Counting Up – and Counting Down: A Hanukkah Reflection
Q: What do Passover, Purim, and Hanukkah have in common?
A: Each is a joyous celebration of God’s preservation of the Jewish people in the face of powerful enemies seeking to destroy them. [Passover – Egyptians; Purim – Persians; Hanukkah – Greco-Syrian]
Hanukkah is the last of these three holidays on our Western calendar and the latest in history. “The Feast of Dedication” marks the triumph of the Maccabees over their Seleucid oppressors and the cleansing of the Temple in 164 BC. This year the eight-day celebration begins the evening of December 18.
Much has been made of the fact that the successive empires which ruled over the Jewish people have fallen.[1] Am Yisrael chai (“the people of Israel live”) is the oft-repeated refrain of the preserved remnant of the offspring of Jacob.
November 29 marked the 75th year since the United Nations voted to partition Palestine.[2] David Ben-Gurion declared the establishment of the sovereign State of Israel on May 14, 1948. Israel immediately was attacked by surrounding neighbors in her War of Independence. And in every decade since, armed conflict has erupted in the Jewish homeland.[3]
But Israel’s security concerns are not limited to attacks from neighboring countries. In recent years, internal terror attacks have spilled the most blood. We are still weeks from January 1 as this is written so the books have not closed on 2022. According to a November 29, 2022 Jewish News Syndicate report:
There have been 280 terrorist incidents in Israel so far this year, compared with just 91 in 2021, according to figures revealed by the Israel Defense Forces on Monday. A further 500 attacks were thwarted by Israeli security forces during the same period, according to Military Intelligence assessments. Shooting attacks on Israeli military forces in Judea and Samaria have also risen sharply, with 110 recorded since January 2022, compared to 25 in 2021.[4]
The same article reports 31 Israelis died this year in terror attacks. More than 130 Palestinians (“most of them assailants”) were killed this year and over 3,000 arrested as Israel endeavors to break up terror cells.
Statistics are cold numbers. News reports on the radio of “another terror attack” took on more meaning when I was driving on an Israeli highway on November 15. Israel is a relatively small country and I was staying less than an hour’s drive from the town of Ariel where seven people were stabbed. Michael Ladygin (36), Tamir Avihai (50), and Motti Ashkenazi (59) succumbed to their wounds.
I had already returned to the U.S. when two bombs exploded at a Jerusalem bus stop on November 23, wounding 22 and killing Canadian yeshiva student Aryeh Shechopek (15) and Tadese Tashume Ben Ma’ada (50).
Somehow it seems more real when names and ages are added to the details of an attack, doesn’t it? Photos of shocked and grieving families further personalize the grim reality and sorrow of these tragic events.
Even in times of deep grief, life goes on. After sunset on December 18, in Israel and wherever Jewish people live globally, the shamash (servant) candle will ignite the first of the eight Hanukkah candles.[5] The story of the triumph of Judah “the hammer” Maccabee and his band of resistance fighters overthrowing the armies of Antiochus Epiphanes will be recited.
Delicious latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiot (jelly doughnuts) will be joyfully eaten. The dreidel (spinning top) will be spun to gleeful shouts. Triumph over evil is always something to be celebrated.
The traditional Hanukkah song “Rock of Ages” (not to be confused with the Christian hymn) will be sung. Note the emphasis here is not on Israel’s military prowess in overcoming the oppressor. Rather, the Almighty (who IS the Maoz Tzur/Rock of Ages) receives the praise:
Rock of ages let our song
Praise Thy saving power
Thou amidst the raging foes
Wast our sheltering tower
Furious they assailed us
But thine arm availed us
And thy word broke their sword
When our own strength failed us
The upbeat song ends with a hope of future deliverance, reflecting the reality that though ancient battles were won, we still live in a world filled with enmity, hatred, war, and strife.
Thine the message cheering
That the time is nearing
Which will see all men free
Tyrants disappearing
As followers of Israel’s promised Messiah, Yeshua, we share the longing for the day when evil is vanquished. The returning Prince of Peace indeed will reign in a kingdom of righteousness.[6] Justice will roll down like water.[7]
But as we await “the time that is nearing” we proclaim the message that today brings us peace with our Creator and makes us instruments of His peace in this hurting world. “Good tidings of great joy that shall be for all people” was the message of the angelic host to Bethlehem’s shepherds two millennia ago. “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Messiah, the LORD.”[8]
May your heart and home be filled with the peace, hope, and joy that comes from knowing the One who loved us and gave Himself for us that He might bring us to God. Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas, indeed!
Written by Wes, LIFE’s Global Ambassador
Quiz question: counting the shamash (lit every night, left to right in the menorah), if one additional candle is lit each of the eight nights, and each lit candle burns until consumed, how many candles in total are burned?[9] [For more Hanukkah insights, check out https://lifeinmessiah.org/blog/lessons-from-a-hanukkiah; https://lifeinmessiah.org/blog/a-hanukkah-challenge; https://lifeinmessiah.org/blog/the-miracle-of-the-underdog; https://lifeinmessiah.org/blog/from-affliction-to-delieverance-to-donuts.]
“Good news for ALL people” – that’s the gospel: salvation has come! Who in your life needs to hear the best-ever news in this season of the year?
As you “pray for the peace of Jerusalem” (Psalm 122:6), remember those suffering from the tragedies of terror attacks. Pray for wisdom for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he forms Israel’s new government and appoints cabinet ministers. Pray also for the Palestinian leadership to eschew violence, and for the Holy Spirit to draw many to repentance and salvation (both Jewish and Arab) – in the troubled Middle East and throughout the world.
Endnotes:
[1] The Egyptian kingdom of the Exodus; the four empires depicted in Daniel 2 and 7 (Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome); the Byzantine Empire; and various Muslim rulers ending with the Ottoman Turkish rule of 1517-1917. The British Mandate (1922-47) corresponds with the marked dissolution of the empire on which the sun never set.
[2] https://www.facebook.com/yaakov.../videos/475227947933251/. The Land of Israel was known as Palestine 75 years ago.
[3] 1954 – Sinai War; 1967 – Six Day War; 1973 – Yom Kippur War; 1982 – Peace for Galilee (war with Lebanon); First Intifada (1987-1993); Gulf War (1991; Israel was targeted by Saddam Hussein’s SCUD missiles, but was instructed by the US not to join the coalition fight against Iraq); Second Intifada (2000-2005); recurring efforts to stop missile attacks out of Gaza (too frequent to list, but significant Israeli responses were made in 2008-2009 in Operation Cast Lead, 2012’s Returning Echo and Pillar of Defense, 2014’s Protective Edge, and 2022’s Breaking Dawn).
[4] https://www.jns.org/terrorism-in-israel-rose-by-over-300-percent-in-2020-idf-figures-show/.
[5] The hanukkiah holds eight candles plus the shamash, which is lit first, then lights the others.
[6] See Isaiah 11, e.g.
[7] Amos 5:24.
[8] Luke 2:10-11.
[9] Quiz answer: 44.