A Sinaite’s Liturgy – Sabbath before the Jewish Feast of Hanukkah

[The Jewish celebration of Hanukkah falls on different times, just like the Christian celebration of Christmas. This year 2018 in the Gregorian calendar, 5779 in the Jewish calendar, Hanukkah starts at sundown of Sunday, December 02, the beginning of the Jewish ‘day’,  and ends on the evening of Monday, December 10, 2018.  We are not Jews but we love to celebrate this Jewish ‘festival of lights’ because it is a celebration of ‘freedom’ and we are in sympathy with Israel and its struggle to exist and live in the land that biblically, has been granted them by the God of Israel, even if the world in this day and age do not recognize that biblical claim nor Israel’s right to occupy portions of the land as granted them by the United Nations.  And even more significantly,  the US President, Donald Trump has made official recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, by moving the US Embassy to there, a most criticized controversial act of an already controversial US president who didn’t need to add this to his list of presidential faux pas, according to his critics anyway.  And so, Israel continues to survive the odds through six millennia in YHWH’s timeline.  So this liturgy is for the Sabbath that falls before the 8-day celebration of the Jewish feast of Hannukah.—Admin1]

 

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KINDLE THE SABBATH LIGHTS

 

LORD YHWH,

Creator of the universe, 

Designer of earthly time,

Eternal,

Immortal,

Invisible,

One and Only God—

 

You set the sun,

moon and stars

in the heavens,

 

‘for signs and seasons

and for days and years.’

 

 

 

We  kindle our Sabbath lights

at the time Jewry will soon be

lighting up their Hanukkiah lamps,

from the center ‘servant light’ 

that signifies their perpetual servanthood to You.  

 

O God of Israel;

as Your chosen people celebrate their 8-day ‘Festival of Lights’,

the feast of Hanukkah,

We remember how You manifested to your firstborn son Israel—

as burning bush,

pillar of fire,

‘shekinah’ glory cloud,

thunder and lightning on Sinai,

but before all that —

You were the PRIMEVAL LIGHT

that dispelled the darkness of the first 3 days

before Your created sun lit up our galaxy on the 4th day;

Your PRIMAL LIGHT illumines our minds to this day,

those of us who recognize and acknowledge

You and You alone as the One True God, 

for Your manifestations as LIGHT 

directs those with eyes that see, 

with minds wide open,

with seeking hearts 

to the pathway leading to You.

 

We are grateful for Your Torah

which informs our minds,  

fulfills our hearts

and gives meaning to our lives.

Indeed, Your Torah has kindled Your Light in our lives,

making us virtual lamps

to add to brightening up the pathway

leading to knowledge of You.

We thank You

for the light of Israel, Your chosen people,

whose very existence in this day and age

has been threatened at every stage of their national life,

yet their continuing presence is a witness 

to Your faithfulness to Your promises concerning them.

Even today, Israel’s continuing survival

amidst hostility from unfriendly nations

testifies to Your faithfulness

to your promise to their patriarchs,

and to the reality of Your existence,

O God of Israel. O God of all nations!

 

We are truly blessed to know as much of You

as You have enabled us to know,

O LORD of the Sabbath, LIGHT of the world,

through Your awesome creation,

through the Hebrew Scriptures,

through Your Torah.

through Your ‘servant’ ‘chosen’ people.

Blessed be Your Name, 

YHWH,

God of Israel, God of the nations, God of Sinaites.

 

PRAISE IN SONG

[Original Tune: “Of the Father’s Love Begotten” – Revised Lyrics]

1.  At the time before creation

ere the world began to be,

He is Alpha and Omega,

no beginning, no end has He.

Of the things that have been,

things that are, yet to be,

all the future years shall see,

evermore and evermore!

 

2. O those first words ever spoken,

words that brought this world to be,

“Let there be light” and indeed was light . . .

and in sequence all came to be:

heaven, earth, land, sea, and everything in between,

O how awesome He must be . . .

evermore and evermore!

 

3.  Sun and moon and stars in heaven,

night from day, each one set apart,

creatures of the land, sky, waters,

life in all forms each came to be.

balance, harmony, great beauty, diversity

were the order of the days, evermore and evermore!

 

4.  Then His vision turned toward the dust,

this one He spoke not, but He formed,

from the dust made, not created,

breath of life imparted within;

this one given choice and freedom of the will—

yes the one only one—in His Image human was made.

 

5.  By the 4th day He saw “it was good”

and declared the 6th “very good”—

signifying satisfaction and completion of His world.

Still He set apart a most unusual day

on the seventh day of rest,

God ceased working on His Sabbath.

BLESSINGS

Knowledge of God is a joy,

a loving family is a joy,

real friendship is a joy,

youth is a joy, old age is a joy,

good health which is true wealth is a joy.

being together with loved ones is a joy!

For all these and more,

we thank our Lord YHWH, the Source of all joy in life.

Without food for our bodies, how could we survive?

Without the Torah, how could we learn to live His Way?

This bread we share nourishes our body,

the Torah, our Tree of Life nourishes our soul.

We bless the Divine Provider of both,

and for the wine that we drink  to symbolize our joy and delight

in the GIVER of blessings.

To LIFE, His LIFE,

l’chaim!

 

 

SABBATH MEAL

 

TORAH STUDY

 

HAVDALAH

May YHWH’s Light shine upon us

May He illuminate our minds with His Wisdom,

May His Love fire up our hearts

so that we might spread it within our family

and outward to others in our circles of relationship,

May His Grace and Mercy be showered upon us

and our loved ones throughout our life on this earth,

May His Shalom and His Peace

reign in our hearth and home always,

from Sabbath to Sabbath and all the days between

all the days of our lives, to the end of our lifetime.

Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Hanukkah to our Jewish and non-Jewish friends

who choose to celebrate this wonderful festival of lights with Israel—

 

In behalf of Sinai 6000 Core Community,

 

NSB@S6K