Image from arleneyolles.com
[This year— 5774 in the biblical reckoning of time, 2013 according to the Gregorian calendar — Israel’s ‘Festival of Lights’ or Hanukkah’s first of its 8-day celebration falls on USA’s Thanksgiving Day, Thursday.
According to Rabbi Benjamin Blech of aish.com, to commemorate this unusual coincidence, a new descriptive word has been coined: “Thanksgivukkah.” He adds it will never happen again in our lifetime unless we are still alive 70,000 years from now.
Normally the feast of Hanukkah occurs in December and this is why it has flippantly been referred to as ‘the Jewish Christmas’, a connection that is inappropriate. Historically, the reason why the Jewish world celebrates the feast of Hanukkah is because it commemorates the victory of the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid Empire in 2nd century B.C.E. in reclaiming the Temple for Israel’s God; notice that the date precedes the ‘reason for the season’ —the birth of Christianity’s Man-God, Jesus Christ. No, Hanukkah is not the ‘Jewish Christmas’ any more than Christmas is the ‘Christian Hanukkah’; to each its own reason for being.
So, for the rest of the world who are neither Jewish nor Christian, what’s our excuse for celebrating Hanukkah or/and Christmas? Who needs one? Any occasion to remember the One True God and recognize His Hand upon our lives is a good enough reason to join in any joyful celebration that remembers gratefully that there is indeed a Lord and Master responsible for this created universe!
While we Sinaites are neither Jewish nor American, still we want to give thanks to our Creator God by celebrating this feast of lights unique to Israel. Why not? The more occasions to bless God, the better; in fact we don’t even need an occasion to do so!
Psalm100:4:
“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name.”
We have already settled the issue of which feasts do gentiles celebrate (How now do we observe “My” feasts?). In fact since family and friends all celebrate Christmas, we will join in the merrymaking all through this year-end ‘good-will season’. Not all who celebrate Christmas do it for the same reason that Christians do; just look at the mishmash of holiday symbols from nativity displays to Santa/elves/Rudolph/Frosty, etc. Perhaps because it occurs in the last month of the year and runs into welcoming the new year, people are in a celebrating mood, what does it matter what the occasion is.
To us, Hanukkah is a joyful celebration and since we Sinaites, do not have any traditions of our own, we find nothing wrong in embracing cultural and religious traditions that we find meaningful for us. In fact, while once we thought Halloween was ‘demonic’, now that we don’t believe a ‘Devil’ exists, Halloween has become just another fun holiday when people go to such lengths to dress up in freaky costumes and simply have a good time. Live and let live, as long as it does not violateTorah.
If we truly understand the God of Israel, the God of all nations, He is the epitome of ‘religious tolerance’, think about that and let’s thank Him for being the God of all people, even those who are willfully ignorant of Him or worse, are knowledgeable about Him and His Torah, yet refuse to yield to His sovereignty and consider His Torah as ‘old’ and in fact ‘obsolete’. A loving God, merciful and kind, righteous and just, allowing judgment for sinful behavior to spill over to only 6 generations (hopefully less, read Ezekiel 18), but whose mercy knows no bounds, granting forgiveness to repentant souls to a thousand generations. That’s His own words, not simply hyperbole.
Rabbi Blech of aish.com has more to say about why ‘Thanksgivukkah’ should be celebrated:
In all seriousness, a “coincidence” of this magnitude requires some reflection. This is a perfect time to give some thought to the essential difference between the motivation for the American day of expressing gratitude to God and the Jewish rationale for our Festival of Lights. Because although thankfulness is the theme behind both of these holidays, they are significantly unlike each other in their emphasis on the particular reason that calls forth our response of appreciation to the Almighty.
As human beings we have two basic needs. One is physical. Because we are flesh and blood we require food to sustain us. Without sustenance we could not live. That is why there is a biblical obligation to bless God at the conclusion of every full meal, defined as one in which we have partaken of bread, the biblical staff of life. “And you shall eat, and you should be satiated, and you shall bless the Lord your God” (Deut. 9:7).
That is one of only two biblically mandated blessings. The other? The blessing over the study of Torah. Food is essential for our bodies but Torah is at least just as important for the preservation of our souls. Food allows us to live; Torah gives us a reason for living. Food satisfies our physical cravings; Torah responds to our deeper need for purpose and meaning to our existence.
We are a duality going back to the story of the creation of Adam who was formed from the dust of the earth and the breath of the divine. We need our bodies to house our souls; we need our souls to validate our presence in the world.
All other blessings in Jewish tradition come by way of rabbinic obligation. They are post-biblical efforts on the part of the rabbis to ensure greater awareness of God in our daily lives. But the Torah is primarily concerned with human recognition of the two major mainstays of our existence. We need to acknowledge the great gifts that make possible our physical as well as our spiritual survival – our daily bread and our opportunity to peruse the words of God’s Torah.
It is no coincidence then that holidays reflect sensitivity to these two different divine favors that we have found bestowed upon us in special moments of history.
Amen and amen! We share below a Sinaite’s celebration of Thanksgivukkah. With regard the borrowed tunes from our Christian hymn heritage, we’ve revised the lyrics that now express a Sinaite’s creed. We apologize for borrowing music we’ve known from our former faith but as we have repeatedly justified it, ‘imitation is the best compliment.’ –Admin1.]
