? So let's look at the story again.

We see sin entered the temple, and the temple became defiled.

But God had given us a pattern to follow to cleanse us and rededicate the temple. We've all sinned, and our bodies, our temples, have become defiled.

And through the blood of Yeshua, we can be cleansed, symbolic even in baptism, and made ready to rededicate our temples to our living God. And brothers and sisters, that is the true meaning of Hanukkah. And that is a huge reason to celebrate.

 So this is the perfect time to reflect on the dedication of our physical temple. It's time to rededicate ourselves to God over these next eight days.

 And then after -Jesus or Yeshua in Hebrew literally means salvation in his name.-

After your salvation, the cleansing of our temples, that's what we're celebrating. He's recognizing this holiday as the middle candle of the Menorah or Hanukkah. That middle candle is called the Shamash candle. 

And this is the candle that gives lot to all the other candles. In John 8:12, Yeshua says, Once again, Jesus spoke to the people and said, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the lot of life.

And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go ^[k]and sin no more.”

¹² Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

And we remember this as we light the Shamash candle. Also in Isaiah 42 verse 6, he says, I am the Lord. I have called you in righteousness.

I will also hold you by the hand and watch over you, and I will appoint you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the nations. As believers, his light is in us. Just as he was the lampstand that lit the temple, his light is lighting our temple, our body, still today.

This is one of the reasons that Hanukkah is called the Festival of Lots. It's not just the Festival of Lots, because that's what Adam Sandler is saying about. It is for Jesus, the light of the world.

We even see Jesus attending synagogue on Hanukkah just two chapter later after He makes this declaration. It's there in John 10, and there he made the declaration that he was the Messiah.

²² Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter. ²³ And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon’s porch. ²⁴ Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, “How long do You keep us in ^[d]doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

²⁵ Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. ²⁶ But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, ^[e]as I said to you. ²⁷ My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. ²⁸ And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and My Father are one.”

John 10

So on that note, let's talk about the Hanukkiah, which is a nine-branched menorah, and widely known and recognized as the symbol of Hanukkah. You see, it's very similar to the seven-branched menorah. The seven-branched menorah is a representation of the candlestick that was used in the Holy Temple.

And there's a lot of speculation here, but I don't want to skip over it. Some will tell you that we celebrate with a menorah because of the miracle of the oil. And that story goes something like this.

Basically, when they found the temple ransacked, they only found a tiny bit of oil. And apparently, it was quite the tedious process to get the first and the best, the purest oil that was to be used in the menorah. And it would take eight days to do so.

But fable has it that the one tiny bit lasted and lived the temple the full eight days until they could make more. Honestly, I don't see any historical account of that. Some say it's legend, some say it's a fable.

Either way. But on that note, they do fully celebrate with foods deep fried in oil. Most notably, jelly donuts and potato pancakes.

So if you think about it from that perspective, here in the south, it's kinda like Hanukkah every day. But it actually seems more logical that the following is true. Exodus 20, verses four through six.

⁴ “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; ⁵ you shall not bow down to them nor ^[a]serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting^[b] the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, ⁶ but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. Exodus 20

This is where we are told not to make for yourself an idol of any image, of any kind or any image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. The seven-branched menorah was a holy instrument used in service to Yahweh. In accordance to that scripture, they didn't want to celebrate this holiday by making something holy as common.

Scripture forbids that as well. So, they made a nine-branched menorah, which also corresponded to the eight-nights with a shamash or servant candle in the middle. The candle that gives light, the shamash. 

Again, shamash means servant. And again, a nod to Jesus, Matthew 20, 28. Jesus declares that he came not to be served, but himself to serve.

²⁸ just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”  Matthew 20

And Revelation 21:23 says, And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates the city, and the lamb is his lamp.

²³ The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine ^[a]in it, for the ^[b]glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. Revelation 21

Matthew 5:15 talks about the light that we are reflecting.

¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. ¹⁶ Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.  Matthew 5

Each night of Hanukkah, before the candles are lit, there are blessings said, but even before the blessings, we have to set up the menorah, with as many candles, or oil, or wax, whatever you're burning, as many candles as nights, in addition to the one extra candle, the shamash. Generally, the candles are inserted in the menorah, insert them starting at the right, the right of the one who will be lighting the candles. Each night, another candle is added to the left.

However, the candles are lit from the left candle, with the newest one, you then light them from left to right. But before actually lighting the candles, normally blessings will be sung. Blessings of honor and of praise, and thanksgiving to God.

My personal favorite one is the concluding blessing on the closing of the Sabbath that falls during Hanukkah. It concludes with, blessed are you, our Lord, our God, creator of the universe, who differentiates between the holy and the secular, between the light and the dark, between Israel and the nations, and between the seventh day and the sixth day. Blessed are you, our Lord, our God, who differentiates between holiness and common.

 So it's appropriate now that we read Ezekiel 22:26.

²⁶ Her priests have ^[g]violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.

It's clear, it's very important to Yahweh that we listen and do what he instructs us. So let's try not to offend Yahweh by making by making common what is holy, or by mixing. We're told in 1st Corinthians 6:19 that our bodies are temples.

We are now the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. So please consider that, not only this Hanukah, but as we move forward, let our bodies become a welcoming, holy place for his spirit to dwell. 1st Peter 1:16 and Leviticus 11:44, he said, Be holy, for I am holy.

So while Hanukah isn't one of the original of seven, the seven of God's commanded holy days, it's a very important observance in our walk of faith. By knowing our history, we will, be able to better recognize, and even prepare ourselves for future events. So what can we learn from Hanukah today?

A lot of very wise people said this, if we do not know our history, we're doomed to repeat it.

Today we live in a culture where greater and greater tolerance is perpetuated. Tolerance normally leads to apostasy.

And even just in my lifetime, it has gone from sin being tolerated to being paraded. We kicked God out of schools, and now we're putting preachers who openly practice abominations behind pulpits. Scripture teaches us that it would have been better that we as a nation had never even known God versus to have known God and then turn away from him.

Because at that point, we're now anti-God. We see time and time again that when a nation does this, it's that God first allows in bad leadership and then being taken over militarily. Where are we on this timeline?

Did you know for the first time in nearly 2,000 years, actually, I take that back, for the first time in over 2,000 years, that the stage is set and ready for the temple to be rebuilt? According to the Temple Institute in Jerusalem, all of the holy instruments for the tabernacle or the temple, they're ready.

The priesthood is ready.

The priesthood has been waiting since 2016, and

there are multiple red heifers. These red heifers, they have the land, they have the cows, they are in Jerusalem, and they will be of age, and they are actually speculating that they will perform a sacrifice with these red heifers soon, if they haven’t secretly already.

With this being said, in Melissa's opinion, there's never been a more important time to first find Jesus, repent and submit yourself to God. But also in preparation, know his word, and glean from the things that he has given us. In other words, this Hanukkah rededicate.

We need to know this story and be prepared. We need to know what to look for, and most importantly, how to react. And it's important to remember the entire story of Hanukkah, and how God's holy people withstood the test of persecution.

They held fast to their commandments and their beliefs, and then they were exalted by God in victory over their enemies. May we have that same bravery, faith, and

dedication.

Shabbat shalom, and Happy Hanukkah.