Once again, I DID have a post but I never got around to finishing it. So once again, enjoy this video.

Hanukkah (also spelt Chanukah) is a huge annual Jewish religious event that celebrates the reclamation and rededication of the Holy Jewish Temple in Jerusalem after it was forcefully taken back from the Greco-Syrian monarch, Antiochus Epiphanes, by a small group of Jewish freedom fighters called the Maccabees, and the miracle of the oil that happened at that time.

Like Christmas, it has become very commercial and with all the hanukkah products now available on the internet with online shopping it can be easy to lose the original focus of the holiday. However, with careful choices made in your shopping for hanukkah gifts, crafts, toys, menorahs & activities, it is possible to add new dimensions of understanding and enjoyment to this family festival appreciated by young and old alike.

So, as you get ready to do your hanukkah shopping this year, explore the possibilities and pick up a new menorah that means something to you or your family, buy a book with mouthwatering recipes to remember, and indulge your children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, cousins or friends with some of the many creative & imaginative toys and activities now available at online hanukkah shops to enhance their appreciation, rather than distract from, this wonderful time also known as the Festival of Lights. Read on to learn more!

The Jewish freedom fighters arose because Antiochus Epiphanes had forced the Jewish people to practice Greek culture and forbade them from reading the Torah. The insurrection was first led by Mattathias the Hasmonean, and later by his son Judah the Maccabee. This is why the freedom fighters came to be known as the Maccabees. Even though the Maccabees were outnumbered, after three years of fighting they were able to recapture the Temple mount and begin to repair the damage that had been done to it. However, when they went to rededicate the Temple and light the menorah, they found only enough oil to burn for one day, but they knew that it would take eight days to make and consecrate more oil.

In faith the Maccabees decided not to wait the eight days, but rather they lit the menorah right away with the remaining oil and a miracle happened as the oil continued to burn for eight days while new oil was being made and consecrated! For this reason, Hanukkah is celebrated for eight days each year, beginning with the 25th day of Kislev, and it is also often known as the Festival of Lights.

Hanukkah, the celebration that commemorates this significant victory, and miracle, literally means “dedication.” Each evening the Hanukkah menorah is lit, with one more candle being lit every day until all the candles are alight. The 9th branch carries the shammash (or “servant”) candle, and this is used to light the others. When you place the candles in the menorah, always place them from right to left, but when you light them you should do so from left to right. This is to give honor to the newest member.

Once the candles are lit, let them burn out on their own, and do not use their light to light your room and do work or read by, but rather just to be looked at to be appreciated and enjoyed. The light from the candles in the Hanukkah menorah are not supposed to provide light to see by because they are not supposed to perform any work. The purpose of the candles is just to serve as a reminder of the miracle of the oil that burned for eight days in the Temple.

The Hanukkah menorah has 9 branches. Eight of the branches represent each of the 8 days the menorah burned in the Temple after the Maccabees defeated the Syrians. In order for it to be kosher, all 8 branches should be on the same level, however there are some contemporary menorahs available now that have the branches on different levels, and many people now also use these menorahs. The 9th branch is set apart from the others, often slightly higher, and it holds the Shamash, which literally means “servant.” The Shamash is lit first and is used to light each of the other candles. The first night of Hanukkah, you light the Shamash plus one. On the second night, you light the Shamash plus two, and so on until the end of Hanukkah.

There are traditional blessings that should be recited before the lighting of the menorah, two each night and one extra the first night only. Before one recites the blessings over lighting the candles at Hanukkah, the following prayer, known as the Shehecheyanu, is said only on the first night:
Barukh atah Adonai, Eloheinu, melekh ha’o-lam she-he-che-ya-nu v’ki-yi-ma-nu v’hi-gi-a-nu la-z’man ha-zeh. Amein.
Blessed are you, O L-rd, our G-d, King of the universe Who has kept us alive, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this season. Amen.

