Hanukkah dreidel

According to legend, when Antiochus outlawed study of Torah, Jews studied with a dreidel next to them so that if they had to hide what they were doing, they could pretend they were playing a harmless spinning game.

The dreidel is marked with four Hebrew letters: Nun, Gimel, Hei and Shin. These letters stand for the Hebrew phrase "Nes Gadol Hayah Sham", a great miracle happened there, referring to the miracle of the oil when rededicating the Temple which led to instituting Hanukkah. And so the dreidel has become one of the symbols of Hanukkah.

Before each spin, each player places one token (or however many you decide) into the pot. For tokens, you can use beans, raisins, candy, pretzel sticks. The first player spins and then must do whatever the letter indicates.

NUN - nothing happens - next player spins the dreidel
GIMEL - player takes all tokens in the pot
HEY - player takes half of the pot
SHIN - player must put one token into the pot

The Hebrew language is amazingly simple and complex (much like God, incidentally). Hebrew letters have numerical equivalents that lend to Biblical understanding and interpretation. The letters are the dreidel when summed equal 358 which is the same numerical value for the word, Mashiach or Messiah, a descendent of the tribe of Judah. As the dreidel "saved" the Jewish people, the Messiah, Yeshua Ha'Mashiach lived and died to save all.

More information
A New Spin on the Dreidel

The World is Like a Dreidel

The Dreidel Letters and their Numerical Value

Shabbat Shalom!

Hanukkah: lighting the menorah

The menorah or Hanukkiah has 8 candles in a row and one candle usually above the 8, called the shamash (also called servant candle), which is lit first every night and used to light the others. Candles are lit at nightfall, preferably after everyone arrives home so all can celebrate. On the first night (this year: 5768, 25 Kislev/Dec 4, 2007), place a candle in the shamash holder and one in the far right holder. Light the shamash first, then with the shamash, light the far right one; the second night replace the first right candle, add a candle to the left of that, light the shamash, then the light other two. Begin lighting from the left-most one and proceed to the right. Repeat through Day 8. The tradition is to let the candles burn for at least 30 minutes (most Hanukkah candles burn for about an hour).

ehow: How to light the Menorah

Candle-lighting blessings:

Judaism 101: Chanukkah Candle Lighting Blessings

Chanukkah Blessings with a Messianic perspective

After the candles are lit and blessings are recited or sung, it is common to sing: Haneirot-Halalus song which means "These Lights We Light." The song in English:
We kindle these lights [to commemorate] the saving acts, miracles and wonders which You have performed for our forefathers, in those days at this time, through Your holy priests. Throughout the eight days of Chanukah, these lights are sacred, and we are not permitted to make use of them, but only to look at them, in order to offer thanks and praise to Your great Name for Your miracles, for Your wonders and for Your salvations.

More audio files of Chanukah songs and blessings

Hanukkah menorah

In Exodus, God commands that a 6 branch candelabrum be constructed. The Priest or Kohein lit the menorah every evening then cleaned it in the morning, replaced wicks and refilled the cups with olive oil.

Exodus 25:31-40
"Make a lampstand of pure gold and hammer it out, base and shaft; its flowerlike cups, buds and blossoms shall be of one piece with it. Six branches are to extend from the sides of the lampstand—three on one side and three on the other. Three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms are to be on one branch, three on the next branch, and the same for all six branches extending from the lampstand. And on the lampstand there are to be four cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms. One bud shall be under the first pair of branches extending from the lampstand, a second bud under the second pair, and a third bud under the third pair—six branches in all. The buds and branches shall all be of one piece with the lampstand, hammered out of pure gold.

"Then make its seven lamps and set them up on it so that they light the space in front of it. Its wick trimmers and trays are to be of pure gold. A talent of pure gold is to be used for the lampstand and all these accessories. See that you make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain" (NIV).

The original 6 branch menorah is part of the Israeli Emblem created in 1949 shortly after Israel gained statehood. The 8 branch Hanukkah menorah was created to commemorate the miracle of the one day's worth of oil that lasted 8 days when rededicating the Temple.

