During the Second Temple, the Greek empire reigned (over Israel),1 and they (the Greeks) passed decrees against the Jews and (tried) to erase their religion, and did not allow them to carry out Torah (study) or the commandments. They put their hands on their property and their daughters. They entered the Temple, destroyed and made the pure unclean. The Jews were in great distress because of them and were much oppressed, until the G-d of their fathers had mercy on them, delivering them from their hands and saving them. Then overcame, the sons of the Hasmonean High Priest, (the Greeks) and killed them and saved the Jews from their hands. They appointed a king from the Priests, and the kingdom of Israel was restored for more than 200 years until the destruction of (the) second (Temple). When the Jews overcame their enemies and destroyed them, it was the 25th of Kislev2 when they entered the Sanctuary (inner room) and did not find pure (olive) oil in the Temple, except one jar sealed with seal of the High Priest, and it did not contain enough to light except for one day only. But they lit from it the lamps of the Menorah3 for eight days, until they could crush olives and produce a (new quantity) of pure oil. For these reasons, decreed the Sages of that generation that these eight days that begin on the 25th Kislev, will be days of joy and praise. One lights on them lamps at evening at the entrance to the houses, every evening of the eight nights to show off and demonstrate the miracle. These days are called ''Hanukah'' that is to say ''they rested'' (chanu) on the ''25'' ('th of the month) because on the 25th they rested from their enemies. and also because of those days they (re)-dedicated the house (Temple) which their foes had defiled. Also some say that it is a commandment to increase slightly the festive meals on Hanukah. Another reason is because the work of (building) the Sanctuary (in the desert) was completed in these days. One should tell one's children the story of the miracles that were done for our fore-fathers in those days, (see Josephus) However, these meals are not considered as part of the commandment unless one says at the meal songs of praise. One should increase charity in these Hanukah days, for this can help mend any defects in our souls. This charity, should be given particularly to poor Torah scholars. (KSA 139:1)
1) 352 BCE until 70 CE
2) 139 BCE
3) The Menorah was made of gold and had seven branches.
Baltimore, MD – Dec. 10, 2023 – 8:05PM – A large tree branch has fallen onto a portion of the exit ramp of Exit 22 on the way back from Towson. Being unaware of its presence, some drivers have reported scraping their cars unexpectedly. Please exercise extreme caution in this area.
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Baltimore, MD - Dec. 5, 2023 - We haven't received that question yet, but minimizing time online is in total harmony with the observance of Chanukah.
Have you ever wondered why Chanukah appears to be such a private Mitzvah, primarily observed at home with the lighting of the Menorah? While there are special Chanukah additions to synagogue services, such as singing the Hallel praises and inserting the Al HaNisim prayer, no one brings their Menorah to the Shul and waves it like a Lulav. Why is this symbol of the Chanukah miracle reserved for the home?
The Greek war against the Jewish people specifically targeted the Jewish home and family. Recognizing that Torah values, when imparted within the family, remain strong, the Greeks aimed to invade holy Jewish homes with their non-To...
Baltimore, MD – Dec. 10, 2023 - It is with regret that Baltimore Jewish Life (BJL) informs the community of the petira of Irwin Stein, z’l, father of Paul Stein.
The levayah and kevurah took place today in Pittsburgh, PA.
The shiva will be observed in Pittsburgh.
Bila Hamaves LaNetzach...
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Baltimore, MD - Dec. 7, 2023 - It’s Chanukah At BJH & BJL! Submit a photo of your creatively decorated donut to the BJH and win prizes; thebjh.com/donut
And spread the Chanukah light: send in your pictures/videos of events around town to be featured on BJL
Hamas on Sunday threatened to kill all of its remaining hostages if demands such as more aid for Gaza and prisoner exchanges were not met, after suffering repeated losses in its battle with Israel.
The Palestinian terror group is still holding the bodies of 20 hostages who died in captivity, Israel said over the weekend.
Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas’ armed wing, claimed Sunday that not another single kidnap victim will leave Gaza alive unless Israel agrees to all its demands in negotiations that broke down at the start of December. At least some of those demands have been for more aid for Gaza residents and the freeing of Palestinian prisoners.
“Neither the fascist enemy and its arrogant leadership… nor its supporters… can take their prisoners alive withou...