On each night the following prayers are said:
Barukh atah Adonai, Eloheinu, melekh ha’o-lam a-sher ki-di-sha-nu b’mitz’vo-tav v’tzi-va-nu l’had’lik neir shel Hanukkah. Amein.
Blessed are you, O L-rd, our G-d, King of the universe Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to light the lights of Chanukah. Amen.

Barukh atah Adonai, Eloheinu, melekh ha’o-lam she’a-sah ni-sim la’a-vo-tei-nu ba-ya-mim ha-heim ba-zi-man ha-zeh. Amein.
Blessed are you, O L-rd, our G-d, King of the universe, Who performed miracles for our ancestors in those days at this time. Amen.

After the lighting it is customary to sing Maoz Tzur (Rock of Ages), a traditional song, as well as other Hanukkah songs. Many times the children or adults will play the dreidel game while the candles are burning, do hanukkah crafts, eat chocolate gelt, cook up a platter of latkes & sour cream, or read the story of hanukkah aloud. Often there are latkes and sofganiot (jelly donuts), as well as chocolate gelt and other goodies. Any food cooked in oil is traditional during Hanukkah, but the most popular is probably potato latkes, traditionally served with sour cream and apple sauce.

Hanukkah menorahs themselves come in all shapes and sizes. They can be made out of silver, gold, pewter, brass, ceramic, stone, wood, glass, or just about any other material. In some homes, each person in the family has a Hanukkah menorah, including the children. Many contemporary menorahs follow a theme such as sports, pets, trains, the city of Jerusalem, flowers, etc. Contemporary menorahs will have the branches on all different levels, as in the Tree of Life menorah. Some menorahs even substitute electric lights for candles, and there are as many themes out there as you can look for. The internet is a wonderful place to source new and unique menorahs, and whether you are a biker, car racer, sailor, shoe collector, musician, chef, sports fan, hippy or whatever, there is a menorah out there for you! Just don’t forget to order a box of hanukkah candles at the same time!

About the author

Adam Barnett works for Studio Shofar Judaica & Gifts, and hopes to help educate the judaica market to better understand judaica products in general. Visit us to learn more about hanukkah, menorahs & other festival items at www.studioshofar.com/hanukkah.html

The author published on Article Base.

In years to come, a person, a scientist will find a method to destroy everything that causes AIDS. Should it be HIV or some other virus, that person will development a cure for it and people everywhere will look back and see what the person has done.

Now, think of another world. In this world, AIDS is wiping out everyone, one after another. The HIV virus and the others are able to kill whatever it wants all because a cure wasn’t developed.

Okay, I will admit the example is very unlikely to happen but it can. You may wonder why I say these words, or what they are about but today I am writing about abortion.

In the developed world, abortions happens just by contacted your GP, give a reason and it can be done. I will not doubt the reasons for why they have done so but don’t you think, there should be another way ?

Personally, I believe they should be illegal but before that can happen, we must first take a step back and see why it happens and sort them. If the mother and father to be, doesn’t want a child then adoption should the answer. However, if it is to hide the fact the mother is having a child, legal protection should be put in place to stop the mother from being attacked by said person that might.

Now, if it is for religion reasons, think. Doesn’t the religion also say to save lives and such so therefore, making sure the child lives is the best answer to that.

Personally, I am grateful I am here.Think about it this way, would you want your parents to have aborted YOU ?

Please, do give me your view on this.

Due to the nature of this post, extra rules are in place.

Now, I know most people won’t know what this is and I ain’t online for much longer to explain what it is but it is a very important day to Jews and even non Jews around the whole world in order to say sorry and find new ways to improve themselves.

Even if you don’t believe in a G-d, then today is still a good day to say sorry to the people that you have hurt and find new ways to improve yourself.

The part below this post, isn’t important to anyone other then myself.

שלום אדוני,

אני מודעים היטב כי גם על ידי פנייה זה כי אתה יודע מה זה אומר ואני לא צריך אפילו להגיד מה אני חושב שזה שלי, אבל פרסום של כפרה שלי כך שאני זוכרת את עצמי מה אני אומר.

אני מאוד מצטער אדוני עבור אנשים שאני יכול להיות כאב במהלך השנים של החיים שלי ואני רוצה לתקן את מה עשיתי לא בסדר.

