Chanukah: It's a Tradition, Not a Commandment

My Chanukiah Menorah

Like I mentioned before, some Messianics pagan-ize everything. I was told that a guest at our Chanukah Fair was making a fuss that Chanukiahs, Dreidels, and other Jewish traditions—are pagan. But I saw this individual playing with a Dreidel, so maybe it's not that pagan? I don't know how this pagan-izing thing works because everything seems to be pagan. How do these kinds of people function in this pagan society? I do admit that some Chanukah traditions have come from other cultures, but it does not mean that they are pagan. I would say they are secular, or neutral. To quote from a previous blog post:

In case you haven’t noticed, borrowing from surrounding cultures is a very Jewish thing. Think about it; Klezmer music, the Yiddish language, gefilte fish, lox and bagels, dreidels, latkes, homentashn, kreplach, kugel – all of these are considered to be Jewish customs and traditions, however they were all influenced by the Eastern European culture that surrounded the Ashkenazi Jews. - Are Chanukah Presents Pagan? Dec 20, 2011

Chanukiahs (9-branched candelabras), Dreidels (spinning tops), Latkes (potato pancakes) and Sufganiot (donuts) are man-made Chanukah traditions. Chanukah is a man-made tradition. Because of this fact, and because of its close proximity to Christmas, you will find all kinds of gimmicks and mixtures out there in order to make a buck. Chanukah Bushes, Chrismukkah Decorations and Santa Dreidels are only a few examples. I’ve seen Chanukiah Menorahs with Sports themes, Disney themes, and even one with a Star Trek theme. I’ve seen Chanukiahs made out of Liquor Bottles, Beer Bottles, Pez Dispensers and Surfboards. I’ve seen them shaped like Automobiles, Animals and even People. But, I guarantee, you will not find a 7-branched Menorah shaped like a person in an Orthodox Synagogue. This is because the 7-branched Menorah represents the Presence of Hashem. However, observant Jews will use the ‘creatively shaped’ Chanukiah Menorahs in their homes during Chanukah. They believe these Chanukiahs are okay to use because Chanukah is not a Biblical Festival.

You typically do not find this same kind of 'mixing' with the traditions of the commanded Biblical Festivals like Pesach (Passover), Shavuot (Pentecost), Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) or Shabbat (Sabbath). You may stumble upon a grocery store with a sale on ham for Passover, but that is out of total ignorance. Have you ever noticed that the other minor Jewish festival, Purim, does not get as much attention from retailers as Chanukah? Retailers can make much more money on Chanukah because it falls so close to Christmas and it’s 8-days of gift giving, for some anyway; and Purim does not have a popular, nationwide holiday that is close to it. Mardi Gras? Maybe. But we will talk about that later.

Another thing—Chanukiahs, Latkes and Sufganiot commemorate the so-called Miracle of the Oil. Did it really happen? I don’t know. And where are Dreidels mentioned in the books of the Maccabees? They’re not. These Chanukah traditions do not do justice to the real story and the real miracle, which is the Maccabees victory over the Greeks and their fight against forced assimilation. During Chanukah, I focus on the Maccabee story with my family. Yes we do the traditional stuff too, but I make sure that the Maccabee story is central.

While it is true that Hashem performed miracles for the Maccabees and delivered the mighty Greek army into their hands, it was they, the Maccabees—not Hashem, who instituted this celebration. Although we recognize it, celebrate it and participate in the traditional festivities, there is a big difference between Chanukah and the Moedim (Appointed Times). Chanukah is a man-made tradition but Hashem commands us to celebrate the Moedim.

Finally, are Dreidels pagan? No. They're secular. They're neutral. The Dreidel, or Sevivon in Hebrew, is a traditional, cultural toy. The spinning top is not unique to the Jewish people and no, the Maccabees did not invent it. Many cultures have their own version of a spinning top game and some date back to before the time of the Maccabees. Is the Dreidel holy? No. If it is, then so are Latkes, Sufganiot and all of those crazy shaped Chanukiahs. These things are only traditions and most of them are borrowed from and/or influenced by other cultures.

We should not be afraid to enjoy these traditions. However, we do need to be on the lookout for mixtures that would not be honoring to Hashem. Below are some unique Chanukiah and Dreidel ideas that I found on the Internet. Some are pretty cool, some are downright wrong.

Chanukiot

This is nice. I'd use this one. Would be a nightmare to clean though.

I don't think I'd make a Chanukiah like this in my house.

I'm not a Disney fan. Would probably pass on this one.

Very interesting.

Shoes? Really?

I love this country but I'm not too wild about the Eagle or the Lady Liberty image.

Definitely staying away from this one.

Dreidels

Eh, I don't think so.

Again, I'm not a Disney fan.

Reminds me of my D&D days. Not for me.

I've always had a problem with snow globes. 

What is this?

I know it's not a real Dreidel, I thought it was funny.

These guys took the Dreidel game to another level.
I've never tried it but I've been told it's fun.