BaltimoreJewishLife.com (BJL) is proud to partner with STAR-K CERTIFICATION that realizes that there is no substitute for a person’s own Rav. In an effort to offer a possible solution, it has launched its Institute of Halachah as a public service. Over the years, the agency’s Kashrus Hotline has answered generic halachic questions from kosher consumers the world over, including inquiries regarding the kosher status of foods and certified Sabbath mode appliances. The formation of a separate official division within STAR-K testifies to the need for addressing these issues.
The Institute of Halachah is directed by HaRav Mordechai Frankel, under the guidance of HaRav Moshe Heinemann, STAR-K’s Rabbinic Administrator. It is an invaluable resource for a diverse array of rabbis to discuss general halachic matters, as well as gain access to source materials for shiurim and answers to congregants’ questions.
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Former Hamas communications minister Yousef al-Mansi heavily criticized the current leadership of the terror group in Gaza as a group of “crazy people” led by Yahya Sinwar, in footage of his interrogation published by the Shin Bet security agency Sunday.
“They destroyed the Gaza Strip. Set it back 200 years,” al-Mansi, who served under the Strip’s former ruler Ismail Haniyeh — currently the head of its political bureau — and in several other roles, said in translated excerpts provided by the Shin Bet. “There is no opportunity to live.”
Israel has labeled Sinwar — who rules the enclave and has been marked as the mastermind of Hamas’s devastating October 7 onslaught — a “walking dead man,” along with the re...
US Ambassador to Israel Extends Unites State Chanukah Greeting to Israel
This evening (Sunday), the lighting ceremony for the fourth night of Chanuka took place at the Western Wall, attended by the rabbi of the Western Wall and holy sites, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz; US Ambassador to Israel Jacob Lew; Health Minister Rabbi Uriel Busso; Western Wall Heritage Foundation director Suli Eliav; Magen David Adom director Eli Bin, and MDA volunteers.
Also present were the families of three heroic Magen David Adom volunteers who were murdered sanctifying the name of God during life-saving operations. The families of Amit Man, a paramedic who was on call on Kibbutz Be'eri, Avi'a Hatzroni, a senior medic from Kibbutz Be'eri, and Aharon Haimov, an emergency medical technician who treated...
IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari says the military has discovered a large tunnel network in Gaza City, below the so-called Palestine Square.
He says troops of the 401st Armored Brigade, the Navy’s Shayetet 13 commando unit, and the Air Force’s Shaldag unit recently completed the capture of the Palestine Square area.
“The Palestine Square area houses Yahya Sinwar’s office, government offices, assets of senior Hamas officials, and there is a network of terror tunnels,” Hagari says.
Hagari says that the troops, using “accurate intelligence,” located the network of “strategic tunnels” in the area, which he says connect to Shifa Hospital.
“This is the area of the main command center, where senior Hamas members were on October ...
The incident unfolded when the pilot, navigating storm clouds in the northern part of Israel, realized the need to divert around them
An El Al Dreamliner passenger plane heading towards Fort Lauderdale in the United States inadvertently entered southern Lebanese airspace during the second day of the war with Hamas, according to a report from Israel Hayom.
The incident unfolded when the pilot, navigating storm clouds in the northern part of Israel, realized the need to divert around them.
In constant communication with both air force and civilian controllers, the pilot received instructions to maneuver around the storm clouds. During this diversion, the aircraft unintentionally entered Lebanese territory while navigating around the weather system.
Controllers promptly directed t...
Sen. Bernie Sanders, a harsh critic of Israel, repeats his assertion that there is no possibility of having a permanent ceasefire with a group like Hamas.
“I don’t know how you can have a permanent ceasefire with Hamas, who has said before October 7 and after October 7, that they want to destroy Israel and they want a permanent war,” Sanders says in an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
“I don’t know how you have a permanent ceasefire with an attitude like that… I think Israel has the right to defend itself and to go after Hamas, not the Palestinian people.”
Blinken waives Congressional review of the sale, citing emergency
The U.S. State Department has approved the emergency sale to Israel of nearly 14,000 rounds of tank ammunition, it said Saturday.
The department said it had notified Congress on Friday of a sale of 13,981 high-explosive 120mm tank cartridges and related equipment worth $106.5 million.
That sale, while relatively small, comes amid heated political debate over the Gaza war, with Republicans slowing a far larger Biden administration request for new military spending for Israel and Ukraine.
The State Department said the Secretary of State Antony Blinken had determined that "an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale to the Government of Israel" of the weaponry, thereby waiving the normal requirement of Congressio...
Dozens of Hamas terrorists lost contact with the terror group's leadership, leaving them with no option but to lay down their weapons and surrender to Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip, Army Radio reported on Sunday morning.
