AllJewishLinks.com Newsletter Issue # 10 December 28, 2011

1,500 Jews attended a candle-lighting ceremony at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, to commemorate the first of eight nights of Hanukkah, according to the Chabad Movement they stood together singing the Hanukkah hymn “Maoz Tzur”, the Jewish residents, tourists and VIPs of Berlin celebrated the victory of light over darkness in a country that, tried to annihilate them.

Even though Hannukah, with its menorah candles and gift-giving, has grown in prominence in the public eye as another key December religious festival, the Hasidic rabbi feels compelled to point out the many differences between Hannukah and X-mas. Rabbi Yechiel Baitelman is frequently asked that question about the annual eight-day Jewish festival. The first thing the rabbi says in response is that Hannukah began about 400 years before the birth of J., in whose name X-mas was first celebrated. So there’s no original historical connection.

The Anti-Defamation League strongly condemned an incident of anti-Semitic graffiti on a Hackensack synagogue, which is the second incident in the past two weeks. At a time when Jews are celebrating the joyous festival of Hanukkah, they instead find themselves cleaning symbols of hatred off their place of worship. Graffiti swastikas are often the work of malicious juveniles, the appearance of white supremacist symbols strongly suggests an extremist connection.”

The Dutch government will be appointing a commission to study new tightened rules for ritual slaughter. The commission will attempt to satisfy animal rights activists without infringing on Jewish and Muslim traditions. The decision came as the leader of the Dutch small Animal Rights Party, Marianne Thieme, decided to withdraw a bill calling for a ban of the practice of kosher slaughter without stunning.

To understand any Jewish Holiday  is helpful to restate the foundation of Judaism, which is that there is a G-d, who is completely spiritual who created a world with physical and spiritual parts. Man is the only creation with both a spiritual side and a physical side. Jewish people’s have a role to lead mankind to an integration of the physical into the spiritual. this can be accomplished by filling our lives and the world with G-d focused thoughts, speech and actions.

While Christmas is among the top two Christian holidays in terms of importance, Hanukkah is considered a minor holiday for the Jewish people. Ironically on the night before Hanukkah, which was Monday Night Football game was delayed because there was no light in Candlestick Park in San Francisco. As if it’s not funny enough that a stadium named Candlestick had no electricity. Nevertheless, it has become one of the more widely celebrated Jewish holidays and it is certainly a favorite among children. Perhaps if they could just find enough electricity at Candlestick Park for one quarter of the football game.

And finally with the theme of “home sweet home” and 2012, an idea for a nesting house mobile has finally come to fruition. A 25 page digital crafting kit with lots of fun pages that you print from your own computer. Mix and match the elements and have fun making some festive mobiles and decorations that you can enjoy year round! Great for so many occasions, and customizable for a extra fee.

Happy Reading!!

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