Happy Hanukkah!!!

Happy Hanukkah or Chanukah 

From:  https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/hanukkah

“The eight-day Jewish celebration known as Hanukkah or Chanukah commemorates the rededication during the second century B.C. of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, where according to legend Jews had risen up against their Greek-Syrian oppressors in the Maccabean Revolt. Hanukkah, which means “dedication” in Hebrew, begins on the 25th of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar and usually falls in November or December. Often called the Festival of Lights, the holiday is celebrated with the lighting of the menorah, traditional foods, games and gifts.”

In this blog, I have said that my faith and thoughts are in the “Judeo-Christian” tradition.  To some people, that is incongruent - on both sides of the spectrum.

From the Christian side, (with my deepest apologies to my Jewish friends), some Christians called the Jewish people “Christ Killers”.  Again, from a Christian perspective, the long-awaited Messiah was fulfilled in Jesus.  There are numerous Old Testament prophecies that are fulfilled in Jesus - of the House of David, (and, thus in the line of Judah).  

From the Jewish side (as I understand it), Jesus was NOT the long-awaited Messiah.  Christians are like Samaritans - having a bit of Jewish truth, but not really in the true line of Judaism.  (Samaritans stayed in Israel during the Babylonian exile and intermarried with locals and thus are kind of “bastard” children - having some of the truth, but not living it with Jewish authority).

Some Jews think that Christianity is a ‘bastardization’ - but having multiple gods.  Christians say that they have one God - but this one God can appear in three divine ways - as God, the Father, the Creator, the omniscient God - who is forever; as God, the son, the Messiah, truly God - one with the Father.  In the Christian New Testament, Jesus says “The Father and I am one” (John 30:10) - and as the Holy Spirit - God present with us.  

This “God is three forms is called the Trinity in Christianity - maybe like water can be in any of three forms - ice, water and water vapor.  Christians say there is One God; Jews say there is One God; and even Muslims say there is One God.

Jesus said that we are to “love the Lord Your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength” (as a summation of the Jewish law and especially the Ten Commandments).  Jesus also said, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-40)

(My interjection and opinion - Religious fights can be as mean-spirited as any fights.  Within Christianity, there are something like 31 Baptist groups in the United States. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptists_in_the_United_States].  What should be a unifying force for good (and for God) is divided and separated.  Even my Jewish friends get separated into Between Reform, Conservative, And Orthodox.  

Back to the original topic:  Hanukkah or Chanukah.  This is not a significant Jewish festival (Passover and Yom Kippur [I think] are definitely more significant).  But as it falls near the Christian Celebration of Christmas, it somehow becomes more significant as a December / Winter Solstice celebration.  

In the world I know, there are many anti-Semitic people with viewpoints of racism, discrimination against Jews.  If you will, Hitler, Stalin, and many others over the years, have tried to wipe Judaism out of existence.  In my Christian understand - from the Christian apostle Paul, Christians are grafted into God’s grace - like you might graft a rose branch onto a strong rose brush.  

And, if you have read this blog in the past, I hate ‘hate’!!  Love one-another!!  Or as Dorothy Day wrote ““I really only love God as much as I love the person I love the least.”

So, to my many Jewish friends, I support you, on this minor feast of Hanukkah or Chanukah, and always!!  Shalom!!!  Peace be with you!!!

Karen