12/28/25

Jesus, Hanukkah, and proposed National and NY legislation



I didn't realize until this year that Jesus participated in Hanukkah (in English: "Festival of Dedication"). In addition, I learned a lot more about Hanukkah by watching, "The True Story of Hanukkah: The Secret History You Were Never Taught" (Holiday History). 

Apparently, the Catholic Bible and Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament) include the Books of Maccabees, named after the family who led a revolt of Jewish rebels against their Greek-Syrian oppressors in 165 BC. Their victory allowed the Jews to reclaim their Temple in Jerusalem and light the Menorah in an eight-day Festival of Dedication. (According to the video, "The True Story of Hanukkah", assuming it's accurate, the story of the one-day supply of oil keeping the Menorah miraculously lit for eight days was an oral tradition written down hundreds of years later in the Talmud, the second most important Jewish text after the Hebrew Bible.)

Anyway, the New Testament says that Jesus was in Jerusalem during the Festival of Dedication (Hanukkah). While the Gospel of John does not explicitly state that Jesus "celebrated" Hanukkah, it suggests that he was involved with its significance by visiting the Temple. John 10:22-39 states: "Then the Festival-of-Dedication[a] took place in Jerusalem. It was winter. And Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. Then the Jews surrounded Him. And they were saying to Him, “How long are You keeping us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us with plainness”.  Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works which I am doing in the name of My Father— these are testifying about Me. However, you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice. And I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, ever. And someone will not snatch them out of My hand. What My Father has given to Me is greater than all. And no one is able to snatch them out of the hand of the Father. I and the Father are one[d]”.

For a six-minute video on how six Jewish hostages in Gaza recently celebrated Hanukkah in a Hamas tunnel, watch "Hanukkah's TRUE Meaning: The Ancient Spirit of Evil is BACK" (produced by Behold Israel with Amir Tsarfati, a Jewish believer in Jesus, who lives in Israel). 

HOW DID THIS CURRENT ANTISEMITISM HAPPEN?

I always wondered how German citizens could get so brainwashed and violent against Jews in the 1930-40s. When I visited Germany with a Jewish friend in the early 1980s, the elderly couple who welcomed us in their home kept apologizing to my friend about the Holocaust, saying they weren't aware of what was happening to the Jews. Whether or not their ignorance at the time was true, they apparently had been suffering strong guilt for decades.

One way the Nazis promoted Jew hatred was to remove the Jewishness of the Bible: "Rejecting Christianity outright, the Nazis changed the Bible to fit their ends. First, Jesus was rebranded as Aryan...Nazi-era Bibles removed chunks of the Old Testament and edited the Gospels to eliminate references to Jesus’ Jewish heritage, his missional prioritisation of the Israelites, and his fulfilment of Hebrew scripture" (The Making of Hitler: Christianity, Atheism, and the Nazi Ideology, thegoodreport.co.uk). 

I wonder if the Nazi's removed this comment made by Jesus to the Samaritan woman in their Nazi-era Bibles: “salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:22). I wonder if they also removed how the Gentiles are to view the Jews. When Apostle Paul preached Jesus to the Gentiles, he stated, “What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew… Much in every way! First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God” (Romans 3:1–2). When Jews rejected Jesus’ first coming, did God reject them? Apostle Paul said “By no means!…at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace” (Romans 11:1-5). 

Beginning with Hamas invading Israel on Oct 7, 2023, I've seen antisemitism firsthand in the U.S. The day after the invasion,  I felt afraid in my own apartment complex while some of our neighbors loudly celebrated. I thought of King David's writings that urged me to "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: 'May those who love you be secure'."(Psalm 122:6). Afterall, the Lord had said to Abraham about his nation: “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3).

I feel like I'm now living in conditions similar to what happened in Nazi Germany -- and the media is partly to blame. According to Mike Huckabee, U.S. Ambassador to Israel, "Reckless and irresponsible reporting by major U.S. news outlets are contributing to the antisemitic climate that has resulted in the murder of two young people at an Israeli Embassy event in Washington last month and the attempted murder and terror attack on a group of pro-Israel demonstrators in Colorado on Sunday. Without verification of any source other than Hamas and its collaborators...[Hamas] continues to terrorize and intimidate..." (Statement on Media Misinformation on Gaza, June 2025). 


Apostle Paul told Gentiles they are to help the Jews: 

"For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings” (Romans 15:27). Other than donating to some Jewish causes, the only thing I know to do is to ask my pollical leaders to support the following legislation:



National: Antisemitism Awareness Act of 2025 (S558/ HR1007). It is "To provide for the consideration of a definition of antisemitism set forth by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance for the enforcement of Federal antidiscrimination laws concerning education programs or activities, and for other purposes." To support this bill, click into it, and look to the right of the page where you will see "Give Feedback on This Bill." Click on Contact Your Member.
New York Residents: There are three antisemitic bills that I know of. You can click on, "Do you support this bill?") on all three:


  1. Senate Bill S6842: Relates to protections against anti-Semitism in the human rights law and the hate crimes statute
  2. Senate Bill S7034A: Enacts the "Honoring Our Pledge to Eliminate Antisemitism (HOPE) act 
  3. Senate Bill S531: Enacts the New York state antisemitism vandalism  

Lately. I've been studying Scriptures on Jesus' end-time prophecies and Apostle Paul's comments about the Jews. I feel these Scriptures are relevant: 

What to expect in the future: 

“As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. ‘Tell us,’ they said, ‘when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?’”(Matthew 24:3) 


Jesus said, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places...Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world…and then the end will come”  (Matthew 24:7-14).


Are we in the end times? 

When Israel became a nation again on May 14, 1948, I believe it kicked off the end of the end times: “Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day?...For as soon as Zion was in labor she brought forth her children (Isaiah 66:8). "’I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them...they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them,’ says the Lord your God" (Amos 9:14-15). Yet, nations will continue to attack Israel: “It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.” (Zechariah 12:3).


Below my signature are links for further study on Hanukah and Israel. 


Sincerely, 

Lisa Saunders
Other: 
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