Light of the World

Tonight my boys and I lit our first ever "Hanukia" (hanukah menorah) and took part in day two of the eight day Hanukkah celebration going on here in the Holy Land. No, we have not converted. But there is a chance that we will celebrate next year as well. Yesterday (Tuesday night) was the first night of Hanukkah. We were able to join a family at their home for the lighting of the first candle and the traditional celebrating that takes place. Actually many families do a full on party every single night of Hanukkah! Hanukkah is the celebration of several things. One, the defeat by the Jews of the Greek Leader Anticochus Epiphanes who defiled the temple and commanded the Jewish people to stop observing their faith. Two, it celebrates the rededication of the temple after that defilement. And three, it celebrates the miracle that took place for the rededication - where one days worth of oil burned for eight days - the time it took to prepare more "pure" oil.

So, in order to best understand this holiday, we walked over to our friend's house last night. Foods for Hanukkah are fried doughnuts and fried latkes (potato pancakes) in honor of the oil that kept the temple menorah burning. So we ate doughnuts and had tea. We sang songs and lit the candle in the window. The boys made their own dreidels, a toy that looks like a spinning top, and has four Hebrew letters on it, representing the sentence "A Great Miracle Happed Here." In every other part of the world other than Jerusalem, the sentence goes "A Great Miracle Happened There." Apparently the dreidel is a gambling game but the boys ran out of energy before they could teach us how to play. :) We laughed and debated (as good Israelis like to do) and of course I fed baby Ben.

As a believer, I found Hanukah to be incredibly illuminating (that is a bad pun). For starters, Hanukkah is a celebration of the light of Gods word and faith in the one true God overcoming darkness (the Greek emphasis on humanism). The Hanukia is to be set in the window so that all can see that light had overcome, and to remind everyone of God's intervention in the temple rededication. There are nine candle holders on the Hanukia. Eight for each of the eight days the fire burned. And one more, called the "Shamash..(or Servant)" candle, which is used to light the others.

We also were reminded of the time that Jesus was in Jerusalem during Hanukkah (Feast of Dedication) as recounted in John 10. Our friends believe that the time frame encompasses two chapters earlier, where Jesus declared "I am the Light of the World: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life." If the Jewish people were in the midst of celebrating the defeat of darkness by light, of Gods intervention into their lives by providing light for them, then this claim makes even more sense to me. It is amazing how much more I learn from Christ when I can learn from Him with Jewish ears.

I walked home into the dark moonless night with the boys. Candles burning in windows and doorways. I pondered the concept that Jesus, the Servant of all, is the light that touches each of our lives, and creates light for all the world to see. That He is the light that overcomes all darkness. And then tonight, we did our own celebration with a homemade hanukia in our window. We recited one of the three blessings spoken on Hanukah (we did English not Hebrew!). "Blessed are you, Lord our G-D, King of the Universe, who has given us life, and sustained us, and brought us to this day and Who is the Light of the World. "

Right now as I write the boys are getting on their pajamas. The candles are flickering in the window. And somehow December holds more meaning to me than it has in a long time, as we celebrate the Light of the World coming down among us. Happy Hanukkah!!