Hanukkah - In Those Days, at This Time.

most people know of the story of Kaneka oil that was meant to last for only one day lit up the manura for 8 days that a small group of Jewish macbes defeated the entire Greek Assyrian Empire but what was that battle really all about by the time Alexander the Great died at the age of 32 he'd conquered the entire entire ancient world and his Empire reached from Greece to Egypt and all the way to India now what was so unique about the Greeks was not their military imperialism but the unparalleled value and resources they invested in cultural imperialism in order to spread their philosophy which was known then as heniz they attempted first always to take over religious worship and through that to spread the religious philosophy to the civilians [Music] helenismo Central was their sanctification of the human body that they viewed their gymnasiums as temples [Music] helenismo of everything Judaism held sacred anything that would take away from the glory of man such as Brit Mila circumcision was completely forbidden and the culture of the Jews which was Torah culture also forbidden Shabbat an overt expression of the celebration of God and God's creation was forbidden as well the Jewish people believed that man was created in the image of God not that God was created in the image of man as the Greeks did we place God at at our Center so we could both believe and espouse music and art the question is what is the focus going to be is it going to be directed to God or is it going to be directed to man the Jewish world was an imperfect one and the Jewish mission was tikun to rectify the World by infusing it with spirituality respect for Life peace Justice and care for the weak and poor and helpless and that combination creates a nation that has lasted forever as helenismo of resistance in the land of Israel for the first time the stakes had been raised it was not only the Jewish body under attack but the Jewish Soul it was not only the Jewish people being threatened but Judaism in itself the Jews went to Great Lengths to keep their culture and beliefs alive Jews who did not want to give out their Heritage understood that they had to sacrifice everything for the sake of keeping the mitzvot they walked into their homes and looked at their families looked at their children and knew that this is something they wanted the future to have eventually under impossible oppression a Revolt broke out a Grassroots movement brought all the people who believed in Jewish values together to Battle For Freedom led by a group of priests the macbes were born they were up against insurmountable odds the odds of the macbes winning against the Greeks was really nil in addition to the tremendous Greek forces the Greek army was very organized whereas these Haans which were basically a Priestly family and had no chances winning against trained soldiers and yet they're able to reestablish both religious autonomy in the temple and political autonomy and sovereignty in the land of Israel this is a sign of the power of God is all about night all other holidays deal with the day the one holiday dealing with night is Hanukah the night is the symbol of Challenge and we as a nation we see the challenge and we embrace it we have no fear when we make the blessing on the Hanukah candles we thank God who who performed miracles for our fathers in those days at this time our time today we're reliving the miracle of Kaneka as Israel a small and vastly outnumbered Jewish state is under attack the people of Israel are able to succeed because of our aid from God it's not a matter of your political might nor of your military strength but the man which symbolizes light comes to represent the the help of God that resides with us this sign of this golden manura with the olive branches or olive trees at its side were chosen to represents the sign of the knesset of the reestablishment of governments in the lands of Israel as the national embodiment of the Jewish people and Jewish values Israel represents a light of Freedom Liberty truth equality and life and while the exponentially larger enemies converge upon us one may think there's no hope that this small flickering light that the Jewish flame will soon be extinguished but during the darkest time of the year we light the Kana candles to remember that the truth and values we brought to the world in Mount Si will endure forever and that every person who loves Israel and stands with Israel is a modernday maab and just as God performed magnificent Miracles before the eyes of the world through the ma Maes in those days God is performing even greater Miracles through the Mapes at this time because here in the land of Israel we never forget that just one candle can illuminate the entire world [Music] Shalom I'm Ari bramwood speaking to you from the old city of Jerusalem Jeremy and I along with our entire team at the land of israel.com have been pouring our hearts and souls into sharing the truth and beauty of Israel with the entire world now more than ever as lies distortions and propaganda are plaguing our small Jewish States it's critical that a Voice of Truth illuminates the darkness please partner with us in sharing the truth and beauty of Israel with the world [Music]