The Feast of Dedication...Happy Hanukkah!

Yes, Happy Hanukkah!  This was our first official year honoring what is called the Feast of Dedication sometimes referred to as the Festival of Lights and Feast of Fire.  "Dedication" in the hebrew meaning Hanukkah!  It was a special time, culminating with a day of celebration with family to eat, build a temple model and read the Hanukkah story to the children.

Most believers today have very little understanding of Hanukkah, us included until several years ago.  Mainstream Christians are taught that it is a "Jewish" holiday and hence labeled irrelevant to our observance.  But is it really?  Interestingly, many even so-called Jews do not celebrate Hanukkah in the traditional sense.  It's evolved into a sort of glorified Christmas with all the secular underpinnings.  Even many atheist Jews (if you can imagine that) celebrate a form of Hanukkah just as many atheist celebrate Christmas...the Santa version of course.  So, it's understandable that the majority have no mental picture as to the meaning of this celebration and why it IS relevant...especially to believers.

First off let me explain what Hanukkah is NOT:
1.  A commanded feast unlike the seven others written in the scriptures.
2.  Just for "Jews"

Short list of "nots" right?  Ok, now for what Hanukkah IS:
1.  A time for celebrating the rebuilding of the temple when it was desecrated by Antiochus Epiphanes.  (A time of intense persecution for believers)  See brief history lesson at the end.
2.  A celebration of independence to worship...much like July 4th is our country's freedom day.
3.  Yahshua (Jesus) was present at the festival according to John 10:22-23:  Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter, and Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon's porch.
4.  Per tradition, a time to light the 9 branch menorah (the center branch is the lighting candle called Shamash) each day in remembrance of the 8 day miracle...see below for history.

As far as how WE celebrated, there was a  mesh of tradition as well as a few added of our own.  Since this is not a commanded feast, there's lots of wiggle room to improvise.  Traditionally, many eat fried donuts, and Latkes (fried potato cakes) as part of the food items.  It is said that these fried foods are symbolic of the oil used to light the menorah.  We had Latkes, donuts and fried turkey for our oil items.  Plus, a few additional fun themed desserts.  I made star of David cookies...even though I only had a 5-sided star...oops.  I also tried fashioning my bread dough into a star of David but gave up when it began to look more like a blob...so stuck with my Challah bread also called braided bread that I make for Sabbath when there is time.



We also have a table in our home that we've sort of dedicated to worship items.  It simply holds our worship flags, shofar, temple menorah, Sabbath candle and ten commandments.  For the occasion it's decorated with palm branches and these really cool star of David lights from none other than Target



Up close of our seven branch menorah.  It actually burns olive oil and we have replacement wicks.  Not a Hanukkah menorah but one that is spoken about in heaven.  It's quite pretty.



Kids also had fun decorating star of David cut outs, menorah and dreidels.  They were supposed to be window clings that instead I turned into a garland.  Future reminder to self....glitter is of the devil!  What a mess.

But the highlight was sitting around building a model of Solomon's temple.  I purchased it last year in hopes we would build it for a homeschooling project.  It worked out perfectly for Hanukkah because after all, the occasion is about the TEMPLE!  My rockin' sister-in-law Melissa actually sat there and constructed the entire thing in about 30 minutes...more like 3 hours, which is still lightening speed.  The box said average 3-5 hours!  The rest of us just sat by lazily watching her.  You go Melissa!!!!!



Here's my biblical student husband giving us a class on the particulars of the temple construction.  Great history and spiritual lessons.



Sister-in-law, Karen and boyfriend Jon enjoying watching the construction while engaging in scriptural discussions.  It's amazing what we cover when we get together!



Ta da!  The finished product and a great way to end our celebration for the evening.  Such a day of rich blessings in learning more about the things of Yah and honoring a time in history when people fought for the freedom to worship... in the temple of the one true God.

Some Hanuakka history:

http://christianity.about.com/od/biblefeastsandholidays/p/feastofdedicati.htm

Prior to the year 165 BC, the Jewish people who dwelled in Judea where living under the rule of the Greek kings of Damascus. During this time Seleucid King Antiochus Epiphanes, the Greco-Syrian king, took control of the Temple in Jerusalem and forced the Jewish people to abandon their worship of God, their holy customs and reading of the Torah, and he made them bow down to the Greek gods. According to the records, this King Antiochus IV defiled the Temple by sacrificing a pig on the altar and spilling its blood on the holy scrolls of Scripture.

As a result of the severe persecution and pagan oppression, a group of four Jewish brothers, led by Judah Maccabee, decided to raise up an army of religious freedom fighters. These men of fierce faith and loyalty to God became known as the Maccabees. The small band of warriors fought for three years with "strength from heaven" until achieving a miraculous victory and deliverance from the Greco-Syrian control.

rededication of the Temple to the Lord took place in the year 165 BC, on the 25th day of the Hebrew month called Kislev. So Hanukkah received its name, the Feast of Dedication, because it celebrates the Maccabees' victory over Greek oppression and the rededication of the Temple. But Hanukkah is also known as the Festival of Lights, and this is because immediately following the miraculous deliverance, God provided another miracle of provision.

In the Temple, the eternal flame of God was to be lit at all time as a symbol of God's presence. But according to tradition, when the Temple was rededicated, there was only enough oil left in the Temple to burn the flame for one day. The rest of the oil had been defiled by the Greeks during their invasion, and it would take a week for new oil to be processed and purified. But at the rededication, the Maccabees went ahead and lit the eternal flame with the remaining supply of oil, and God's Holy presence caused it to burn miraculously for eight days, until the new sacred oil was ready.

This is why the feast is also called the Festival of Lights, and why the Hanukkah Menorah is lit for eight consecutive nights of celebration. Jews also commemorate this miracle of oil provision by making oil-rich foods, such as Latkas, an important part of Hanukkah celebrations.

• Learn more about Hanukkah traditions and celebrations.

The same courageous spirit of the Maccabees who remained faithful to God during intense persecution was passed on to Jesus' disciples who would all face severe trails because of their faithfulness to Christ. And like the miracle of God's presence expressed through the eternal flame of God burning for the Maccabees, Jesus became the incarnate, physical expression of God's presence, the Light of the World, who came to dwell among us and give us the eternal light of God's life.