After images of stripped terrorists in Jabalya and Khan Yunis circulated on social media, reports emerged that the IDF is "identifying changes in Hamas leadership's conduct."
A security source told Army Radio that Hamas's senior leaders, thought to have fled to Khan Yunis in Gaza's south, "prefer their personal survival over the survival of Hamas's command and control operations."
Hamas battalions 'capitulated' in Gaza fighting, US-based institute says
Earlier on Sunday, the US-based Institute for the Study of W...
The IDF on Sunday released the official numbers of military personnel and civilians wounded so far during Israel's war on Hamas in Gaza.
At least 1,593 people have been wounded since the start of the war, 892 of those were lightly wounded and 255 were severely wounded.
Some 559 soldiers have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the start of the Gaza incursion, 219 were lightly wounded and 127 severely wounded.
FacebookTwitterWhatsAppLinkedInPinterestEmailThe holiday of Hanukkah is a celebration of miracles and light over darkness.
How does one celebrate a joyous holiday under the cloud of a war when there are too many funerals?
Enjoying the colors in the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens this time of year was a good way to start the week.
The lion on the nearby Jerusalem street was also looking bright and colorful.
The decorative holiday street lights were turned back on.
Posters for holiday events went up along the Jerusalem streets. Notice though it’s Jewish Film Week, the term festival is not used, as it seemed inappropriate in wartime.
Many activities for children are still being offered in the various museums and theaters.
Despite the war, the Sam Spiegel Incu...
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke today (Sunday) with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the war with Hamas and openly criticized Russia's support for Hamas in the aftermath of the massacre of October 7.
The Prime Minister's office stated that he expressed his displeasure with the positions of Russian representatives at the UN and other international forums against Israel.
"The Prime Minister expressed strong criticism of the dangerous cooperation between Russia and Iran. He emphasized that any country that would suffer a criminal terrorist attack like the one experienced by Israel would act with no less force than Israel has.
However, Netanyahu told Putin that he appreciated the Russian effort to free an Israeli citizen who also holds Russian citizenship and asked f...
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this morning (Sunday) at the weekly Cabinet meeting that Israel is continuing with all its might to carry out the war against Hamas.
"The fighting in the Gaza Strip continues with greater intensity to achieve all its goals - the elimination of Hamas, the return of all our hostages, and the promise that Gaza will never again be a threat to Israel," Netanyahu stated.
He also delivered a message to the American government. "In the last two days, I spoke with [German] Chancellor Scholz, with French President Macron, and with other leaders, and I told them that it is impossible to support the elimination of Hamas with one hand and pressure us to end the war with the other hand. Justice is on our side."
Israel declared war on the Hamas terrorist organiza...
Chanukah is when we celebrate our existence as a nation separate from the non-Jews. A special nation with our own “culture”, the culture of the Torah and not of the secular world that surround us.
Yaakov Kramer is a nursing home administrator in Greenwich, CT, an hour drive from his home in the vibrant Waterbury community.
Last week, Yaakov was conversing with a speech therapist employed by the nursing home and the discussion turned to music. Yaakov is very into music, even singing on a professional level, and organizing the music at the last siyum hashas. The woman asked him if he is into music, to which he answered “yes, I listen to Jewish music and not the music of the general world”.
She asked “what style of music, country? classic”? To which Ya...
Following are Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks [translated from Hebrew] at the start of the Government meeting, today (Sunday, 10 December 2023):
"At the start of the meeting, I would like to send condolences to our colleague Gadi Eisenkot and his family, which lost their son Gal and the nephew Maor. How great is the sorrow, how great is the pain.
We are in the midst of Chanukah, and we remember that 2,200 years ago, three of the five Maccabees fell in battle, but the goal of achieving the independence of Israel and ensuring the thread of life for the Jewish people was achieved. We will also continue until we achieve our goals. I told Gadi that we while mourn and cry with him, we are still committed that all of the fallen, all of our heroes will have not fallen in vain.
...
Baltimore, MD – Dec. 9, 2023 - In Thursday night's City Council meeting, Council President Nick Mosby delivered a scathing reprimand to four council members who initially abstained from voting on Councilman Schleifer's resolution condemning antisemitism and the October 7th attack but later introduced a resolution that included accusations against Israel, such as taking hostages and committing genocide. Mosby's comments highlighted the shift in their stance on these matters.
Watch from the 56:30 mark in this video: