Free Republic

President Biden commemorated the start to Hanukkah on Sunday as the eight days of festivities for the Jewish holiday commence. “From our family to yours, and from the People’s House to your own homes, Jill and I wish you and your loved ones a Chanukah Sameach, a Happy Hanukkah!” Biden said in a statement.

Today, Jews around the world are celebrating Hanukkah, and Christians are preparing to celebrate Christmas. Though we are nearing the shortest, darkest days of the year, for people of faith it is the season of light, and the season of miracles. Hanukkah celebrates both a miraculous military victory, and a miraculous spiritual victory. It is easy to think, though, when we celebrate these holidays with such ancient roots, that miracles are just a thing of the past. But for the Jewish people, one of the greatest miracles in this season and throughout the year, is the miracle of the Jewish...

Israeli archaeologists have uncovered evidence they contend backs up the stories of a Jewish victory over Greek rulers – events that are connected to the celebration of Hanukkah. More than two thousand years ago, a hilltop fortress with a commanding view was supposed to protect the Greek-ruled city of Maresha from a legendary Jewish revolt. But Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists digging in the Lachish Forest, say it didn’t work. They say they have evidence of the Hasmonean Jewish victory – better known as the Maccabees – over the Seleucid Greek rulers – despite Seleucid attempts to fortify and protect the...

If you and your family members are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, it's OK for you to ditch the masks this holiday season when you're around each other, Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN Sunday. "That's what I'm going to do with my family," Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN's Dana Bash on "State of the Union." However, the nation's top infectious disease expert also noted if you are traveling or are unaware of the vaccination status of the people around you, then you should wear a mask "Get vaccinated and you can enjoy...

Kwanzaa has nothing to do with Africa and everything to do with California in the 1960s.Spanning from Dec. 26 to the first of January is Kwanzaa, the invented African American holiday celebrated solely by white liberals and clueless public school teachers. Overblown by leftist claiming the holiday has immense cultural significance, a survey by the National Retail Foundation discovered only 1.6 percent of Americans celebrate Kwanzaa. The “holiday” was created in 1966 by Ron Karenga, who renamed himself Maulana. Karenga, the founder of the United Slaves, a violent rival organization to the Black Panthers, created the holiday for black Americans...

The Feast of Dedication, better known as Hanukkah, was just celebrated by Jews around the world, commemorating events that took place more than 2,100 years ago. But the lessons of Hanukkah are quite relevant to our times today. According to the Jewish History website, “In the wake of Alexander’s appearance in and departure from Jerusalem [in the 330’s BCE], relations between Jews and Greeks were so good that an exchange of cultures took place. Each influenced the other. For the Jewish minority, however, what began as a small undertow of assimilation — such as giving children Greek names and speaking...

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) is the latest state leader to urge residents to drastically limit their holiday gatherings by spending them only with members of the same household, signing an executive order limiting indoor public events to ten. In a Sunday evening address, the Republican governor identified Tennesee as “ground zero for a surge in sickness,” describing the ongoing pandemic as a “war.” Approximately 10,000 Tennesseans are getting sick daily, the governor said, largely attributing the spike to holiday gatherings — namely, the Thanksgiving gatherings

Kamala Harris, or ‘Black Hillary’ as Redstater Jeff Charles calls her, has got to be the most cringe politician of the last decade, at least in so far as someone who has risen to the top levels of our government. To the extent that there’s a comparison, and there certainly is, she makes Hillary look charismatic. Almost as if to provide more evidence of this, the Biden transition team decided it’d be a good idea to ask Harris what Hanukkah is about on video, because being married to a secular Jewish man apparently qualifies her to do so. What follows...

https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/Hanukkah-Dreidel.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=618&h=410&crop=1 Why did Hanukkah irk everyone from the late Christopher Hitchens, who memorably ­derided it as a “celebration of tribal Jewish backwardness,” to author Sarah Prager, who took to the pages of The New York Times recently to explain that she won’t be teaching her kids about it? Well, because Hanukkah is about as out of step with the contemporary elite consensus as any religious tradition can be. If you haven’t reviewed the story in a while, here’s how it goes. One fine day in 167 BC, a crowd of Jews was gathered in the town square of Modi’in, a...

Jews observed the holiday of Hanukkah (or Chanukah) in public for the first time in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), on Thursday, following the peace deal between Israel and the UAE under the auspices of U.S. President Donald Trump. A “lavish” Hanukkah party was thrown at the foot of the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, on Thursday evening.