We bought one of these this year for our family
and we gave 3 away as prizes. This is a blast! 

Red flag. Stay away.

I thought this was a joke but you can actually buy this one—but don't.

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Are Chanukah Presents Pagan?

In the Messianic Movement we tend to ‘pagan-ize’ everything about all of the traditions we have forsaken. We link the gifts given at Christmas to ancient pagan child sacrifices; therefore giving gifts during this season is typically avoided by some Messianics. I never made this connection growing up in a Roman Catholic home. I was taught that the gifts were connected to our gift of the baby Jesus and/or the gifts given by the three wise men. However, as I got older I began to despise the gift-giving part of Christmas. The gifts became more and more the central part of Christmas overshadowing the birth of Jesus. It is common knowledge that the song ‘Santa Claus Is Coming To Town’ and Christmas advertisements by Coca-Cola helped to create the image of Santa Claus in the US. Since then, the commercialization of Christmas (i.e, gift-giving) took off. The biggest money making season for the US retail market begins on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) and ends on Christmas. Christmas is now a huge money making machine and a bona fide American tradition.

Just because pagans practice gift giving doesn’t make gift-giving pagan. Pagans do a lot of things that believers do. They light candles, they sing, they dance, they offer sacrifices and they hold communal meals. The practice of these things is not bad, but who, what, when, where, why, and how they are done is the important part.

Keep in mind that Chanukah is not a commanded festival (Leviticus 23). Did Yeshua recognize it? Yes (John 10:22), and He took advantage of it’s significance; but Chanukah is more like a ‘civil’ celebration than a Moed (Appointed Time) of Hashem. Therefore, the celebration of it is all tradition. Who makes the traditions? We do. In case you haven’t noticed, borrowing from surrounding cultures is a very Jewish thing. Think about it; Klezmer music, the Yiddish language, gefilte fish, lox and bagels, dreidels, latkes, homentashn, kreplach, kugel – all of these are considered to be Jewish customs and traditions, however they were all influenced by the Eastern European culture that surrounded the Ashkenazi Jews.

I’ve heard that there was a Jewish tradition to give roaming Torah Teachers gelt at the end of the year, around wintertime. This tradition evolved into giving the gelt to children, which has now evolved into giving gifts during Chanukah. Is this true? I’m not sure, but I have also heard that gift giving during Chanukah is an American Jewish tradition and not done so much in Israel.

So, when American Jews give gifts during Chanukah, are they borrowing from American culture or are they offering ancient pagan child sacrifices to Hashem? All the Jewish folks that I’ve talked to admit that gift giving during Chanukah is only a concession because of Christmas. It is an attempt to make Chanukah more appealing in order keep their children connected to the Jewish faith while living in a materialistic culture. Is that really a bad thing? I wouldn’t recommend going into debt to give gifts to your children, but spending a couple of dollars might be worth it.

If giving gifts during this ‘civil’ holiday bugs you, the next ‘civil’ holiday, Purim, is another opportunity for you to give gifts. In fact, Esther and Mordechai actually recommended that during Purim, everyone should give “gifts of food to one another and gifts to the poor.” (Esther 9:19, 22)

Look at it all with a ‘grain of discernment’ and during Chanukah, give gifts as you feel led. My only caveat is to be careful not to make the gifts the central theme of your celebrations.

Related Articles:
Hanukkah, American Style, (MyJewishLearning.com)
Re-inventing Chanukah in America (Washington Post, by David Saperstein, December 24, 2011)

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Culture of Death In Children's Clothes

A cute array of clothes for boys (0-24 mos)

I haven't been to the mall in a long time. Actually, last year I went to the Apple Store, but that was an in-and-out visit. I'm not a mall shopper. Anyway, Margaret was on a quest for the sturdiest boys pants. In the past we got the boy's pants at Walmart, but they don't last very long. One time Aaron wore a hole in his Walmart pants in one day! We stopped by Old Navy but the pants there seemed a bit thin too. Margaret recalled a pair of pants that Isaac had from the Gap that withstood his rough handling, so we went there to see what they had.

Because we are followers of Yeshua and observers of His Torah, I knew that the whole mall would be filled with fashions and designs that we would not agree with. I knew that in the Gap there would be clothes that we would not want for our children; but what I saw really took me by surprise. I did not expect to see this. Keep in mind, today is November 16th, two weeks after Halloween. All of the Halloween decorations are gone. The mall is now covered with Christmas colors and embellishments; Christmas songs are played in most of the stores and Santa hats are on all of the mannequins. Like the other stores, the Gap had their winter clothes prominently displayed in their windows.

As I walked through the boys clothes in the Gap, I noticed a green and blue argyle sweater that I thought would look nice on Isaac. After I picked it up and looked at it closer, I noticed that it had skulls woven into the pattern! I couldn't believe it. Why? Why would anyone want skulls on their children's clothing? How is this acceptable? I thought maybe it was a leftover sweater from Halloween, but it was a new item. As I continued to walk through the boys clothes I noticed more skull patterns and prints on many of the shirts, sweaters, jackets and hats. These clothes were not dark and creepy looking, but were bright and with fun colors. It's as if skulls have become an acceptable image to wear on our everyday clothing. Are skulls no longer associated with the occult and death but now accepted in our society as ordinary symbols? How did this happen? It's a juxtaposition of images, colors and children that I cannot fathom.

