Blessings to you all!
Four kingdoms that would in the future dominate and exile the Jewish People: Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome.
The story starts not with the miracle of Chanukah, but 1,437 years earlier with Jacob's ladder. Jacob had a prophetic dream of angels ascending and descending a ladder that reached from the ground to the heavens. These angels weren't Hollywood extras with fluorescent tubes over their heads - they were, in fact, incorporeal spiritual messengers - the protecting forces of four great kingdoms.At first, Yaakov saw the angel of Babylon ascend the ladder 70 steps and then he came down: The Jewish People were in the Babylonian exile for 70 years.
The protecting angel of the Empire of Persia and Media then climbed up the ladder 52 steps before he descended: The Jewish People were in exile in Persia 52 years.
Then the angel of the Empire of Greece climbed 180 rungs - the domination of Greece lasted 180 years.
Finally, the protecting angel of the Roman Empire climbed up the ladder, but he didn't come down. Yaakov feared that this final exile would never end, until Hashem promised Yaakov - If he will rise up like an eagle and make his nest among the stars - even from there I will bring him down.
We are still in that final exile, in the softly asphyxiating embrace of Rome's spiritual heirs....
The Four Kingdoms
BABYLON
In the year 3338 (587/6 BCE), the first of our Holy Temples was razed to the ground by the Babylonian Emperor Nabuchadnezer, and the majority of the Jewish People led into exile by the Assyrian Emperor Sancheriv. Why was it such a tragedy that the Beis Hamikdash (Holy Temple) was destroyed? The Beis Hamikdash represents a unique pipeline between Hashem and Man. When it was destroyed, this flow of spiritual energy was severed. The level of this connection is linked to the word "nefesh" - soul ("When a soul will bring an offering"...Vayikra 2:1). Nefesh begins with the letter Nun, and Nun represents the kingdom of Babylon.
PERSIA
As we know from the story of Esther, Haman was interested in finding the final solution of the Jewish problem - genocide. The exile of Persia and Media represents the threat to the "guf" - the body of the Jewish People, the physical threat of annihilation. Guf begins with Gimmel which stands for the kingdom of Persia and Media.
GREECE
Greece, on the other hand, represents the attack on the Torah itself - the sechel - the wisdom of Israel. The Greeks weren't interested in the physical destruction of the Jewish People; rather they wanted to destroy the spiritual core of Judaism - the Torah - and leave a Hellenized hulk that would conform to the Greek norms of aesthetics - drama and the superficial wisdoms. Sechel begins with the letter Sin - that's the letter of the kingdom of Greece.
ROME
The fourth kingdom, Rome, is a summation of all the other exiles. At the beginning of their domination, the Romans, like the Babylonians, stopped the bringing of offerings in the Temple. Then, they destroyed the second Holy Temple and inflicted unthinkable carnage on the "guf", the body of Jewish People: After the massacre of Betar, they used Jewish blood as fertilizer for seven years.
At first, Rome was the intellectual scion of Greece, but with the conversion of the emperor Constantine to Christianity in 313 CE, the Catholic Church became the spiritual heir of the Roman Empire. After the demise of the influence of the Church, the mantle of Rome was subsequently worn by secularism and materialism - the spiritual incarnation of Rome in our own times.
Rome is all the exiles rolled into one and thus it is represented by the Hebrew word "HaKol," meaning "all".Happy Chanukah
Hmmmmmm.....Latkes.
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Pray for W and Our Troops
Good morning, Carlo!
I'm so glad you are posting!
This is a cool thread.
Thank you!