Image from www.utsandiego.com
Gentiles of the Nations
Chanukkah meets thanksgiving,
It’s a time to be grateful
Come celebrate Hanukkah with Israel!
LIGHTING OF THE HANUKKAH
SERVANT LIGHT
Oh YHWH,
God of Israel,
We bless You for blessing the nations
with knowledge of You
and Your Torah,
the true Revelation that Israel was privileged to be given
as part of its Covenant with You on Sinai.
We bless Israel for sharing with the nations,
the Hebrew Scriptures
which record their failures and successes,
their losses and their victories,
for us to learn from.
Through Your Revelation on Sinai,
and Your interaction with Your chosen people,
we have gained knowledge of You
the One True God,
the God of Israel,
the God of the nations.
May Israel’s servant light continue to shine
that the whole world may be illumined
by the Light of Your Torah,
and may we gentiles who have seen Your Light,
through Your servant’s light,
become sparks and lamps ourselves
to help dispel the darkness
in the minds and hearts of humankind,
Oh YHWH,
Revelator on Sinai,
God of our Sinai community . . .
As we come together to delight in Israel’s festival of Lights,
We remember all the miracles You wrought on their behalf,
And yet it is evident to all who have eyes to see,
that you continue to work miracles for one nation and one nation only,
to which You committed Yourself to see them through
from their birth on Sinai to the end of the age.
Outside of the timeline of the canon of the TNK,
this Jewish feast of Hanukkah recalls yet another miracle
not recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures though surely,
recorded in the mind, heart, and spirit of every Jew
who look back on the reclaiming of the Temple for You,
their God, their Liberator not only from Egypt,
but from all other nations that have since oppressed them
over six millennia of their existence on Your earth . . .
and yet they have survived, to this day
to be a nation-witness to the covenant
You made with them on Sinai.
We light the Hannukiah,
and join the celebration of Israel,
Your chosen people
who continue to be sustained by Your grace and mercy,
Your prophetic utterances through your mouthpieces,
not because they are worthy, but because You are faithful to Your declarations.
“You will be My people, and I will be Your God.”
We are not of Israel, but we count ourselves among Your people,
for we embrace You as Creator, Revelator, the God of Israel,
Who revealed Your Name as YHWH, the Eternal,
Who changes not, but will be Whom You choose to be.
We love Your Torah, we love Your chosen people,
We count ourselves truly blessed to be counted among them.
for You have said,
“I will bless those who bless you” . . . .
As these hanukkah lights illuminate the darkness around us,
May we be as lamps for Your sake, and Your Torah,
by the very life we live, which we rededicate to You,
on this meaningful commemorative time,
when Israel celebrates their festival of Lights,
O Light of the world,
YHWH, Israel’s Adonai and Elohiym..
God of the Nations,
Our God.
BLESSINGS
Blessed are You,
O YHWH, Creator of the universe,
the Source of all Joy in our lives.
For all the years we sought You, the One True God,
Even as we did not know You like we know You now,
Still the joy of seeking You and serving You and loving You
was always present in our lives.
As we partake of this fruit of the vine
we drink to Your Life in us,
and Your Light that shines upon us,
and for the sheer joy of finally knowing You.
L’Chaim, to Life!
Blessed are You, Adonai our Elohim,
for sustaining us all our years on this earth,
with the staff of life,
for food on our tables,
the nourishment of our bodies,
food or our souls, Your Torah,
for the nourishment of our souls.
**Music accompaniment to be uploaded later.
[Tune: Give thanks, revised lyrics for Sinaites]
Give thanks with a grateful heart
Give thanks to the Holy One
Give thanks because He’s given
His True Word, the Way,
Give thanks for the LIFE we live,
Give thanks for the LOVE He gives,
Give thanks to Him Who guides us
every moment, every day
And now, let the weak say ‘I am strong’,
Let the poor say ‘I am rich’,
Because of all that YHWH does for us,
And now let the blind say ‘I can see’
Let the deaf say ‘I can hear’
Because He’s opened eyes and ears
to know Him best, In Him rest.
Give HIm thanks.
—————————
[Tune: What a friend we have in Jesus/revised lyrics for Sinaites]
1. What great friends we have been given
By the God who sees through all,
He’s the One Who puts together
Those of us who hear His call.
Strangers once were we, unknowing,
He would link our chain of lives.
One connection to another,
All relationships survive.
2. Central is He to relations,
Family or friends we be,
Work might be our sole connection,
Yet how fortunate are we
to be linked by our dear Father
in our family of faith,
We will never ever sever
from our God Who birthed our faith.
3. Should we ever have to part ways,
Rest assured we’re still all one,
One connected to another
Even when we have moved on.
Chosen, handpicked, special people,
by our Great Almighty King,
Gracious God to all who choose Him,
Grateful friends, to Him we sing.
Image from www.giftsofart.com
HAVDALAH
As we each go our separate ways
at the end of this joyful feast of Thanksgivukkah,
May the Light of YHWH,
the lights of Israel’s hanukkiah,
and the lamp of Torah
illuminate our way
not only for the 8 days of Israel’s festival of lights,
but throughout our continuing pilgrimage
on the one true pathway
toward Sinai,
the Mountain of Revelation
the Site of the Covenant,
the Source of Torah Light
toward YHWH,
the One True God.
Shabbat shalom!
NSB@S6K