What was even more alarming to me was that these patterns were not only on the boys clothes, they were also on the baby's clothing. Below are photos of the clothes for baby boys 0-24 months old. Click on the photos below to see them in detail. Would you put these clothes on your baby boy?

Flannel skull shirt

Printed skull socks

Skull shawl cardigan

Argyle skull hat

Skull argyle sweater vest

Related Links:
Gap - Baby Boys (0-24 Mos)
Punk Baby Clothes
Crazy Baby Clothing



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Don't Do What They Do.

You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt,
where you lived,
and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan,
to which I am bringing you.
You shall not walk in their statutes.

— Leviticus 18:3 (ESV)

Hashem pulled Israel out of a depraved society and put them smack-dab in the middle of a land surrounded by more depraved people. The life of a believer in Messiah is not a cakewalk. We are to be in the world but not of the world. We will always be surrounded by the morally corrupt. We will be tempted by their ways, but we cannot give in and participate with them. We are called to be set apart and by living set apart we, in turn, set apart His Name. How can we say we are His if we are living like the world, contrary to His instructions?

It is a constant uphill battle but with His help, through the power of the Ruach, we can make it.



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Making Witchcraft Commonplace

Driving into work this morning I heard a radio ad by Car Toys that disturbed me. I looked up the ad on their website so I could hear it again and I found out that the new Car Toys slogan is "It's Almost Magic." As expected, they have a few more radio spots based on this theme and a couple of television commercials too. The idea behind the campaign is that customers are so surprised by the way Car Toys transformed their vehicle that they are now convinced Car Toys is using magic. The commercial that I heard is titled "Illegal warlockery". It features a teenaged girl who is giving feedback to Car Toys about the work they did on her mother's minivan.

You can listen to the ad here:

I'm not coming down on Car Toys as a company or the products and services that they provide. I love good quality sound and I've heard they do some good work. In fact, if I had a few extra bucks I'd like to put a new stereo in our family Suburban and maybe a GPS; but anyway...

I get the idea behind the ad campaign—Wow, Car Toys does some really cool stuff to cars; so cool that they could not have done it without the help of magic. I get it, pretty neat concept.

What bothers me is the way terms related to witchcraft are thrown around and made to seem so commonplace. I understand, it's a secular radio station, if I don't like it I can turn it off, whatever. My point is this: I have never heard witchcraft talked about so lightly in an advertisement and presented in such a way that makes it seem like everyone does it. For example, the girl in the ad, figuring that Car Toys is into magic, says, "I'm super stoked that you're into the dark arts." First of all, my children would probably ask me what 'super stoked' means and then they would ask what the 'dark arts' are. Consider that—they are called dark arts. Since when is dark, as in the occult, a good thing? And why is this teenaged girl stoked about dark arts? Do her parents know she is into the dark arts? Do they approve of this?

Then the girl says in a normal everyday kinda tone "...I do love witchery, so call me." You might be thinking, "Michael, don't you watch TV? Haven't you seen all the vampire shows? What's the big deal? This stuff is everywhere." Well, no. I don't watch TV and I haven't for over 10 years now. And yes, I have heard of the vampire shows; that's why I don't watch TV! We don't read the Harry Potter books either or any other books that glamorize witchcraft. When she was very young, my oldest daughter threw away all of the Disney books in our library that mentioned magic—and that was MOST of the Disney books. This was her idea because we taught her early on that witchcraft was not of Adonai. Back to the commercial—is witchcraft really that common in our society that we think it's okay for an average teenaged girl to casually admit over the airwaves that she loves witchery? Is this okay or something that we should just overlook? If it is, our society is further down the tubes than I thought. How many people have heard this commercial and thought, "How nice, my daughter and all her friends are into witchery too."

Her final comment is what put me over the edge. She ends her feedback by telling Car Toys, "We should read tarot cards or like, listen to my boyfriends mix-tape." If you listened to the YouTube commercial above, this is what you heard her say. But what they aired on the radio was something different. Tarot cards are bad enough but instead of the 'mix-tape' comment she said, "We should read tarot cards or like, burn some sage." I took this as a reference to marijuana (which I haven't totally discounted); but after a bit of research, I found that burning sage is an occultic practice used in cleansing a home of evil spirits. Why do we even need to mention these pagan rituals in commercials and put ideas into the minds of our impressionable children? Since when has the occult been a good thing?

The other radio spots are not any better. I have not watched the television commercials and at this point, I don't plan to. What it boils down to is this—we live in a fallen world that is getting darker and darker. We, as believers in Messiah Yeshua, need to become brighter and brighter. I pray that the topic of witchcraft never becomes commonplace in my home and in the minds of my family.



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