Put on your yarmulke
Here comes Chanukah
So much funukah
To celebrate Chanukah
Chanukah is the festival of lights
Instead of one day of presents, we have eight crazy nights
When you feel like the only kid in town without a Christmas tree
Here's a list of people who are Jewish just like you and me
David Lee Roth lights the menorah
So do James Caan, Kirk Douglas, and the late Dinah Shore-ah
Guess who eats together at the Carnegie Deli
Bowser from Sha Na Na and Arthur Fonzerelli
Paul Newman's half Jewish, Goldie Hawn's half too
Put them together, what a fine lookin' Jew
You don't need "Deck The Halls" or "Jingle Bell Rock"
'Cause you can spin a dreidel with Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock- both Jewish
Put on your yarmulke
It's time for Chanukah
The owner of the Seattle Supersonicahs
Celebrates Chanukah
O.J. Simpson, not a Jew
But guess who is? Hall of famer Rod Carew- he converted
We got Ann Landers and her sister Dear Abby
Harrison Ford's a quarter Jewish- not too shabby
Some people think that Ebenezer Scrooge is
Well he's not, but guess who is
All three Stooges
So many Jews are in showbiz
Tom Cruise isn't, but I heard his agent is
Tell your friend Veronica
It's time to celebrate Chanukah
I hope I get a harmonicah
Oh this lovely, lovely Chanukah
So drink your gin and tonicah
And smoke your marijuanikah
If you really, really wannakah
Have a happy, happy, happy, happy Chanukah
Happy Chanukah
While not Jewish, my daughter and I were in the spirit yesterday evening - playing with her dreidel (sp?).
What is the difference between a 9 candle Menorah and one with 7 candles? I have asked many times and have never gotten a satisfactory answer. Thanks!
Best Wishes.
WARNING: This is a high volume ping list
HAPPY HANUKKAH to all Jewish FReepers and an early Christmas greeting to all righteous Christians at FR. We have a beautiful new baby girl in our family this year, and she makes us believe in miracles. Miracles do happen...
Hi...Carlo, our Resident Chef and Beloved Freeper Friend!
Toda Rabbah for all of your hard work and those Delicious Recipes.
May Our LORD Bless and Keep You and Your Household at Hanukkah and throughout the New Year, may HE shine HIS Marvelous Light Upon You.
LOVE YOU!
Thanks for the Hanukka stories. But none of those 4 kingdoms on Jacob's ladder was Egypt?
I always get it confused with Passover but Hunukka is to Christmas what Passover is to Easter, yes? Seasonally at least. I attended a Seder once with friends--lots of fun. Any cool Hanukka parties I can try to get invited to? or that tradition for passover only?
Ditto
Let me join in in wishing a happy Hanukkah to all our Jewish Freepers.
Merry Christmas.
That's precisely what Antiochus did to the Jews: he forbade them to observe the Sabbath or study their religious text, the Torah, and he erected a statue of Zeus in their sacred temple of Jerusalem. Many Jews followed his decrees, because they had no choice; those who resisted were executed.
Well, there goes the Book of Joshua!
Eeew. No wonder people are so confused about Chanukkah.
The oppression of Israel and the bans on Torah observance were the results of the initiatives of the Hellenistic majority of Jews who regarded their traditional co-religionists as backward and intolerant. At first no Jew was compelled to Hellenistic practice; "progressives" did this all on their own. In fact, Mattityahu beheaded a fellow Jew he saw engaging in heretical practice. It was only after this that, at the urging of Hellenists among the Jews, Antiochus banned Torah observance.
Chanukkah is not about religious tolerance or pluralism. It is about the victory of the True G-d and His Word over attempts to update Him by "progressives." But that doesn't fit the worldview of the Hellenistic self-appointed "leaders of the American Jewish community," so they came up with this nonsense that Chanukkah celebrates the "right" of a religious minority to assert themselves in the midst of an intolerant majority (the Greeks were very "tolerant;" it was the faithful Jews who weren't!).
I'm a Noachide in the Bible Belt. I've given up chr*stmas and accepted Chanukkah instead. It is extremely painful to read nonsense like this.
No offense is met to you, carlo, just whoever wrote all that stuff!
Despite some errors, see this article by David Klinghoffer as a corrective.