Jonathan Bernis - Season of Light and Miracles
Jonathan Bernis: Merry Christmas and happy Hanukkah. Welcome to a special holiday edition of Jewish Voice. I’m Jonathan Bernis joined by Ezra Benjamin as we dive into the heart of Hanukkah, exploring its profound significance this year. Hanukkah, called the festival of lights, symbolizes resilience, faith, the survival of the Jewish people, and the enduring light that guides us through darkness. Today, we will help you understand the meaning of Hanukkah, where it came from, and how it applies to you as a believer. Whether you’re new to Hanukkah or familiar with its rich traditions, join us as we celebrate and reflect on this meaningful season together. Ezra, hands down my favorite time of the year.
Ezra Benjamin: What’s not to like? Warm lights, great food, most of it fried, family, mishpochah we say in Hebrew.
Jonathan Bernis: Hanukkah and Christmas, the beauty of it being Jewish believers, we get to celebrate both.
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: And you get to celebrate both as a follower of Jesus because they’re applicable. We’re gonna talk about that. What’s Hanukkah, Ezra? Just give us a thumbnail sketch of Hanukkah.
Ezra Benjamin: Sure. Real quickly, Hanukkah, Jonathan, happens in what you may know as the intertestamental periods. So, the time, the few hundred years, between the completion of the writing of the Old Testament, and then the birth of Yeshua and the ministry of Jesus, which we know as the New Testament. And Hanukkah happened around 168 BC. And you know from the gospels that when Jesus is living and ministering on earth, the Romans are occupying and oppressing the Jewish people. That’s the context of the gospels. But before the Romans, came the Greeks. And so, we understand that for this period of time in the Greek empire, the Greeks were hostile. They were antagonistic toward the Jewish people and certainly the Jewish faith, the idea that there’s only one God and it’s not Zeus. It’s the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Jonathan Bernis: One oppressor after another. Just one after another. You know, that’s the history of Israel.
Ezra Benjamin: And so, things go from bad to worse and this culminates in a ruler coming from Syria, part of the Greek empire named Antiochus Epiphanes. He comes and, actually, offers a pig in the temple, the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. And dedicates the temple to the worship of Zeus, not to the worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Jonathan Bernis: And he desecrates the temple for…
Ezra Benjamin: That’s right.
Jonathan Bernis: Which means the Judaism of that day, which was based on temple and sacrifices in the priesthood, stops.
Ezra Benjamin: Right. He’s not having a barbeque in the temple. He’s doing something very specific. Pig is, according to the Torah, the law of Moses, an unclean meat. It has no place in the temple. And so, when the pig is offered on the altar in this holiest place on earth as God said it would be and it should be, the temple is rendered unusable for worship.
Jonathan Bernis: And it’s a crisis. It’s a crisis, for they can’t sacrifice animals anymore.
Ezra Benjamin: Judah Maccabee and his family said, «We’re not gonna take this anymore». And he assembles this unlikely ragtag group of a few hundred fighting men who go to war against the Greeks, against the occupiers, marched back into Jerusalem. Sound familiar? This is repeated a few times throughout history. And against all odds, have the victory. They defeat the occupiers.
Jonathan Bernis: Some say that this is the first example of Guerilla warfare in history.
Ezra Benjamin: Interesting.
Jonathan Bernis: They’re so vastly outnumbered. And in these little groups they have these night attacks, and they begin to whittle down this vast army. And actually, they defeat them. It’s miraculous.
Ezra Benjamin: That’s one of the themes of Hanukkah, actually, to this day. Victory against all odds. And that is, we’re gonna talk about in a few minutes, is a theme that repeats itself throughout Jewish history. The second theme of Hanukkah is this idea of dedication. The temple has to be rededicated. But this brings in the third idea of Hanukkah or the third theme, the theme of miracles or the theme of light. The problem is that there was only enough oil to light the menorah in the temple for one day and this oil lasts, as the story goes, miraculously for eight days, enough time to ceremonially rededicate the temple, plus one bonus day. So, that’s why we call Hanukkah the festival of lights because we’re celebrating that this insufficient amount of oil, which was needed to rededicate the temple, more than it’s needed.
Jonathan Bernis: Yeah. And it’s a miracle and it provides enough light to make, they have to render new oil. And it takes, according to the tradition, eight days to make the new oil. And that light continues on when they rededicate the temple. Interestingly, the feast, Ezra, is also called the festival of dedication.
Ezra Benjamin: Yes.
Jonathan Bernis: Or rededication, because they’re rededicating the temple.
Ezra Benjamin: The story of Hanukkah, when it happened, isn’t recorded in the Bible, Yeshua, Jesus, was in the temple celebrating Hanukkah. Like you said, John 10, it was the feast of dedication and Jesus was in the temple. And it says it was winter. Because some people say, «Well, there’s other Jewish holidays that could called feast of dedication». None of them happened in winter. So, we know in the context of the scriptures, Jesus was celebrating Hanukkah.
Jonathan Bernis: Yeah. It’s beautiful. This is not a substitute, a Jewish substitute for Christmas. It’s not to compete with Christmas. It’s not to appease Jewish kids with gifts. It’s become that in a way. But it’s a very, very, important remembrance of victory over the oppressor and the rededication of the temple. You know, Ezra, it’s important to understand the miracle of Hanukkah is that without Hanukkah there would be no Christmas. Right?
Ezra Benjamin: Unpack that for us. How is that?
Jonathan Bernis: Yeah. If the Greeks has successfully wiped out the Jewish people or caused them to reject their God and assimilate, Jesus would have never been born. Why? Because Jesus has to come through, Yeshua has to come through the Jewish people, through the people of Abraham, the descendants of David, specifically, and bring redemption to the world.
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: If the Greeks had succeeded in wiping out Judaism, or wiping…
Ezra Benjamin: As they intended to do.
Jonathan Bernis: As they intended to do, or wipe out the Jewish people, as a whole, the Messiah could have never been born. What a miracle that they survived, and Jesus came to this earth and gave his life for us.
Ezra Benjamin: Without Hanukkah, there can be no Christmas. And, Jonathan, we see that theme actually throughout history and we see it in the pages of the New Testament prophecies, Old Testament and New Testament, in fact, about the days to come between now and the return of the Lord. Right? This diabolical, this demonic attempt to destroy the Jewish people, to keep God’s Messianic purposes, we can say, or purposes of the life and ministry, and the return, and the rule and reign of Yeshua, of Jesus from being fulfilled.
Jonathan Bernis: Exactly. That was the demonic purpose of the captivity by the Greeks, by the Syrians, right? Antiochus Epiphanes the fourth is a type of antichrist directly connects to the future antichrist, right? The abomination of desolation already happened one time with the sacrifice of the pig, as you said. The attempts to destroy the Jewish people during the Persian empire with Haman. Right? destroyed the Jewish people and God raises up a standard, repeatedly. Pharaoh, right? Is afraid that the Jewish people are gonna overwhelmed them. What does he do? Kill all the first-born males. What’s the demonic plan? Keep the Messiah from coming. And you see it with Herod, once again. It repeats itself over and over again. «Where is the Messiah going to be born»? Bethlehem. «Go kill every child under two years of age».
Ezra Benjamin: Absolutely. So, without the preservation of the Jewish people, there could have been no coming of the Jewish Messiah. Jesus was Jewish. Jesus still is Jewish. And, Jonathan, looking into the…
Jonathan Bernis: No Christmas.
Ezra Benjamin: Exactly. Exactly. And looking to the days to come, what’s required for Jesus to return? Well, we know Jesus says very clearly in Jerusalem, «You won’t see me again until you cry, 'blessed is he who comes in the name of Lord'». So, Jesus is making a promise. He’s making a declaration. And we have it in the pages of scripture that for Jesus to return to earth, to rule and to reign as the conquering king over Israel and the nations, there have to be Jewish people in Jerusalem who are recognizing him as the Messiah.
Jonathan Bernis: Absolutely. And the Bible tells us in Romans 11, and I really encourage you to read Romans 11, especially verses 11-15 which talks about the rejection of Yeshua on the part of Israel bringing the gospel to the gentiles to provoke the Jewish people back to jealousy and their return will bring life from the dead. You know, on Hanukkah I think of this, Ezra, it’s the festival of lights.
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: Yeshua is the light of the world. God cares about the whole world. He cares about the gentile nations. And Jesus came for the whole world as a light to the world. And Hanukkah is a reminder of that. That’s why I think it’s so important for you to celebrate Hanukkah, to light the hanukkiah every night with the Shamash, the servant candle, and bring light to the world and remind yourself you have a calling to bring light to those around you. We need to take a short break, but when we return, how can you as a Christian respond to Hanukkah? Can you participate? An even more important question, how do you support and love your Jewish neighbor? We’ll be back with the answer next.
Jonathan Bernis: Welcome back. We so appreciate your continued support of this ministry. And I wanna say on behalf of all of us at Jewish Voice, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Ezra, very interesting thing. This rare actually, right? That Hanukkah is usually a month off from Christmas. But this year they’re overlapping.
Ezra Benjamin: Yeah. This only happens once every 19 years actually. That the same day on the Hebrew calendar coincides with the date on the western and the Gregorian calendar, but it’s happening this year.
Jonathan Bernis: So, this is my third.
Ezra Benjamin: Mazel tov. There were you, he just revealed his age. You can do the math later. But, yes, it’s Jonathan’s third and counting, and counting to many more overlapping. But what’s interesting is that the first night of Hanukkah this year, it begins on Christmas night, not Christmas eve, but the night of the 25th. And so, the eighth night of Hanukkah, the last night of Hanukkah ends on new year’s day night, January 1st.
Jonathan Bernis: I love that. I love that they’re coinciding. That’s really special. Something else, it’s the festival of lights.
Ezra Benjamin: Yes.
Jonathan Bernis: With the menorah, just really something you should be doing at home. I encourage you to. It’s the festival of rededication. All of this applies to us as followers of Yeshua, right? We’re regularly rededicating our lives to serve the Lord. We’re a light to the world. But it’s also about miracles. It’s a festival of miracles.
Ezra Benjamin: Right. Right. The Lord breaking through in the most unlikely ways against all odds.
Jonathan Bernis: Well, I’ve gotta give the Lord thanks because… I’m a walking miracle.
Ezra Benjamin: That’s right.
Jonathan Bernis: Yeah.
Ezra Benjamin: You sure are. A year ago, at this time, Jonathan, it was tough. It was a rough situation, but the Lord, as we’ve shared before…
Jonathan Bernis: Well, explain that to people that don’t know, where was I a year ago?
Ezra Benjamin: You were in intensive care coming out of a coma. And doctors said some make it, some don’t. And 100% of the people who came to pray for you, friends, family, ministers from across the country and around the world, looked at you and said, «This isn’t unto death. The Lord’s got more for him».
Jonathan Bernis: I don’t remember it, 'cause I was in a coma. So, three weeks in a coma. But just one thing to say and I’ll try get through this without being so emotional. But I just recently had my ten week evaluation with doctors, ten month. Did I say ten, yeah, ten month. And the doctor said, «You’re doing fantastic».
Ezra Benjamin: Praise the Lord.
Jonathan Bernis: And that, «Just so you know, I wasn’t gonna tell you this, but you had a 10% chance of survival». He said, «Only one out of ten would be standing here in front of me and you’re the one». And I said, «Are you telling me that this was a miracle»? This is an unbeliever, great doctor, by the way, great doctor.
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: And he said, «Yes. It’s a miracle».
Ezra Benjamin: Amen.
Jonathan Bernis: This is a miracle.
Ezra Benjamin: And this all happened during Hanukkah 2023. It was your season of miracles. Hanukkah is the season of miracles.
Jonathan Bernis: I was in the hospital when we lit the candles in my room with my girls, and it was a touching moment. I couldn’t move. I was paralyzed at the time.
Ezra Benjamin: A dark time, but the Lord showed up.
Jonathan Bernis: It was a dark time but the light of the menorah…
Ezra Benjamin: Exactly.
Jonathan Bernis: And all the nurses were coming in and we were handing out donuts.
Ezra Benjamin: I remember. I ate too many of them. I couldn’t fit into my shirts for a few…
Jonathan Bernis: It was fun, but it was hard. I was paralyzed. I had to learn to walk again. But it was a miracle. That’s other miracles. There’s a whole group of miracles and I wanna say thank you to those of you watching that were praying for me and for my recovery. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. It’s great to be alive. I still have work to do.
Ezra Benjamin: Jonathan, a season of dark times, unexpected, unwelcomed circumstances and the Lord breaking through. I’m thinking of those continuing to suffer in Israel as this multi front war against Jihadist terrorism goes on. And…
Jonathan Bernis: But there’s a miracle story.
Ezra Benjamin: There is.
Jonathan Bernis: This is a great story.
Ezra Benjamin: We, through the help and the support of our partners here in the U.S. And around the world, were able to purchase and send over some helmets, or be a part of sending over some helmets for IDF soldiers. One of those helmets, it’s here on the screen, actually…
Jonathan Bernis: Yeah. You can see it now. They had crummy helmets apparently because they were bringing in the reserves.
Ezra Benjamin: Exactly.
Jonathan Bernis: And they weren’t sufficient to deflect a bullet. The bullets are so powerful now. And then one of these helmets, what…
Ezra Benjamin: Absorbed or really fended off multiple bullets. Not just, I mean, you can see it. Multiple. There’s shrapnel all over this helmet. This soldier would have died.
Jonathan Bernis: And this is a helmet that you helped provide. One of the actual helmets that we helped purchase and it saved this man’s life.
Ezra Benjamin: Another example I’m thinking of in Israel, Jonathan, is these bomb shelters. They’re concrete. They’re mobile and so you just drop it into a neighborhood. And again, our partners around the world have helped Jewish Voice to help provide these all around Israel. One of these actually, children ran into it when they heard these sirens which gives you 15 to 30 second to take cover before missiles or rockets strike. Children in a neighborhood in northern Israel ran into one of these shelters. The rockets struck right next to them. The kids would have lost their lives.
Jonathan Bernis: They would have.
Ezra Benjamin: But for the miracle of a bomb shelter that wasn’t there months before.
Jonathan Bernis: And they were Druze actually. They were Arabs. They were Arab children and they were saved though this bomb shelter.
Ezra Benjamin: It’s amazing.
Jonathan Bernis: That is miraculous.
Ezra Benjamin: You know, we’re seeing miracles in Africa, Jonathan, in our work among scattered Jewish communities. We’re seeing miracles all over the world. None of them would have been possible, but through the support and the faithful prayers and partnership of our partners.
Jonathan Bernis: I wasn’t there but I heard that there was a woman that actually walked for the first time in years.
Ezra Benjamin: Yeah. Not she was having a bad day and was a little stiff. She hadn’t walked in years. And people prayed for her in Yeshua’s name and she stood up and walked. And the community rejoiced.
Jonathan Bernis: All these miracles were made possible through the generosity of people like you, our partners.
Ezra Benjamin: There’s a picture that’s really striking and you can see it on your screen now. It’s called the Posner menorah. Antisemitism is on the rise in Germany. The Nazi party had come to power. They hadn’t revealed their full agenda yet, but antisemitism is on the rise. And this Posner family, a Jewish family living in Germany, in the face right across the street from this giant Nazi flag, puts their hanukkiah in the window. Their nine candle candelabra, to celebrate Hanukkah. And on the back of the photo actually, the next year. And in 1932, it was another one of those years when Christmas and Hanukkah overlapped. Rachel Posner wrote on the back of this photo. She said that, «The flag says,» referring to the Nazi flag in the photo, «'death to Judah, ' but the light says, 'Judah will live forever'». And this was a time, well, why are we sharing this story? Because it was a time of growing antisemitism. And nobody knew something like the holocaust could ever happen. But the Posner family said, «Even if it does, even if antisemitism continues, the Jewish people will live».
Jonathan Bernis: And this in German, «Death to Judah, so the flag says. Judah will live forever, so the light answers».
Ezra Benjamin: Right.
Jonathan Bernis: I love that. That is so powerful.
Ezra Benjamin: The Jewish people have continued to live on. Praise God. And we know that in this season of miracles that we’re celebrating is also miraculous. But few years after this Posner menorah hanukkiah was placed in the windows in Germany, we know that half of the world’s Jewish population was annihilated in the holocaust. And the question is, how do you go or how did things go from antisemitism to something as severe as just wipe the Jewish people off the face of the earth? And sadly, Jonathan, tragically, that way was paved in part because Christians looked the other way.
Jonathan Bernis: We’re seeing antisemitism grow with the highest rate since that horrific period known as the holocaust. And Christians have a chance now to stand up. You have a chance to stand up for the Jewish people and say, «I’m with them. They are my brothers and sisters. And they are the ones that need to return in order for the Messiah to come». Ezra, we have a commercial actually that we’ve produced to try to deal with this, it’s called, «Love your Jewish neighbor». And this is an attempt to reach particularly Christians. And turn their hearts towards the Jewish people so this does not happen again. I want you to take a look. Let’s show 'em.
Ezra Benjamin: It is tragic what happened, Jonathan. And throughout the history of the church, unfortunately, in kind of a diabolical plan of the enemy, those who have professed faith in Jesus or at least the religious traditions of Christianity have been used to perpetrate tremendous atrocities against the Jewish people. And you may be watching what you just saw and saying, «What can I do»? And here’s what the scriptures tell us. First of all, «Love covers a multitude of sins».
Jonathan Bernis: Yes.
Ezra Benjamin: And perhaps, other than praying for your Jewish neighbor, for their protection, for their blessing, for their salvation, for the blinders to be taken off them for them to see Yeshua, their Messiah, for who he is, the greatest thing you can do is say, «I love you and I’m standing with you in this dark time».
Jonathan Bernis: Yeah. I also wanna encourage you to speak out against antisemitism. Listen, you gotta raise your voices. You gotta proclaim the gospel. And you have to say no to the theology, to the doctrine, to the hate speech against the Jewish people, against Israel. Listen, antiZionism, antisemitism, they’re interrelated. You’ve gotta raise your voice and show support for Jewish people. I wanna encourage you, become a shalom partner. Become a partner with this ministry on a monthly basis and that will help get the gospel out. And continue to show this commercial and other ways that we engage in trying to curb antisemitism. Will you show your support for your Jewish neighbor? Will you go over to them and start a conversation? Stand with Jewish Voice against hate, against division. Partner with us to love your neighbor as yourself. Here’s how.
Jonathan Bernis: For some of you, the holiday season is a really rough time. For some of you, I know you feel lonely. You feel isolated. Maybe you’re in despair, hopeless. We wanna pray for you. We believe that God is watching, that God cares, that he wants to bring light into your darkness and change you, transform you from within. Maybe you’re going through a critical illness, I don’t know what it is. I know where I was a year ago, and God, he gave me miracles, restored my life, and he wants to do the same for you. Ezra, I’m a little choked up. Why don’t you go ahead and lead them in prayer.
Ezra Benjamin: I’d be honored to. I’d be honored to. If you’re watching today, if you stumbled upon this channel and you don’t have that relationship with Yeshua, with Jesus, this holiday season would be a great time to let the light of the world become the light of your life and to give you abundant life. So, let’s pray. Lord, we thank you that you are Yeshua, indeed the light of the world. And you promised that those who follow after you will never walk in darkness, but they’ll have the light of life. And so, Lord, we’re asking you for the light, the glorious treasure of the light of new life for those who will encounter you and who are inviting you to forgive them of their sins and to come into their hearts this holiday season. Lord, we thank you that salvation belongs to you and we pray for salvation, salvation, for salvation for those watching today who don’t know you. And for those who do, we pray for salvation for their families, and their communities. And Lord, we thank you for a flood of your miraculous powerful light in their homes, in their families, in their stories this season. In Yeshua’s name.
Jonathan Bernis: Amen. Amen. As we wrap up this special edition of Jewish Voice, we wanna thank you for joining us. This month is a perfect time to reflect on the Jewish roots of your faith and the ways that you can actively support Jewish communities around the world. We invite you to go deeper and find meaningful ways to support and bless Israel and the Jewish community by visiting jewishvoice.tv. There you’ll discover resources to grow in your faith and opportunities to make a positive impact, and remember the greatest gift you can give a Jewish person this holiday season is to give them the good news of their Messiah, Jesus, Yeshua. As we close our program, I also wanna remind you to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Psalm 122:6, «They will prosper who love thee». So, prosper, prosper, prosper, this holiday season and be a light. And remember, there’s no Christmas without Hanukkah. From all of us at Jewish Voice, we wish you a joyous and blessed holiday season. Happy Hanukkah and merry Christmas to you and your loved ones.