Isaiah 42:6-7 “I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness, And will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, As a light to the Gentiles, To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the prison, Those who sit in darkness from the prison house" (NKJV).

God appoints the Jews to be the "light to the Gentiles" or the "light of the world" to direct us all to the road that leads to salvation. After all, "salvation is from the Jews" (John 4:22) and the menorah is one visible representation and reminder of His plan and call to the Jewish people.

Then of course there is THE Light of the World (John 8:12), Yeshua, the Messiah. Hmmmm...He was a Jew, wasn't He? Isn't He?

Annapolis Conference: what in the world are we doing???

The talks are underway in Annapolis, Maryland, to further divide the land of Israel, in the guise of creating peace. Peace sounds nice, but no peace will be found in dividing Israel.

God made a covenant with Abraham and his descendants to give them this land:

Genesis 15:17-18 "When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, 'To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates'" (NIV).

God promised judgment on those who would come against and seek to divide Israel:

Joel 3:2 "I will gather all nations
and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.
There I will enter into judgment against them
concerning my inheritance, my people Israel,
for they scattered my people among the nations
and divided up my land" (NIV).

Is the United States among those nations who God will bring down for leading in this roadmap to division?

God keeps His promises: Romans 11:29 "For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable" (NKJV).

Continuously updating google news: Annapolis Conference

Rabbis warn Bush: Annapolis will bring destruction to US

photo above: Jerusalem Temple Western Wailing Wall On Passover

Vayeshev - And he dwelt

Torah Reading for December 1 / 20 Kislev:

Parashat Vayeshev –
וישב

And he dwelt--read the amazing of Joseph and the pit and the coat and God's grace . . . Parshah in a Nutshell

Torah : Genesis 37:1–40:23
Haftarah : Amos 2:6–3:8

Apostolic Scriptures: Matthew 1:1-6, 16-25

Hanukkah hammerer

A priest named Mattathias in the village of Modi'in, led revolt against Antiochus' persecution of the Jews. He refused to offer sacrifice to idols and killed the officer who told him the king's orders. It was his and his supporters strict obedience to the Torah that led them to victory. Mattathais' son Judas Maccabaeus, "the hammerer," led this revolt, defeated the Greeks, and gave us Hanukkah.

The Hanukkah story is not in the Bible but is alluded to in the book of Daniel and the Gospels--more on that later. We can find the story in the Book of Maccabees, which is not a book of the Hebrew Bible nor most Bibles, but is considered reliable history.

More about the Maccabees

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maccabees
http://www.swedenborgdigitallibrary.org/sower/pr/Mac71.htm

Hanukkah: pigs in the Temple

Since Hanukkah, also spelled Chanukkah, begins at sundown December 4 or 25 Kislev, I figured I should try to understand it better. So here's what I've learned:

Hanukkah was not a festival appointed by God like Sukkot, Passover, and the other appointed times. The origin: Antiochus IV a successor of Alexander the Great, oppressed and killed Jews; he banned Jews from celebrating the Sabbath and festivals, reading the Torah, circumcising their sons, and other Jewish practices. Antiochus also desecrated the Temple, requiring the sacrifice of pigs (a non-kosher animal) on the altar. With much determination, the Jewish people led by Mattathias the Hasmonean and his son Judah Maccabee, revolted and succeeded to overthrow the government on 25 Kislev, 164 BCE.

Now the Temple needed to be rededicated. For centuries, the menorah (candelabrum) was lit in the Temple every day and was supposed to burn throughout the night, every night. Because the Jews were had won this battle, they could now rededicate the Temple, resume daily practice, and once again light the menorah, but there was very little oil left that had not been defiled by the Greeks.

The Hanukkah miracle: there was only enough oil to burn for one day, but it burned for eight days. The eight day Hanukkah festival, also called Festival of Lights, was declared to commemorate this miracle.

Important note: the holiday commemorates the rededication of the Temple and the the miracle of the oil, not the military victory: Jews do not glorify war.

More information:
http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday7.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanukkah