December 11, 2006
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Further developments on the Seattle Christmas trees that were removed. It seems that a Rabbi threatened to sue the airport because a menorah was not put up. I have no problem with a menorah whatsoever, but threatening to sue seems a bit much.
Look at this. Some lady had blue and white flags that some people thought looked like dreidels up at her store and people were offended. I mean, what is there to be offended about?! All of our Christian heritage comes from the Jews, and it would do "Spiritual Israel" a world of good to know more about OUR OWN HERITAGE!! Christ pointed to a menorah in the temple and declared himself the Light of the World! Even though the Jews have yet to realize that Jesus Christ is their Messiah, God has never gone back on His promise that they are His beloved chosen people forever.
Come to think of it, a menorah is more suitable to the season than a Christmas tree. Get a grip and strip away the Christmas trappings, folks.
Gotta stop here and go to school. Mike has no voice and I gotta take his classes. Maybe I will drag all the kiddies to the Language Lab to play.
Later - I understand the Christmas trees are going back up and the Rabbi is getting hate mail. Hey, people, embrace this guy and put up the menorah! Here, everybody make one and put up your own.
Here is an explanation of Hanukah from the everythingjewish.com website:
Hanukah recalls the struggle for religious freedom and commemorates the victory of the Jews over the Hellenistic Syrians in the year 165 B.C.
In 199 B.C., The Seleucid dynasty that ruled Syria took control of Israel from the Greek Ptolemies. It was under the Seleucids that anti-Jewish decrees were first issued against the practice of Judaism. Sabbath observance, the study of Torah, and male circumcisions, for example, were forbidden on pain of death. In addition, Greek Gods and other symbols of Greek culture were put inside the Holy Temple, desecrating the center of Jewish ritual life in Jerusalem.
In the year 167 B.C.E. the Greek king, Antiochus Epiphanes began a campaign to force the Jews under his rule to formally adopt Greek practices. One Jewish family, five sons and their old father, took a stand.
One day Greek forces arrived at Modiin, the home of Mattityahu, an elder and religious leader of the prestigious Hasmonean family. There, the army established a Greek religious altar and ordered Mattityahu to offer a sacrifice to a pagan god. Mattityahu refused, but while he stood firm, another Jew offered to make the sacrifice. Enraged, Mattityahu killed him and attacked the Greek soldiers. His action sparked a Jewish rebellion, which he and his sons led. They became known as the Maccabees, which in Hebrew, means Men Who are as Strong as Hammers.
Led by Judah Maccabee, the most famous of Mattityahuç—´ five sons, the Maccabees, a force much smaller than the powerful Greek armies, finally triumphed in 165 B.C.E. On the 25th of Kislev, the Maccabees reclaimed the Jewish Temple, which was, at that point, almost unrecognizable as a place of Jewish worship.
The Talmud says that when the Jewish army wanted to rededicate the Temple, they were unable to find enough specially prepared oil to light the Menorah, a holy lamp, or candelabra, used in the Temple service.
Finally, in one Temple chamber, the Maccabees found a single bottle of oil, which normally would have lasted only one night. However, by a miracle, the one bottle of oil lasted eight nights, until new oil, fit for Temple use, could be produced.
This is the miracle Jews commemorate to this day. By lighting the eight Hanukah lights of the menorah, Jews everywhere recount the triumph of our ancestors against immorality, the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem and the miracle that a one day supply of oil lasted eight days.
For reasons unexplained, the actual story of Hanukah and its great rebellion was never included as an official book of the Torah. Instead, it was written down in two works known as the Books of the Maccabees. One was written in Greek and the other was written in Hebrew. Both survived by being translated by the Christians. They appear today as the Apocrypha, which is Greek for hidden writings, and can be found in English as an appendix to the bible.