אני מצטער עבור כל החובות שלא שולמו לאנשים כי ידוע לי מפעם לפעם תקבלו את כל זה מיון.

אני מצטער עבור דוחפים את החברים שלי משם כאשר הם היו זקוקים לי ביותר ואני ינסה מה שאני יכול כדי שאני יהיה פה כדי לעזור לאנשים מי צריך את זה, הן מבחינה פיזית או נפשית.

אני מצטער על מורי אשר הכנתי תירוץ כי גם כך אני יכול לדחוף את העבודה שלי מהבית, כעת הבטיח לעשות כל עבודה ברגע שאני יכול ולא מחכה עד הסוף.

הייתי גם רוצה לומר כי אני מקווה שאתה תהיה מסוגלת להציג חבר שלי התקשר Katarina את האור בקצה בו היא זקוקה. אני עושה כל מה שאני יכול לעזור לה ואני רק רוצה אתה יכול להנחות אותה הבחירה הטובה ביותר, ללא קשר אם הוא כזה יגרום שלי כועסת.

Hey Everybody!! Israel celebrates its 60 Years of independence today!!!

Now, I know not everybody has went to Israel but, the fact is that it is hear to stay and that nobody and take it away.

Now, I know there are many people out there that don’t believe Israel should exist and even deny that it does and the simple fact is that IT DOES.

So, happy birthday Israel and as I don’t want any anti-Jewish speak on here, I am turning of comments to this post.

NOT WORK SAFE (Depend on your Boss)

Remembering the six million Jews who were brutally murdered by the Nazis

Today, with all the Holocaust deniers out there, we must unite and not let the memory of the holocaust be forgotten or undervalued!

For those that don’t know what it was, read below (Thanks to Wikipedia)

The Holocaust (from the Greek ὁλόκαυστον (holókauston): holos, “completely” and kaustos, “burnt”), also known as Ha-Shoah (Hebrew: השואה), Churben (Yiddish: חורבן), is the term generally used to describe the genocide of approximately six million European Jews during World War II, as part of a program of deliberate extermination planned and executed by the Nazi regime in Germany led by Adolf Hitler.^[2]

Other groups were persecuted and killed by the regime, including the Roma; Soviets, particularly prisoners of war; ethnic Poles; other Slavic people; the disabled; gay men; and political and religious dissidents, such as Communists, socialists, and Jehovah’s Witnesses.^[3][4] Many scholars do not include these groups in the definition of the Holocaust, defining it as the genocide of the Jews,^[5] or what the Nazis called the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question.” Taking into account all the victims of Nazi persecution, the death toll rises considerably: estimates generally place the total number of victims at nine to 11 million.^[6]

The persecution and genocide were accomplished in stages. Legislation to remove the Jews from civil society was enacted years before the outbreak of World War II. Concentration camps were established in which inmates were used as slave labour until they died of exhaustion or disease. Where the Third Reich conquered new territory in eastern Europe, specialized units called Einsatzgruppen murdered Jews and political opponents in mass shootings. Jews and Roma were crammed into ghettos before being transported hundreds of miles by freight train to extermination camps where, if they survived the journey, the majority of them were killed in gas chambers. Every arm of Germany’s bureaucracy was involved in the logistics of the mass murder, turning the country into what one Holocaust scholar has called “a genocidal state.”^[7]

The number of people killed at the major extermination camps is estimated as: Auschwitz-Birkenau: 1.4 million; Treblinka: 870,000; Belzec: 600,000; Majdanek: 360,000; Chelmno: 320,000; Sobibór: 250,000; and Maly Trostinets: 65,000. This gives a total of over 3.8 million; of these, 80–90% were estimated to be Jews.

Now don’t tell me that this don’t affect you due to being Non-Jewish as if this happened again, I would likely be added to that death toll and then tell me, YOU WON’T HAVE BEEN AFFECTED. Think about the children who parents was killed, who brothers, who sisters has died just because one man said, do it.

Want to have a rough idea how many Jews that died, click “The Wars Against Jews”

Well, regardless if Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God or if you even existed. As a fellow Jew, I wish Jesus of Nazareth (Yes, Jesus was a Jew) a happy birthday (Seeing you had no known birthday and the Christians decided to make this his birthday).

If you are Christian then Merry Christmas and remember on what Jesus of Nazareth did for you. If you believe in anything else, then happy excuse for drinking and seeing your family.

Once again, happy birthday Jesus of Nazareth.

Enjoy this really, really sort clip with the lighting of the candles

As of 14 December 2007, this video was taken offline. I may upload another copy soon.

In the spirit of Hanukkah that each day for the rest of the holiday that I will be posting a “thought of the day” that I do wish that you read and think about. I do not think these up and where I got it from it posted below.

The Ancient Greeks couldn’t understand us Jews. They asked us to describe our G–d. We said He could not be described. They asked us to explain how He created a world out of nothing. We said it could not be explained. They told us that which could not be explained could not exist.

And so continued the debate between philosophy and Torah for many centuries. Step by step, men described and explained everything they saw, until there was no room left for miracles, for prophecy, for divine providence, for G-d.

It was then that the fountains of wisdom opened for humankind and we gazed into the mysteries of the atom, of energy fields, of black holes in space.

Suddenly, the universe became once again a wondrous place. Suddenly, we discovered that existence itself could not truly be described or explained. In truth, the greatest mystery is that anything exists at all.

Today, it is okay to believe in the supernatural, for the “Laws of Nature” have been deposed from their throne. There is no reason to deny free choice, for the iron chain of Cause and Effect has been loosened. Today, once again, scientists talk about the oneness of the cosmos and a Consciousness within it.

Today, if anyone should tell you that Science has all the answers, respond that yes, it does. Its answer is to stand in awe at the design of this universe in which we live.

Provided by the Chabad on Campus International Foundation.

האפי האנוקאה, האפי האנוכאה (Happy Hanukkah and don’t worry, this post ain’t in Hebrew )

Now instead of the usual “one line” post that below I am typed about the history of Hanukkah for the people who do not know about this holiday.

First off, you may already know of this holiday by many different names and this is due to that Chanukah has no direct translation of this word from Hebrew to English but never the less that some version of the name is listed below.

• Chanuka
• Chanukah
• Chanukkah
• Channukah
• Hanukah
• Hannukah
• Hanukkah
• Hanuka
• Hanukka
• Hanaka
• Haneka
• Hanika
• Khanukkah

Now you are gonna learn some history now about Chanukah and this may be long but please do read all this as it did take some time to write it up

Hanukkah starts on the 25 of Kislev every year which is roughly between the end of November and the end of December. Hanukkah celebrates the events of what happened in Judea (Which is now Israel if ya don’t know )

Our story begins in the land of Judea in which there was a person known as Antiochus, the Syrian King, who believes in the Greek Gods and ordered the Jewish people to give up and reject their believes in God. There was some that did but many did not and the important person in our story that didn’t was called Judah Maccabee.

Next that Judah and his four brother (I ain’t sure of their names) created an army which was called “Maccabees”. The fighting took three years and after three years and finally the Maccabees driven the Syrian out of Israel and reclaimed the holy temple in Jerusalem. Inside the temple that there was hated symbols and statues of the Greek gods and work started in rededicating the holy temple.

This was finished on the 25 of Kislev (The start of Hanukkah if ya didn’t know ), and once this was done that the Maccabees wanted to light the N’er Tamid (The eternal light, which is located in every Jewish place of worship). Once the N’er Tamid is lit that is should never be extinguished (You are able to learn why Hanukkah is called the Festival of Light ).

Now, there was a little problem. There was only a tiny amount of oil that was only able to light them for one day however a miracle happened that allows the oil to stay lit for eight days.

It is on Hanukkah that the Jews celebrate the victory over the Syrians and the re-making or rededication of the holy temple of Jerusalem. Now, too say this at the end that Hanukkah means “rededication” which is basically what this holiday is about