The twenty-fifth day of Kislev is the Festival of Hanukkah, a/k/a the Festival of Lights. This year, 5784, Hanukkah begins on the evening of December 7th. This Festival lasts for eight days. The Hanukkah Menorah is different than the Menorah that was in the Temple. It has nine branches instead of seven; it is called the Hanukkiyah, which loosely translated means ‘to begin again with G-d’. One of the branches sits higher than the others and is called the Shammash or Servant Candle. The Shammash lights all others. The oil lamps or candles are lit at twilight. The Hebrew sages say this points to the twilight of history.

The G-d-given traditions of Hanukkah are filled with prophetic insight and Messianic symbolism. The Rabbis say that Hanukkah is meant to serve as an introduction and preparation for the future redemption of Israel when the Messiah will come to transform the DARKNESS of the world into the LIGHT of the Messiah’s Reign on earth. Hanukkah is meant to draw the participants into the Bible’s final prophetic unfolding of the final deliverance from the final galut. (exile from G-d).

Hanukkah was established as a Festival after the defeat of the Greek/Syrian Antiochus Epiphanes who sought to erase Judaism in the land of Israel. Antiochus forbade the celebration of the Sabbath (the sign between man and G-d). He forbade circumcision (the sign of G-d’s covenant with the Jewish people). He forbade the New Moon Celebration (the way the Feasts of the L-rd were determined). He also stopped all sacrifices and worship at the Temple of G-d. On the 15th of Kislev, 168 BCE, Antiochus sacrificed a pig on the bronze altar of sacrifice, desecrating the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, sparking a rebellion among the Jews.

Israel formed a small ‘army’ to fight against Antiochus’ soldiers. Under the leadership of Mattathias the Maccabee, Israel defeated the Syrian forces exactly three years after the Temple of G-d was polluted. The Israelites began to repurify the Temple but could find only one small cruse of unprofaned oil, which would have been sufficient to keep the Temple Menorah lit for one day. It was lit on the 25th of Kislev and miraculously remained lit for eight days. It is believed that the light that emanated from the Menorah was Otherworldly Fire, or Primordial Light.

The Indestructible Jews

“If [David’s] sons forsake My law and do not walk in My judgments, if they break My statutes and do not keep My commandments, then I will punish their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him, nor allow My faithfulness to fail. My covenant I will not break nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips. Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David: His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before Me; it shall be established forever like the moon, even like the faithful witness in the sky.” (Psalm 89:30-37)

Christian leaders in the past taught (and some today believe) that G-d has forsaken Israel because they forsook Him. They believe that the Church has replaced Israel and that there is no purpose for the natural Israel that exists in the Middle East. The above Scripture negates the possibility that G-d has broken His Covenants with them. Quite the opposite, G-d Himself declared, “If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says the L-rd” (Jeremiah 31:37, also Ezekiel 16:63).

Why would the G-d of all the earth treat Israel so preferentially? Why would G-d proclaim that only if the ordinances of the moon and the stars depart from before the L-rd will the seed of Israel cease from being a nation before Him? (Jeremiah 31:35-36). To answer these questions, one needs only to look at the origins of Israel.

The International Mental Illness

Esau’s Everlasting Hatred

“As it is written, ‘Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.’ What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with G-d? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.’” (Romans 9:13 from Malachi 1:2, 3 & Romans 9:14 from Exodus 33:19)

Jacob and Esau

Jacob’s destiny was chosen by G-d before Rebecca gave birth to the twins (Gen. 25:23). G-d told her that two nations were in her womb, and that the stronger, older one would serve the younger. Later we learn, Jacob’s descendants became the nation of Israel and Esau’s descendants became the nation of Edom.

The writings of the Hebrew sages indicate that Esau was an evil man. He violated a woman betrothed to another, rebelled against G-d in taking wives among the cursed Canaanites (Genesis 36:1), and allowed a bitter root to take hold in his life (Genesis 27:41). This demonstrated that he was sexually immoral and godless, not qualified to be the head of the family. The New Testament confirms the rabbis’ assessment of Esau’s character:

“…lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright.” (Hebrews 12:26)

Today, many of those in opposition to Israel are from among the descendants of Esau and Ishmael, one of whose daughters Esau wed (Genesis 28:9). The entire book of Obadiah is devoted to G-d’s condemnation of Edom (Esau’s descendants) and all who would commit violence against Israel and divide the land G-d gave to her: