Sometimes politicians make great statements, even if they have nothing to do with great actions.  Here is a great statement by Israeli President Shimon Peres on Wednesday.

(IsraelNN.com) Against his advisors’ recommendations, President Shimon Peres lit the fourth light of the Chanukah menorah on Wednesday night together with Sderot’s children at a community center of the rocket-ravaged town. “In Gaza, they light missiles. In Sderot, we light candles,” Peres addressed the residents. “From the moment that the missile attacks on Israel will cease, there will be quiet in Gaza and the border crossings will open. The sole responsibility to the situation in Gaza clearly rests on the shoulders of the Hamas,” the President added.

If you are reading this from the comfort of your home, without thought of missiles exploding through your roof, or at your children’s playground…count you blessings,
thank your Creator.
Greet your neighbors.
Hug your spouse.
Kiss your children.
Thank your parents.
Speak to G-d with real words.

In other words, light your “candles” and burst through the dark.

“The turbid, stormy waters of secularity roar and foam,
as they seek to swallow up all that is sacred.

In their quaking enormity,
they inundate nations and peoples,

but the strength of Israel
shall never founder.”

(Ma’amarei HaRe’iyah 150)

Here are some resources for you to learn the origins and basis for Christmas, as well as guidelines for Chanukah, and some other thoughts I had.

Table of Contents for this post:

1. Can Noahides Celebrate Christmas?
2. Can Noahides Celebrate Chanukah?
3. Historical Background
4. How to Handle Family Conflict Over Christmas and Chanukah
5. There Are Worst Things Than Christmas Trees

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Can Noahides Celebrate Christmas?

From The Path of the Righteous Gentile:

… the Noahide is strictly forbidden to create a new holiday that has religious significance and claim that it is part of his own religion, even if the religion is the observance of the Seven Noahide Laws. For example, it would be forbidden to make a holiday celebrating the subsiding of the waters of the Flood of Noah or anything of the like. And, all the more so, it would be forbidden to institute holidays that ascribe religious significance to events [or myths] outside the purview of the Seven Noahide Commandments [for example, Easter or the popular holiday on Dec. 25].

Celebrating secular activities and commemorating historical events, even if they involve a festive meal, are permissible [for example, the Independence Day of your own country, such as July 4th in the U.S.]. [It is also permissible for Noahides to participate in days which are set aside by their nation for remembering to praise and give thanks to the One True G-d, such as Thanksgiving and the National Day of Prayer in the U.S.]

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Can a Noahide Celebrate Hanukkah?

Yes! (there may be Rabbinic approaches that disagree.  iHN follows those that do agree, namely Rav Yoel Schwartz.)

…as long as Noahides don’t turn their celebration into a new religion or incorporate idolatrous practices into their celebration. Doing so is forbidden.  If they light candles, they should not say the blessings over them since they were not commanded to do these things, whereas the Jews were commanded after G-d made the miracles for them. However, reading the story of Chanukah, singing songs of praise to G-d, and speaking about G-d’s greatness are appropriate for Noahides.  See Nancy’s guide below.

Nancy, of the Oklahoma B’nai Noach Society has put together a lovely Chanukah Guide based on her Bnei Noach family’s yearly celebration.

You can donwload the PDF of the guide at the following link:

http://www.okbns.org/Free.html

Chanukah begins at sundown on the 25th of the Hebrew month of Kislev.
This year it is Sunday December 21st.
Each day of Chanukah begins at the evening.
So the first day is Sunday-night & Monday-day.

Here is the introduction to Nancy’s guide (with permission):

Every year as our family begins to prepare for Chanukah, we get a lot of questions from family and friends about why and how we celebrate this “Jewish” holiday.  This guide is written to answer the most common questions and provide a starting point for other Gentiles to begin a tradition of celebration in their own homes.

Unlike the Jews, Gentiles have no command to celebrate Chanukah.  But we may choose to do so as long as we don’t turn our celebration into a new religion or incorporate idolatrous practices into our celebration.

Our family likes to read part of the story each night and light the appropriate number of candles according to the Jewish tradition.  On the eight night, we invite everyone we have room for (always making sure to include someone new) and read the whole story from the beginning!

This book tells only of the way our family celebrates this holiday — which may be different from the way other families celebrate.  However, all celebrations include telling the Chanukah story, lighting candles, and having a lot of fun.

Here are the rules our family uses for gift-giving:

1. The gift must increase or reinforce the recipient’s knowledge or awareness of G-d.
2. The giver should be able to explain the relationship of the item to one of the lessons of Chanukah or how the gift will benefit the recipient to be more aware of G-d.

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Historical Background of Christmas

The Real Story of Christmas (download) (low bandwidth)
The Real Story of Christmas (download) (high bandwidth)

(To read answers to the following questions, go here:
http://www.simpletoremember.com/vitals/Christmas_TheRealStory.htm -iHN)

1. When Was Jesus Born?
2. How Did Christmas Come to Be Celebrated on December 25?
3. The Origins of Christmas Customs
4. The Christmas Challenge

Excerpt:

The Christmas Challenge

• Christmas has always been a holiday celebrated carelessly.  For millennia, pagans, Christians, and even Jews have been swept away in the season’s festivities, and very few people ever pause to consider the celebration’s intrinsic meaning, history, or origins.
• Christmas celebrates the birth of the Christian god who came to rescue mankind from the “curse of the Torah.”  It is a 24-hour declaration that Judaism is no longer valid.
• Christmas is a lie.  There is no Christian church with a tradition that Jesus was really born on December 25th.
• December 25 is a day on which Jews have been shamed, tortured, and murdered.
• Many of the most popular Christmas customs – including Christmas trees, mistletoe, Christmas presents, and Santa Claus – are modern incarnations of the most depraved pagan rituals ever practiced on earth.

Many who are excitedly preparing for their Christmas celebrations would prefer not knowing about the holiday’s real significance.  If they do know the history, they often object that their celebration has nothing to do with the holiday’s monstrous history and meaning.  “We are just having fun.”

Imagine that between 1933-45, the Nazi regime celebrated Adolf Hitler’s birthday – April 20 – as a holiday.  Imagine that they named the day, “Hitlerday,” and observed the day with feasting, drunkenness, gift-giving, and various pagan practices.  Imagine that on that day, Jews were historically subject to perverse tortures and abuse, and that this continued for centuries.

Now, imagine that your great-great-great-grandchildren were about to celebrate Hitlerday.  April 20th arrived. They had long forgotten about Auschwitz and Bergen Belsen.  They had never heard of gas chambers or death marches.  They had purchased champagne and caviar, and were about to begin the party, when someone reminded them of the day’s real history and their ancestors’ agony.  Imagine that they initially objected, “We aren’t celebrating the Holocaust; we’re just having a little Hitlerday party.”  If you could travel forward in time and meet them; if you could say a few words to them, what would you advise them to do on Hitlerday?

On December 25, 1941, Julius Streicher, one of the most vicious of Hitler’s assistants, celebrated Christmas by penning the following editorial in his rabidly Antisemitic newspaper, Der Stuermer:

If one really wants to put an end to the continued prospering of this curse from heaven that is the Jewish blood, there is only one way to do it: to eradicate this people, this Satan’s son, root and branch.

It was an appropriate thought for the day.  This Christmas, how will we celebrate?

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How To Handle Family Conflict Over Christmas and Chanukah

(NOTE: this is a Jewish woman speaking with a Rabbi, not a Noahide woman.  However, I think the Rabbi’s advice is applicable to anyone really. -iHN)

family_trouble: what is the proper way to handle family who celebrates Christmas and we wish to bring our son up in a strictly Jewish environment?

family_trouble: I should explain–it is my mother who was born Jewish, and raised us Jewishly. My sister married a gentile and thus my mother is trying to please us all-celebrating X-Mas and Chanukah. My son was born naturally Jewish.

Rabbi Gurkow: and you are your son’s mother or father?

family_trouble: I am my sons mother.

Rabbi Gurkow: I see

Rabbi Gurkow: in answer to your question, since you tell me that you and your son are Jewish the correct thing for you to tell your mother is: “thank you very much for thinking of us during this family time, we will gladly participate in the Chanukah celebration, but please understand that we will not be coming to the christmas celebration

Rabbi Gurkow: “that would be contrary to the values and religion in which we are trying to conduct our lives and raise our daughter”

Rabbi Gurkow: then send your parents and your sister nice cards and gifts that have nothing to do with christmas and everything to do with family and love

family_trouble: We tried that for the first time this year and now my extended family is not speaking to us because of our decision. Should we make any attempts to heal the rift?

Rabbi Gurkow: yes
Rabbi Gurkow: but be sure to understand the dynamics first… the root of their irritation
Rabbi Gurkow: is it that your religion is different or that you sent anti family signals?

family_trouble: That we are “too Jewish” now and they cannot relate to us any longer.

Rabbi Gurkow: That itself can be seen in two ways described above. can you discern what the root is?

family_trouble: Yes, I was raised secular and my mother would prefer not to acknowledge her Jewish roots any longer.

Rabbi Gurkow: if the problem is indeed religious then you need to know first and foremost that the shoe is on the other foot… your family is being incosiderate here not yoruself

Rabbi Gurkow: you are not required to participate when the values at an event are contrary to the choices you made in life… you need not be brought to another’s life preferences… you have the right to make your own choices

Rabbi Gurkow: and if they cannot see that, then it is indicative that they do not respect your maturity, independance and inherent right to make your life’s choices
Rabbi Gurkow: you are howevr required to be civil, polite and nice
Rabbi Gurkow: if you have done that then you have fulfilled your requirement
Rabbi Gurkow: so in answer to your question, you should make efforts to make ammends — but do so without guilt… know that you are the one reaching out across a divide that you did not create

family_trouble: Thank you Rabbi–this has been a very painful time for me and my own family. I will take your advise and hope that the rift can be healed. I also plan to discuss this with my own Rabbi for support.

Rabbi Gurkow: I can only imagine how painful a subject this is, I can only imagie the pain of being left alone and misunderstood, and I must tell you that this will not go away… it will be an issue every year… so you must face it head on

Rabbi Gurkow: it may still have after-effects but at least it will have been dealt with
Rabbi Gurkow: please do discuss this with your rabbi
Rabbi Gurkow: he may have an entirely differnt approach, but that will largely depend on your rabbi

family_trouble: I think he will agree with you, Rabbi. I just needed support from a Rabbinical source at this time. You have been so very kind to lend you time and wisdom. Many thanks.

Rabbi Gurkow: your welcome
Rabbi Gurkow: shabbat shalom

family_trouble: Shabbat Shalom and thank you for providing me with some peace.

(source: http://www.askmoses.com/en/article/703,136539/What-is-the-proper-way-to-handle-an-invitation-to-a-family-Christmas-party.html)

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There Are Worst Things Than Christmas Trees

(I feel very similar to Shira who authored the below statements on cross-currents -iHN)

Excerpt from “The Noahide Commandments”

By Rabbi Yoel Schwartz

It is stated in the book of Zechariah that after the Temple will be restored, during the holiday of Succoth all the nations of the world will make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to bow down before G-d. (Zechariah 14:1-21)

It is worthwhile for a person to take his vacation during this time. By doing so, a Noahide can use this free time to study, to observe nature and to meet with fellow Noahides for mutual prayer with emphasis on world peace just as Israelites did when the Temple existed and, as sacrifices were made for the welfare of all the nations, to pray for the coming of the Messiah who will amend the ways of the world.

Mon., October 13, 2008 - Tues., October 21, 2008.

Click Here for information!

It’s not too late to show up to the Noahide Sukkot celebration in Oklahoma!

(source: Aish.com)

The Talmud relates that in the future, when the pagans will complain to G-d about His preferential treatment of the Jews, He will tell them that this is because the Jews accepted and followed the Torah. They were not so much the “chosen people,” as the “choosing people,” so to speak; they chose to follow G-d’s law.

The pagans will then plead, “Offer us the Torah anew and we will follow it.” “You foolish people,” G-d will answer, “he who prepares in advance of Shabbat can eat on Shabbat, but he who made no preparations, what can he eat? Nevertheless, I have an easy commandment called Sukkah, go and fulfill it…” Why is it called an easy commandment? Because it has no expense. Immediately each one will build a booth, a Sukkah, on his roof, but G-d will cause the sun to blaze as if it were the summer solstice. Each one will then kick his Sukkah, and leave… Thereupon G-d will laugh, as it is said, “He that sits in heaven and laughs.” (Talmud - Avoda Zara 3a)

Although this passage is difficult for several reasons, I would like to focus on one of its main themes: that pagans will not be able to keep the commandment of Sukkah. The reason this is so strange is that of all the holidays, Sukkot has been perceived as the most universal, encompassing all the nations of the world.

The Talmud teaches:

Rabbi Eliezer said: “Why are 70 offerings brought on Sukkot? For the (merit of the) 70 nations of the world.” (Sukkah 55b)

Rashi comments:

To bring forgiveness for them (the 70 nations which comprise the world), so that rain shall fall all over the earth.

The Sages stress that Sukkot has a universal element which is clearly absent in the other festivals: Passover represents the exodus from Egypt and the emergence of a Jewish nation; Shavuot celebrates the giving of the Torah to the Jews. It seems paradoxical to find this expression of the inability of the pagans to relate to G-d specifically in the context of Sukkot.

For the rest of the article, go here

Chag Same’ach - Happy Holiday!

Yom Kippur starts this evening. It is customary and a necessity for Jews to ask forgiveness from all the people whom they have knowingly or unknowingly hurt, and to forgive those who need their forgiveness, too.

If anyone was ever hurt by anything I might have written - slicha u’mechila (I sincerely apologize).

Wow…

http://www.whoshalllive.com

Thanks for the embed tip DJ!

I admit I should have posted this 2 weeks ago, at the beginning of this month.  My apologies.  Please forgive me.

Rosh Hashanah is coming up quickly.

- The day that Hashem is declared Master over the entirety of Creation, including each and every one of us!
- The anniversary of the day homosapiens were imbued with the soul (the 6th Day of Creation), separating them from the animal kingdom!
- The day that the Creator judges the entirety of Creation!

How can you ensure a wonderful Rosh Hashanah when you stand before the King?

Just like marathon runners prepare many days in advance of their big day, so too must we prepare ourselves in advance.  In fact, we don’t even do teshuvah (repentance) on Rosh Hashanah itself - it’s all supposed to be done now, leading up to the day of judgment!

So here’s how you can get started.

1) Download and read the Rosh Hashanah Celebration guide by the Oklahoma B’nai Noach Society.
2) Don’t (just) make a “New Year’s Resolution” on Rosh Hashanah.  Instead, make and do your resolution now.
3) Take time each day to talk with Hashem.  Go over the past year.  Review your life.¹

Below is the Table of Contents from the OKBNS Rosh Hashanah Celebration guide.

This wonderful guide they have designed with Rabbinic support is not meant to establish a single obligatory standard for all Bnei Noach.  Rather, it is a guide for those who feel that such a guide will enhance there connection to and service of Hashem.  This is important to understand, lest people mistake this for a new religion.
See “About this Book” page 3.

Table of Contents

About this book………………………………………………………………………………….3
Rosh Hashanah (New Year)……………………………………………………………….5
Prayer……………………………………………………………………………………………8
Prayer Customs……………………………………………………………………………8
Pre-Prayer Meditation……………………………………………………………………9
Kindling Lights…………………………………………………………………………….10
Psalms 1……………………………………………………………………………………11
Prayer for Parents……………………………………………………………………….11
Prayer for Children………………………………………………………………………11
Prayer for Remembrance……………………………………………………………..11
Rosh Hashanah Celebration Meal ……………………………………………………..13
Kiddush………………………………………………………………………………………..14
Washing of the Hands……………………………………………………………………14
Symbolic Foods…………………………………………………………………………….15
Against Idolatry…………………………………………………………………………..15
Against Theft………………………………………………………………………………15
Establishing courts of Justice………………………………………………………..15
Against Blasphemy……………………………………………………………………..16
Against Homicide………………………………………………………………………..16
Against Elicit Behavior…………………………………………………………………16
Against Eating the Limb of a Living Animal …………………………………….16
Merits of Society…………………………………………………………………………16
Blessing for Bread…………………………………………………………………………16
Blessing for Apples………………………………………………………………………..17
Eat the Festive Meal…………………………………………………………………………17
Blessing After the Meal……………………………………………………………………..17
Blessing of the New Moon…………………………………………………………………18
Shema……………………………………………………………………………………………19
Song………………………………………………………………………………………………20

I met a Chabad rabbi yesterday at mincha who told me the following story that happened to him:

“This weekend I went on vacation with my wife.  A man came up to us to help us with directions.  He was wearing a big cross on his necklace and around his wrist - and then he says to us ‘I’m Jewish!’

At first I didn’t believe him, because in my experience, some Christians consider themselves ‘Jewish’ for…reasons.

But then the guy said something that made me realize he really was Jewish.

So I said to this Jew who had somehow ended up outside of Judaism:
‘I wish I had a pair of tefillin! so you could do the mitzvah of tefillin.  Well, you can at least recite the Shema with me.’

So we covered our eyes and said the Shema together.

Just as we finished saying the Shema, a car drove up to the sidewalk where we were and out comes a chassidic man I had met that weekend, who just happened to have a pair of tefillin in his car!  And he showed up just as we finished reciting the Shema!

This month is the Hebrew month of ‘Elul‘ when we prepare ourselves for the upcoming Rosh Hashanah (New Year) in which our past year’s actions will be examined.  We are taught that our prayers during this month are more rapidly accepted by Hashem because ‘the King is in the field’ so-to-speak.

I said, “I wish I had a pair of tefillin” and suddenly tefillin appeared out of nowhere!  But my wife says I asked for the wrong thing.  I should have asked for Mashiach!

Note:
The relationship that Bnei Noach have to Rosh Hashanah - the New year - is different than for Jews.  I will post Rabbi Shwartz’s article on this topic in detail soon, B”H.

As a follow up to yesterday’s post on the real names for the days of the week, here’s an answer to a very common and important question for Bnei Noah.

How Do Noahides Observe the Sabbath (Shabbat / Shabbos)?

(source: WikiNoah.org)
(excerpted from “Noahide Commandments” Download PDF | View Online)

Rabbi Yoel Schwartz (Jerusalem Court for Bnei Noah)

A Noahide should not observe the Shabbat in the manner that a Jew does. Nor should he make a point of abstaining from hard physical work on the Shabbat. A Noahide should not give occasion for a Jew to break the Shabbat.

There are those who say that every Ger Toshav (a non-Jew living in Eretz Yisrael in the time of the Jewish Temple, who has formally accepted the obligation to observe the Noahide laws in front of a Jewish court) has to uphold and keep the Sabbath (Rashi, Kritot 9, Yevamot 40). There is room to suggest that the Noahides, even nowadays, by accepting to fulfill the seven commandments, are in the same category as a Ger Toshav and should, according to Rashi, be required or at least allowed to keep the Shabbat. So I (Rav Schwartz) would like to suggest that this is the way that the Noahides could celebrate the Seventh Day, a day of refraining from his vocation. On the eve of the Sabbath (Friday night), they might have a festive family dinner with special food and light candles after sundown in honor of the Seventh Day, which was given to Adam and Noah (and to make the Noahide celebration of the Shabbat distinct from the Jewish Shabbat observance). During the meal they may sing songs to strengthen their belief, including songs about the creation. They may read from the Torah. They should not call this day the Sabbath, but the Seventh Day as it is written in Genesis.

On the Seventh Day itself, if they can arrange it without difficulty, they should refrain from going to work. If possible, they should go out to the fields or a park so as to feel close to the Creator of the world. If the congregation holds a prayer session, they may recite the Psalms connected to the Sabbath and to the creation (like Psalm 104). Also they should study portions of the Torah connected to commandments of the children of Noah. They can study from the weekly portion of the Torah being read that Sabbath in the synagogues those subjects which concern all mankind and skipping those topics that concern specifically the Jews.

At the end of the Sabbath (Motzai Shabbat), the end of the Seventh Day and the beginning of the new week, they can recite the prayer for the new week (Havdalah) after having lit a havdalah candle, to thank G-d for having taught Adam how to make fire, which is the source of all energy that enabled man to make changes in this world. This Havdalah prayer, that separates the Seventh Day from the beginning of the week, can be recited as a Noahide wishes and can go something like this.

Blessed are you our G-d, King of the Universe, Who differentiates between darkness and light, between day and night, between the seventh day from the first day of the week, between the clean and the unclean, between the sacred and secular, between holy days and regular days, between Israel and the rest of the nations, who together are partners in one holy objective, to make Your Name holy in this world. AMEN.

(See more in the lengthy discussion here.)