Shabbat Shalom! I am so cold and I am missing the Mediterranean weather of the land of Israel. But duty calls here in America. Elana goes home soon, and then I will follow. Last night, we had a wonderful Hanukkah party. Because our daughter Yael now owns a restaurant, we ate there while it was closed for the holidays.
Yael makes amazing potato latkes—as they are part of the regular menu. Many of you know that we use a lot of oil during Hanukkah, whether to fry the potato latkes or the sufganiyot (heavy jelly donuts) because of the miracle of the oil. According to tradition, the Temple had to be rededicated after it was defiled by Antiochus Epiphanes (the Greek dictator of the Seleucid Empire who sacrificed a pig in the Jewish Temple). There was only enough oil for one day to keep the Temple’s menorah lit, but it lasted for eight days until they could get more oil. And because of that, I have to eat a doughnut that has more calories in it than the entire meal.
These were made by Yael’s kitchen manager just for us!
We passed around gifts and lit the Hanukkiah with three candles (one is a servant candle that gives light to the two—for the second day of Hanukkah). It is interesting that in Jewish tradition, there are nine candles that symbolize the eight days of the miracle. The ninth candle is called the shammash (servant) and it is on a higher perch than the others. It is only one that is actually lit by fire. Once lit, it comes down off his perch and gives light to all the other candles. Does that sound familiar?
“By taking the very nature of a servant (shammash!), being made in human likeness..” (Phil 2:7)
“The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.” (John 1:9)
Then we ate a delicious meal that my sister and daughters made—Caesar Salad, sauteed vegetables and salmon. But what really caught my eye in Susie’s Delicatessen was the four massive slabs of pastrami that Yael was cooking in preparation for re-opening today. Pastrami is a mainstay at any Jewish deli.
Delicious Pastrami!
Please continue to pray for Israel. Our youngest daughter is in Tel Aviv, and she, along with much of central Israel, was awakened again in the middle of the night as the Houthi rebels in Yemen sent another ballistic missile. It was intercepted by Israeli defense systems, but this is the fifth night in the last eight nights that Israelis have been startled out of bed and had to run to a bomb shelter. The Houthis claim their target was Ben Gurion Airport. The picture below shows how much of Israel was affected by the potential threat—how many locales heard the middle-of-the-night sirens.
The Iran-backed fanatical group vows to continue with the attacks, even as Hamas and Hezbollah have been decimated.
Thank you for your prayers!
