Against All Odds, Guided by Faith: Israel’s Hanukah Miracle Today - Jeremy Gimpel | Land of Israel

And you know, more than any other holiday, especially with what we're going through right now in Australia, it's like the blessing is bas in those days, in these times. And the historical parallels between the Mcabes and the modern state of Israel, it's uncanny. It's like not in the Bible because we're actually able to see it now in our final generation. And the Mcabes, they stood up against the most powerful empire in the world around the Middle East. They were the ones. and the solucid Greek kingdom led by Antiocus which I already said he was the root of all evil. He was um kind of riding the wave of the force of evil in the world in that generation. And the people of Israel were outnumbered, outar armed, written off by the world. And the Mcabes, they had to fight not only a physical war but a spiritual war. and the spread of Hellenism, you know, that world view came to destroy our religious identity and they tried to destroy us from within. And today, Israel has the same constellation surrounded by this empire, billions to very few. And it's like we are up against impossible odds. Kamas in Gaza, Hezbollah and Lebanon, terror networks throughout Judea and Samaria, the nuclear ambitions of Iran, militias in Yemen and Syria, enemies outside, extremists inside. We're just surrounded like how are the Jews going to make it? And the stage is being set for this little bit of light to banish all this darkness. And you know, beneath the geopolitical tensions, there's like a deeper struggle that's happening. And the ideological battle of the Kaneka story, it Hellenism, it really tried to erase the holy. It tried to redefine morality. And they wanted to replace our timeless values with fashionable ones. And the modern counterpart today is wokeism. Wokeism today is modern Hellenism. It's the same attempt to uproot our identity, to destroy our history, to distort our values, to impose a world view that's hostile to faith, that's hostile to family, that's hostile to tradition. It's the same battle today. And so the events of October 7th made this painfully clear. What Israel encountered, it wasn't just politics. It's not a territorial dispute. We are at war with pure evil. raw and unmasked. And just as in the Makabian era, the shock has reoriented the Jews, so many around the world. We understand the battle being fought on Israel's soil is a battle for our soul. It's not left versus right or this land versus that land. It's really a struggle between light and darkness, truly between good and evil. And when we light the candles, we're saying we side with the light. And the Mcabes, they did not win because they had a better strategy or better weapons or numbers. None of that. They won because they embodied amunachma, complete faith. They knew that they could go up against impossible odds and win because they had faith that God was by their side. It wasn't just a passive belief the redemption will come. It's like no faith expressed in action. stepping forward with courage while trusting that God would meet them halfway. That is the secret of Israel. And you know, their victory teaches that miracles begin with our movement. Redemption starts when people live Hebrew faith. We hosted a fellowship family here on the farm for Shabbat and they've been members of the fellowship for years. They finally came to Israel and we had them over and they said that there was one teaching in the fellowship that changed their life and it was the essence of Hebrew faith and we've taught this many times but there's so many new visitors now I just want to give you a sneak peek into the Hebrew teachings of the Torah. Amuna is faith in Hebrew. But that word stems from the root amun which means practice. Amuna is faith and emman is loyalty. Those are three words combined into one. That's the power of Hebrew. So what is biblical faith? What is Hebrew faith? It's faith in practice with loyalty. When you are loyal and you live out and practice your faith, that is Hebrew faith. That's biblical faith. That's really what it's all about. And that's what we're trying to give over to our children. that it doesn't just stay um a theology in the field in the in the atmosphere. It's in our hearts and it's in our lives. And you know, we mentioned it before, but Kaneka is a family holiday because it was a single family, Matiu and his sons, a handful of brothers whose conviction ignited the entire nation. And Kaneka reminds us that our strength begins at home with our wives, with our husbands, with our children. And so when we learn the Torah portions right around Kaneka, we talk about the first breakdown of family when the brothers sell Joseph into slavery and we fix it in Kaneka because it was only the brothers, these priests from Modí, that one family that gathered together so united, it sparked a movement that reshaped the destiny of Israel and the destiny of the world. And so that message could not be more relevant today. And so it's like in moments of unity, moments when Israel stands together, we are unstoppable. And this fellowship is just aligning with that destiny. That's really what this is about. Gathering the sparks from around the world to align with us together because united together we are unstoppable. And so when you look at history, honestly, just this moment, you know, it's very clear. We're not just celebrating the story of the Mcabes, but we are living it. The manora in our windows is more than just a symbol of ancient light. It's a reminder and a challenge to live with courage, to live with clarity, to live with unity for our times in those days at this time. That's the blessing that we make. And so it's really inviting us to see Kaneka not just as this ancient holiday but as prophecy that's unfolding for our generation. And so I want to bless everyone that we absorb the lessons of our past that we stand strong in the face of darkness that we know with certainty that the Mcabes continue in our days in this land and in this generation. Hey, that was a highlight from this week's Land of Israel Fellowship. If you like that highlight, you'll love the Land of Israel Fellowship. Find out more on the landofisrael.com. Join our global community from over 50 countries around the world that gather together every Sunday live from Israel. Check it out on the link below. [music]