Have you ever thought about miracles? What do you think a miracle is?

I think a miracle is something only God can do. Do you think that's right?

The Bible tells us about lots of miracles. When God created the earth, that was a miracle, right? What about when He parted the Red Sea--was that a miracle? Did you know that once God gave a donkey a voice so it could talk to the man riding it? Can you imagine what a surprise that was?

Today I want to tell you about some miracles that are not in the Bible, but are in history books.

When I was 28 years old, there was a war on a mountain in Israel. A huge army was fighting against a very small Jewish army. All of a sudden, the enemy soldiers ran away. Later, when they were asked why they ran, they said there were so many army tanks on the mountain that they knew they could not win the battle.

Guess what! There were no tanks! God made them think they saw the tanks so that they would run away.

Do you think that was a miracle? A lot of people think it was. They call it the miracle of the Six Day War.

Do you see this?

This is called a dreidel. The Hebrew letters on the
dreidel mean, “A Great Miracle Happened There”.

Do you know where “There” is? “There” is the SAME MOUNTAIN where the Jewish army fought the Six Day War. Let me tell you this exciting story and why the dreidel has an important part in the story.

A long time ago there was a mean and terrible king named King Antiochus. The King and his people believed there were lots of gods and worshipped them all. But the Jewish people believed there was only one God. It made the king mad because the Jewish People would not agree with him. So, the King made a law to stop the Jewish people from worshipping the one true God. The law said they had to stop reading about God and stop doing the things that God wanted them to do.

But the Jewish people knew they were right, so they kept doing what God wanted them to do. They loved God, and they kept reading about God, and they kept teaching their children about God.

The Jews loved to gather and worship God in their temple. To stop them from going to the temple King Antiochus filled it with statues of his gods. He even put pigs in the Temple! He made such a mess that the Jews couldn't worship God there any more. They had to worship and teach about God outside of the Temple. And whenever the King's soldiers found the Jewish people doing this, they punished them. Sometimes they even killed them.

This is where the Dreidel comes into our story.

Jewish children had little toys called dreidels, made of hardened clay. Whenever the children went to learn about God and worship Him, they brought their dreidels. If one of the king’s soldiers came along, the children would stop talking and pretend to be playing games with their dreidels. The Jewish children were so clever that they fooled the soldiers!

But then the King got even meaner. He sent his soldiers into all the villages of Israel and told everybody they had to worship his gods or be killed. This made some Jewish men so angry that they decided to fight the King’s soldiers. The men called themselves the Maccabees. The King’s army was HUGE. He had 50,000 fighting men. And the Jewish army was very small--only 6,000 men. BUT, the true God was on their side.

Who do you think won the fight? How did such a small army beat such a huge one? Doesn’t this sound like the miracle of the Six Day War?

After the Jews won the war, the Maccabees went to clean up the Temple because the King’s men had made such a mess. The Temple had a special light, called the Eternal Light, and it was supposed to be lit all the time. But of course King Antiochus’ men hadn’t kept it lit. AND, they’d ruined the pure olive oil, which was the only oil that could be used in the Eternal Light. The pure olive oil had been placed in special bottles and sealed tight for this holy purpose. But the King’s men had ruined all the bottles. The Maccabees looked and looked for a bottle of pure oil, and finally one man found a small bottle, untouched and still sealed. But it was only enough oil to keep the Eternal Light lit for one day, and it was going to take the men EIGHT days to make more pure oil.

God did ANOTHER miracle! He made that tiny bit of oil last for the whole eight days. Because of God’s miracle, the Eternal Light stayed lit, and the Jews knew God was with them!

Do you see this menorah? It has a special lighting candle, and eight candles to be lit; one candle for each miracle day the oil stayed lit.
Chanukah is celebrated for eight days, because that’s how long the little bottle of pure olive oil lasted. On the first night one candle is lit. On the second night, two candles are lit. Each night a candle is lit until all eight are burning bright. The menorah is to be lit where your neighbors can see it so they can know about the special miracle God did for the Jewish people.

There is another very special thing that happened at this time of year. There are clues in the Bible, and the history books to show us that Chanukah was the same time of year that baby Jesus began to grow in Mary’s belly!

The miracle of the pure olive oil lasting eight days was a new beginning for the Jewish people; the miracle of Jesus in Mary’s belly was a new beginning for the whole world. Isn’t it wonderful to know that during the Festival of Lights, Jesus, the light of the world, was starting to grow in Mary’s belly!

Dreidel Game Rules - How to Play Dreidel

The dreidel is a 4-sided top of ancient origin. The Hebrew letters on the side are nun, gimel, hay, and shin. They form an acronym in Hebrew which means "A great miracle happened there." Dreidel, is a traditional game played by children during the eight day Hanukkah celebration.

This game is best played in groups of 4-6. Each player gets an equal number of pennies, nuts, M&Ms, stones or whatever you wish to use.

Each player takes turns spinning the dreidel. If it lands on:

Nun		-- the player receives nothing, next player spins.
Gimel		-- the player takes all of the pot.
Hay		-- the player takes half of the pot.
Shin		-- the player puts a playing piece into the pot.

Each time the pot is emptied out, each player puts in a
playing piece (penny, nut, candy) and the game continues.

For the Parents

Birth date of Yeshua

Conception of John

In order to establish the date, we must first rely on clues found in scripture; then add external historical and cultural elements. The Birth of Yochanan (John) is key as he is a forerunner who announces Messiah.
First Chronicles tells us that the Levitical priesthood was divided into 12 divisions of priests. The ancient Jewish Historian Josephus (Antiquities 7) tells us that each division served for a period of one week. The first division began its period of service on the first day of the year — 1 Nisan (also called Aviv or Abib) — as G-d had established the calendar in Exodus 12:2. Three weeks out of each year — during the weeks of Pesach (Passover), Shavuot (Pentecost), and Sukkot (Tabernacles) — all 24,000 priests served together.
As Zekharyah was in the division of Aviyah (Luke 1:5), his term of service began in early Spring on the first day of the eighth week (27th of Ayyar) and ran for one week through the 4th of Sivan. As the following week (5-11 Sivan) was Shavuot, the Feast of Pentecost, he would have stayed in the temple and served that week also with all the priests. Luke 1:23-24 tells us that Zekharyah finished his duties at the Temple , and that Elisheva conceived shortly after his return home. This sets the date for Yochanan’s conception at approximately the third week of Sivan. [In Gregorian year 2001, that week corresponds to the first week of June. Adding nine months to that date puts the birth of Yochanan sometime near the first week of the Gregorian month of March.]

Conception of Yeshua

We know from scripture that Yeshua was conceived after Yochanan (John), further more, with this information we can now ascertain When Yeshua was conceived. An interesting point, The early Church may have agreed on December for the reason that was His conception date, not birth.

Near the end of the sixth month of Elisheva’s pregnancy the angel Gavri'el appeared to Miryam and told her about Elisheva saying, “this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.” Miryam immediately left Natzeret (verse 39, “with haste”) and went to the “hill country” near Jerusalem to the home of Zekharyah and Elisheva. We know for sure that Miryam was already pregnant with Yeshua because Yochanan, still in Elisheva’s womb, recognized the unborn Yeshua. [What further evidence do the pro-abortionists need that life begins at conception?]
This sets the conception of Yeshua about end of Kislev during Chanukah (mid-December), the Feast of Lights, thus demonstrating in a very special way that Yeshua is the Light of the World.
“Yeshua is shown celebrating Chanukah in John 10:22,23. It is at this celebration that He declares ‘I and My Father are One’ [John 10:30]
It is believed this statement validates His divinity fully God and fully man!

How to Light the Menorah

On the first night, place one candle at the far right, as you face the menorah. Another candle is placed for the Shamash (taller helper candle) which is used to light the others. It is not counted as one of the candles.
First light the Shamash, then recite the blessings, and then use the Shamash to light the Chanukah candle.
On the second night, place two candles in the two far-right positions -- and use the Shamash to light the left one first.
The third night, place three candles in the three far-right positions -- and use the Shamash to light them in order, from left to right.
Follow this same procedure each night of Chanukah... until all the lights are kindled and glowing brightly!

The Blessings

The following bracha is said ONLY on the FIRST evening (or the first time one kindles the lights this Chanukah):

Bo-ruch A-toh Ado-noi E-lo-hei-nu Me-lech Ho-olom She-heh-che-yoh-nu Ve-ki-yi-mo-nu Ve-he-gi-o-nu Laz-man Ha-zeh.

Blessed are You, L-rd our G-d, King of the universe, who has kept us alive, and has preserved us, and enabled us to reach this season.

Bo-ruch A-toh Ado-noi E-lo-hei-nu Me-lech Ho-olom She-o-so Ni-sim La-avo-sei-nu Ba-yo-mim Ho-heim Ba-z'man Ha-zeh.

Traditional: Blessed are you, L-rd our G-d, King of the universe, who wrought miracles for our fathers in days of old, at this season.

Messianic: Blessed are you Oh Lord, our God, King of the universe who has sanctified us by Yeshua (Jesus), the Messiah, the Light of the World.