Monday – December 19th @ 7:00pm
Come and join us for our Hanukkah Celebrations this year. We will be having a special Hanukkah Celebration Services with dancing, fellowship, worship, and DELICIOUS FOOD! We will be serving lots of Hanukkah-inspired food and you do not want to miss it!. We will be lighting our menorahs together, so please bring yours. We look forward to seeing you there!
Saturday – December 24th @ 11:00am
Come and join us for Food, Fun, and Fellowship! We will be having celebrating throughout the day
Our main Hanukkah Celebration Service begins at 11:00 am. Following this service, we will be serving special Hanukkah-inspired meals. We will have Hanukkah crafts, games and a giant slide for the kids. At sunset, we will be lighting the Hanukkiah’s and be showing a special movie under the stars. Come and enjoy popcorn, donuts, hot chocolate and coffee. Please remember to bring your favorite lawn chair or blanket for premium comfort. We look forward to seeing you there!
“The Hanukkah Story”
The Hanukkah story begins during the time of the 2nd Temple around 200 B.C. when the Holy Land was ruled by the Greeks. The Greeks were a very cruel nation of people who robbed Israel of their property. They purposely set up and sacrificed to pagan idols in the Lord’s Temple in Jerusalem.
Not all was lost for the Children of Israel, God provided a miracle and sent a valiant leader by the name of Mattityahu. Both he and the men of Israel rose up and fought the Greeks in the mountains of Israel, eventually defeating the Greek army.
When they returned to Jerusalem, they found the Temple in ruins. They removed the pagan idols and restored the temple. When the temple was restored, the people grew anxious to light the menorah once again, but only found enough purified oil to last one day. It would take another seven days to make more oil for the menorah. The people were excited and did not want to wait another seven days for more oil to be purified. They lit the menorah with the oil they had, and the Lord once again provided a miracle. The oil lasted eight more days and the light did not go out.
The people began to celebrate this amazing miracle from the Lord, because it was when the Children of Israel cleaned and rededicated the House of the Lord. Hanukkah means, rededication, because it was when the Children of Israel cleaned and rededicated the House of the Lord.
Each year we light candles to remind us of the miracle that took place. This year we are going to change- up the Hanukkah tradition and go back to the original miracle. We are encouraging our community to light the seven-branch Menorah. Just like the original miracle, we are encouraging our community to light all the candles each night. If you would like to use the Hanukkiah and light one candle each night, that is completely up to you. Light them each night for eight days and share the light with your friends and family.
It is during this holiday season that we come together as families and as a community and share the Light of the Lord and celebrate together. We encourage people to create their own fun family traditions. Some fun ideas are making your own homemade Menorah. This is a great idea for families with kids. It is also a tradition to use lots of oil in your foods. Some festive foods include potato pancakes (known as latkes) and jam-filled donuts are particularly popular in most households.
Come and join us here at Beit Tehila in celebrating the Season of Hanukkah!
