Last night was the first night of Hanukkah for 2019.
Just a reminder as to what Hanukkah celebrates.
I know the kids TV specials talk about the miracle of the oil lasting for eight nights in the light above the alter for the rededication of the Temple. What they leave out is why the Temple needed to be rededicated in the first place.
Here is the history from Chabad:
In the second century BCE, the Holy Land was ruled by the Seleucids (Syrian-Greeks), who tried to force the people of Israel to accept Greek culture and beliefs instead of mitzvah observance and belief in G‑d. Against all odds, a small band of faithful but poorly armed Jews, led by Judah the Maccabee, defeated one of the mightiest armies on earth, drove the Greeks from the land, reclaimed the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and rededicated it to the service of G‑d.
When they sought to light the Temple’s Menorah (the seven-branched candelabrum), they found only a single cruse of olive oil that had escaped contamination by the Greeks. Miraculously, they lit the menorah and the one-day supply of oil lasted for eight days, until new oil could be prepared under conditions of ritual purity.
To commemorate and publicize these miracles, the sages instituted the festival of Chanukah.
This is what National Geographic says about the history of Hanukkah:
In 175 B.C. the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes came into power and tried to force Judeans to assimilate. Some scholars believe he believed that single religion might unify to his fractured empire, but his brutal methods undid those intentions. Writing in the first century A.D., Jewish historian Josephus recorded the brutal plundering of Jerusalem and treatment of Jewish dissidents. The Seleucids captured the holy Temple and defiled it by erecting an altar to the Greek god Zeus inside. Antiochus outlawed the Jewish faith and mandated the worship of Greek gods.
Horrified by the Temple desecration and cruelty toward the Jewish people, a priest named Mattathias and his sons rose up in rebellion. After Mattathias’s death in 166 B.C., his son Judah the Maccabee (the “Hammer”) took his father’s place in the fight and led the Jewish people in many victories over the Seleucids. In 164, Judah won back Jerusalem and restored the Temple, cleansing and rededicating it. The revolt of the Maccabees, as it came to be known, continued on and ultimately drove the Seleucids from Judea in 160.
The real miracle of Hanukkah – the one the kid’s shows leave out – is that a rag-tag bunch of Jews defeated one of the great armies and world powers at the time to gain independence and religious freedom.
It’s ancient Israel’s 4th of July.
With that in mind, here is Congresswoman Rashida Tliab’s Hanukkah message, by way of an anti-Zionist Progressive organization, that can’t bring itself to condemn BDS.
She wasn't able to make it in person, but Congresswoman @RepRashida Tlaib sent this wonderful video to the folks at INN Detroit for their Chanukah party. Thanks, Rashida!
Check out the video and check the thread below for a INN Chanukah party near you soon! pic.twitter.com/LsoL1hLidt
— IfNotNow?✡️ (@IfNotNowOrg) December 20, 2019
What the disgusting fuck is that shit?
“Happy Hanukkah, now let’s destroy Israel and celebrate the Palestinians.”
This is pure Jew-hating evil is what this is. Weaponizing a Jewish holiday that celebrates Jews regaining control over Israel and Jerusalem into an anti-Zionist message.
But wait, that’s not all. The shit-show continues.
Ivanka Trump is the first Jewish First Daughter. That is a new and unique connection that we Jews have with the White House for the first time.
She Tweeted a Hanukkah message, not as a politician pandering, but as a Jew celebrating:
Happy #Hanukkah! May your Holiday Season be filled with joy, love and light. Chag Chanukah Sameach!
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) December 22, 2019
But Orange Man Bad is the new Progressive religion, so nothing so since or anodyne can not go without being attacked.
— Blond-Father (@BlondFather) December 22, 2019
Is there a word for people who convert to a religion not out of faith but out of greed? #ivanka
— Tracy McOrwell (@DrTracyMcDonald) December 22, 2019
What religion will she embrace with her next husband?
— Susan (@redwitch497) December 22, 2019
This is fucking vile anti-Semitism.
— Kaye 70,000 immigrant children in Trump’s camps (@kals55) December 22, 2019
Using her Hanukkah message to compare her father to Hitler, despite all the evidence to the contrary.
Likewise, the White House wished a first night of Hanukkah on its official Twitter account:
As our Jewish brothers and sisters gather around the menorah each night, we pray for a memorable and blessed celebration of the Festival of Lights.
Happy Hanukkah! pic.twitter.com/gPeiDMNrOX
— The White House 45 Archived (@WhiteHouse45) December 23, 2019
That was a beautiful message, by the way.
How have the Progressives with shit in their souls responded? Predicably.
Free Palestine. pic.twitter.com/CxG28FU0sF
— im_not_with_them (@not_from_here1) December 23, 2019
— Deborah Von Brod (@DeborahVonBrod) December 23, 2019
We also bring anti semites to our Chanukah party
— Drew D (@49Westend) December 23, 2019
@WhiteHouse oh please we all know @realDonaldTrump is doing all this for his lover @IvankaTrump
— m.smith (@nybluewave) December 23, 2019
This is grotesque.
BOYCOTT EVERYTHING Israeli
BOYCOTT Puma
BOYCOTT EVERYTHING Israeli— Grant-William #951 (@HaffendenDr) December 23, 2019
Again, using Hanukkah to attack Israel.
Happy Festivus for the restovus!!
I got a lot of problems with you people!
And now you’re gonna hear about it! pic.twitter.com/WrhYuqVoIU
— Tom Nichols, PhD (@tturnt1) December 23, 2019
This is just uncalled for.
Just how hard with the clue-by-four do I have to hit Jews to prove to them that the Progressives are not our friends and they will use every opportunity to attack us and degrade our celebrations.
Every. Fuck. Time.
“Is there a word for people who convert to a religion not out of faith but out of greed? #ivanka
— Tracy McOrwell (@DrTracyMcDonald) December 22, 2019”
So this person is associating Jews w/ money-grubbing? Well that’s not racist in the least.