Noahide Fellowship

Hanukkah is a holiday that symbolizes the dedication of Jews to maintain their identity and faith as given in the Torah, in the face of a mighty, idolatrous nation of Greeks. It is not only a historical story of military victory but primarily a spiritual victory of faith in the oneness of G-d in the face of heresy and idolatry.

Although today in much of the world it is possible to observe the commandments freely, the message of Hanukkah is more relevant and important than ever and also related to Noahides. There are still great nations in the world that have heresy and idolatry engraved on their flags. The struggle today is against the negative forces emerging in the world, forces who claim to fight for social fairness but their actual language is violence and terrorism. These impure forces stand against the forces of holiness. The Hebrew word for Greek is “Yavan” which also means mud. The Greeks were concentrated on selfish ideologies. A selfish approach is a kind of mud. Faith in G-d and serving Him was something odd in their culture, they didn't want to accept it. 

There is a connection between the message from the holiday of Hanukkah and the current global situation. There are still idolatrous violent countries in the world that try to impose their wrong way by using power. The struggle between idolatry and faith in one G-d is continuous. Idolatry attributes power to nature or secondary creatures, while belief in one G-d represents the unity and complete submission of all creation to the Creator, who constitutes and recreates it at every moment. 

This is related to Noahides in that the Seven Commandments constitute a moral foundation for all humanity. In other words, awareness of the importance of serving one G-d. Therefore, Hanukkah is relevant today: a struggle to maintain faith against evil forces that seek to impose their false ideologies based on human intellect only. 

Today, this struggle manifests itself in various forms. It is not necessarily a physical struggle. Hanukkah is a holiday that calls us to look within and find the strength to overcome the challenges. It reminds us that true courage is not only physical courage but also spiritual courage to redeem ourselves by being aware of the constant dependence of the entire creation on one G-d.