The Real Hanukkah Miracle I Didn’t Burn My House Down This year!

Now Maccabeus and his followers, the Lord leading them on, recovered the temple and the city; they tore down the altars that had been built in the public square by the foreigners and also destroyed the sacred precincts. They purified the sanctuary, and made another altar of sacrifice; then, striking fire out of flint, they offered sacrifices, after a lapse of two years, and they offered incense and lighted lamps and set out the bread of the Presence. When they had done this, they fell prostrate and implored the Lord that they might never again fall into such misfortunes, but that, if they should ever sin, they might be disciplined by him with forbearance and not be handed over to blasphemous and barbarous nations. It happened that on the same day on which the sanctuary had been profaned by the foreigners, the purification of the sanctuary took place, that is, on the twenty-fifth day of the same month, which was Kislev. They celebrated for eight days with rejoicing, in the manner of the festival of booths, remembering how not long before, during the festival of booths, they had been wandering in the mountains and caves like wild animals. Therefore, carrying ivy-wreathed wands and beautiful branches and also fronds of palm, they offered hymns of thanksgiving to him who had given success to the purifying of his own holy place. They decreed by public edict, ratified by vote, that the whole nation of the Jews should observe these days every year.

The real Hanukkah miracle I didn’t burn my house down this year!

With additional research, scientists have continued to refine the techniques of radiocarbon dating. In reality, C14 levels in the atmosphere have been similar, but not fully constant, over time. Changes in the magnetic fields of the earth and sun can affect the intensity of cosmic radiation, while carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere also fluctuate naturally or due to the burning of fossil fuels. Nuclear weapons testing in the 1950s and early 1960s raised the amount of C14 in the atmosphere to a high of almost twice its natural level. To account for such fluctuations, calibration curves based in dendrochronology (tree ring dating) have been created, going back thousands of years.

Then I realized that just one year ago, our Camp Newman in Santa Rosa, where our family spent every summer for twenty years, had burned down. My therapy team helped me realize that I had trauma on top of trauma, compounded trauma.

May your passion for each other burn brightly for 120 years, inspiring us to reach out with LOVE to the evacuated, the shot-at, and the downtrodden, dispossessed, unloved, and everyone else, who like you and me are deserving of living with LOVE in safety and hope.

One of my favorite Hanukkah pastimes is to turn off all of the lights in the house and silently watch as the candles burn out one by one. Not only is it incredibly peaceful, but it is really beautiful to watch. Each candle does so in its own unique fashion. Give it a good half hour or so, but once you notice that the candles have burned about three quarters of the way down, come back to where the menorah is lit and watch them burn. If you are with other family members or friends, it is fun to make a game out of it; each person takes a guess at which candle will last the longest.

The theme for Bayit's Tisha b'Av collaboration this year is Descent for the Sake of Ascent. This is a Hasidic idea that I deeply love. In a word, our falling down is precisely the first step of our rising up.

The first part of the drive was on familiar roads, the same roads I take daily to get my kid to camp over the border in Vermont. What was different was that this time, I kept going. East Mountain Farm is only a few minutes from my house, but it's further down Henderson road than I had driven before. Not surprisingly, it is beautiful: contented brown and white cows resting in the shade, rolling hills and pasture, a series of red barns. I was there to pick up chicken to put in my freezer, and eggs to eat.

I spoke with family there this morning, and texted with them again later in the day. Like most of Texas, they didn't have power or heat. Southern homes aren't build to keep out the cold -- they're designed to retain cool. A lot of Texans don't own warm winter clothes; why would they? Often at this time of year, it's warm enough to wear short sleeves.

Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, is the Jewish wintertime celebration that commemorates the victory of the small Maccabean army over the much more powerful Greek/Syrian forces and the rededication of the Holy Temple during the second century BCE. Hanukkah is celebrated for eight days in remembrance of the miracle of the oil lamp, which at the time only held enough oil for one day yet burned for eight days. This year Hanukkah takes place from December 10 through 18.

The \u201CHanukah miracle\u201D with which most kids are raised was apparently invented by Rabbinic sages living 300-600 years after the Maccabean events took place\u2014the first time we hear the story of oil that was meant to last for one day but instead burned for eight is in the Talmud (Shabbat 21b).

What might that mean about what we do in the world today, what action we take as unforgivable atrocities rage just outside our door? We leave our hanukiot lit in the windows of our houses to publicize the miracle that is the ongoing manifestation of the divine in the world\u2013-how might our behavior, our actions, similarly reflect our desire for all to partake of this miraculousness?

Or \u201CHanukah menorah.\u201D Either\u2019s kosher. On the one hand, \u201Cmenorah\u201D refers to the SEVEN-branched candelabrum that stood in the Temple, and people take pains to differentiate between that holy, irreplaceable item and the NINE branched thing we light this time of year (eight branches for eight nights and a special branch for the shamash, the helper candle that lights all the others). On the other, well, technically \u201Cmenorah\u201D just means \u201Clamp,\u201D so this particular linguistic quirk is really not the hill to die on, in my personal opinion.

Jesus Christ was not born on 25 December. A statement by Pope is a reality that has been confessed. There remains a few more of the realities both the Christian faith and the rest of the world has started to realise.One reality is that Issa or Prophet Jesus Christ has died and he is buried in Srinagar, Kashmir. He as is believed specially by Christians and Muslims in particular that was taken to heaven and will appear is a totally wrong. Jesus migrated to India and died there at the age of about 120 years. His tomb is in Srinagar city.Another interesting fact for Christian world is that Marry mother of Jesus has her grave in Murree a beautiful hill station about one hour drive from Islamabad the capital city of Pakistan.Further more that the world is expecting the Messiah will not come in shape of Jesus instead the Messiah has not only come in shape of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian. He claimed to be the Messiah and the Imam mehdi in 1889 in India and died in Lahore currently in Pakistan in 1908. After his death currently it is his fifth successor Mirza Masroor Ahmad who currently resides in London.While the Christian people specially youth are getting rid of Christianity and becoming more of disbelievers of Allah Almighty. It is the Ahmadiyya community which is telling the truth about Jesus and Mary in particular hence the world is rapidly approaching and entering Islam .For further information you are more than welcome to visit my country Pakistan where I can do my utmost to entertain you and provide maximum details. Other than this you can see the details on the website Best regards ,Khurram NisarLahore, Pakistan.

At the end of the day, why do we waste so much time on speculation about this date? Does it really matter on what day/month/year our Lord was born? The miracle is Scritpure teaches clearly that His birth was the fulfillment of prophecies given hundreds of years prior, His vicory over sin and satan millennia prior.Instead of all these sabbaths, why not celebrate the 4 miracles of birth/death/resurrection/ascension EVERY day? For surely the relegation of them to a single date each in the calendar dulls the joy of everything about our God?; Father Who made the gift in grace, Son who died in grace, Spirit who raised in grace.Above all things, let us rather celebrate the promise of his return, for it is in that our hope is fulfilled .Eternity is so much more than a day, surely?