Hanukkah is known as the Feast of Dedication or the Festival of Lights. Jesus and His family celebrated the Feast of Dedication (John 10:22), and Jews throughout the ages have faithfully celebrated God’s miracle of provision. Even in their darkest hours, the Jewish people find a way to light the candles of Hanukkah and remember God’s goodness.

Not even Nazi concentration camps kept them from celebrating Hanukkah. Despite owning nothing, Jews managed to find a way to celebrate. One man smuggled a spoon out of Auschwitz as he was transferred to the Kaufering concentration camp. Together with a prisoner who donated a small pat of butter and another who pulled threads from his clothing to make a wick, they lit the light in that tiny spoon and recited the traditional blessings.

At Bergen-Belsen (another Holocaust concentration camp), men saved bits of fat from their meager food rations and women pulled thread from their clothing. A raw potato was carved into a makeshift menorah, and on the first night of Hanukkah, a group of Jews risked their lives to gather together to recite the blessings and light their makeshift candle. At that gathering, a wise rabbi said:

“By kindling this Hanukkah candle we are symbolically identifying ourselves with the Jewish people everywhere. Our long history records many bloody horrors our people have endured and survived. We may be certain that no matter what may befall us as individuals, the Jews as a people will outlive their cruel foes and emerge triumphant in the end.”

~Rabbi Israel Shapiro

A great big Biblical “Amen!” to that.

During WWI, Jewish soldiers at Fort Sill, OK, awaiting orders for deployment to Europe, gathered without Hanukkah supplies or a rabbi. Yet, they fashioned a Hanukkah menorah out of spent shell casings from the firing range. A Christian friend, Harry Truman, was invited to attend the meager, but meaningful, celebration. 31 years later, as President of the United States, Harry Truman went against the advice of his Secretary of State and all his foreign policy advisors to become the first foreign leader to recognize the reborn State of Israel on May 14, 1948! America has stood by Israel since then (albeit, shaky at times).

This week I have rejoiced over pictures of Hanukkah menorahs, ingeniously sculpted from what they have, all over the Gaza Strip where the IDF has conquered territory!

Let’s pray that IDF soldiers will come to know Jesus as the Light of the world as they close out this Hanukkah season!