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”, and it seems, as we approach the holiday of Hanukkah (beginning tonight) that these words are exceptionally true…especially in California, New York, and other states flexing their authoritarian muscles. ... Under the guise of “protecting against Covid-19,” multiple state governors have put citizens in lockdown. These governors have arbitrarily decided which businesses are essential and which are not, with total disregard for the holistic well-being of the people ... It is sickly ironic that Gov. Newsome here in California considers the production of television and films essential, but church...

Josef Neumann, the most gravely wounded victim from a Hanukkah machete attack at a rabbi’s home in Monsey, New York, died on Sunday, law-enforcement sources said. He was 72. Neumann was one of five men allegedly hacked by Grafton Thomas on Dec. 28 while celebrating the Jewish Festival of Lights in Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg’s home. The 18-inch machete allegedly used by 37-year-old Thomas “penetrated [Neumann’s] skull directly into the brain” his family said in a statement at the time.

Doesn’t fit the narrative. The Southern Poverty Law Center has remained completely silent about the domestic terror attack against Hasidic Jews, presumably because it was carried out by a non-white person. Grafton E. Thomas entered a a rabbi’s home and stabbed five people as they celebrated Hanukkah in an Orthodox Jewish community in New York City on Saturday night. Gov. Andrew Cuomo quickly announced that the stabbings were an act of domestic terrorism “spurred by hate.” Another attack earlier this month on a kosher grocery store in New Jersey was carried out by assailants motivated by black supremacist ideology. Despite...

This Jewish festival takes place in winter, usually December, and lasts for eight days...It is not one of the major feasts of the Lord that was given to Moses for the Jewish people to keep as part of their covenant with God. The reason it is not in the Jewish Bible? It occurred during the intertestamental period—the 400 years between Malachi and Matthew, the old and new covenants, when the heavens were silent. God’s chosen people had become idolatrous and rebellious which led to both Israel and Judah going into captivity to the Assyrians and Babylonians. About halfway through this...

A man accused of stabbing five people in a rabbi's home during a Hanukkah celebration in a predominantly Jewish town in upstate New York on Saturday night has pleaded not guilty. Grafton E Thomas, 37, of Greenwood Lake, was arraigned on five counts of attempted murder and one count of burglary in Ramapo Town Court late Sunday morning. His bail was set at $5million.

(CNN)A man walked into a rabbi's home during a Hanukkah celebration in a New York suburb Saturday night and began stabbing people, witnesses say. Five victims were taken to nearby hospitals, according to police. The Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council for the Hudson Valley Region said in a tweet that victims inside the Monsey residence were Hasidic Jews. Two people are in critical condition, co-founder of the council, Yossi Gestetner, told CNN. The attacker pulled out a knife that was "almost like a broomstick," said Aron Kohn, who attended the Hanukkah celebration. Kohn said there were at least 100 people...

We are in the midst of the Hanukkah season, the eight-day festival that commemorates the second century BC victory of Judah Maccabee and his family over the forces of the Seleucid king Antiochus Epiphanes. It was a remarkable, almost miraculous, victory. Antiochus was close to achieving the long-time Seleucid goal of recreating the empire of Alexander the Great. He and his predecessors had annexed Turkey, Mesopotamia, Persia and parts of India. They solidified their control of Judaea and came close to turning Egypt into a satellite kingdom as well. Like so many ancient rulers, Antiochus fixated on the idea he...

You don't have to be ethnically Jewish, or religious, to appreciate what happened to spawn "Hanukkah" or the festival of lights. It is a story of heroism, bravery, rebellion and true virtuous nationalism that rivals the US war of independence. In short, in about 200 BC, or if you prefer the "BCE" ("before the Christian Era".... choke on it, ok? :) ) the Seleuccids were the recipients of a big part of the kingdom of Alexander the Great, they were a mix of Arab, Greek and (a few) Jews, and ruled over the Palestinian area, along with much of what...

I see the country is as divided over Hallmark movies as it is over politics. It’s like asking people whether your  eggnog/Tom and Jerry should be dusted with nutmeg or cinnamon. There’s no right answer to this age old question of course, it’s a matter of choice and depends on what frame of mind you’re in. Didn’t everyone’s Mom have this Tom and Jerry set?So having settled that, Happy Christmas Eve to all the little elves out there! I’ll be one myself this year as I’ve been quite under the weather for the past 2 weeks with first bronchitis and...

Melania and I send our warmest wishes to Jewish people in the United States, Israel, and across the world as you commence the 8-day celebration of Hanukkah. More than 2,000 years ago, the Maccabees boldly reclaimed the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, securing a victory for the Jewish people and their faith. They proudly lit the menorah to rededicate the Second Temple. Even though there was only enough olive oil to burn for one day, through divine providence, the flames miraculously burned for eight nights. As the Jewish community gathers together to celebrate this special and sacred time of year, we...