Rabbi Dr Benjamin Elton

The violent history behind the Chanukah lights

When we celebrate Chanukah today, we do not talk about the civil war behind the festival

Nitzavim-Vayelech

“I am making this covenant… not only with you who are standing here with us today… but also with those who are not here today” Deuteronomy 29:13-14

Ekev

“Who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers had never known, in order to cause you hardship and to test you only to benefit you in the end” Deuteronomy 8:16

Balak

“If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God… so stay the night, so I can discover what the Lord will say to me” Numbers 22:18-19

Naso

“The priest shall write these curses in a scroll, and he shall blot them out into the water of bitterness” Bemidbar 5:23

Tazria-Metzora

Vayakhel-Pekudei

“So the tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first month in the second year” Exodus 40:17

Yitro

“If you make Me an altar of stone, you shalt not build it of hewn stones; for if you lift up your sword upon it, you have profaned it” Exodus 20:25

Vayechi

Vayechi

“This is what their father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him” Genesis 49:28

Noach

"Only Noah was left and those with him in the ark" Genesis 7:23

Shavuot puts the meaning into mitzvah

The essence of Judaism is a response to divine commandment