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To all my Jewish and Israeli friends on the forum...Happy Hanukkah!

It's a good time to remember Hanukkah celebrates a rebellion against foreign occupiers of Jerusalem and the re-consecration of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, 160 years before Jesus Christ was born, and 730 years before Mohamed. In light of that, no pun intended, how can it be controversial for Trump to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel?

Origin of Chanuka
The story of Chanuka begins during the reign of Alexander the Great. Alexander conquered Syria, Egypt and Palestine, but allowed the lands under his control to continue observing their own religions and retain a certain degree of autonomy. Under this relatively benevolent rule, many Jews assimilated much of Hellenistic culture, adopting the language, the customs and the dress of the Greeks.

More than a century later, around 175 BCE, a successor of Alexander, Antiochus IV was in control of the region. He began to oppress the Jews severely, placing a Hellenistic priest in the Temple, massacring Jews, prohibiting the practice of the Jewish religion, and desecrating the Temple by requiring the sacrifice of pigs on the altar. Two groups opposed Antiochus: a basically nationalistic group led by Mattathias the Hasmonean and his son Judah Maccabee, and a religious traditionalist group known as the Pharisees. They joined forces in a revolt against both the assimilation of the Hellenistic Jews and oppression by the Seleucid Greek government. The Jewish revolution succeeded and the Temple was rededicated. According to tradition as recorded in the Talmud, at the time of the re-dedication, there was very little oil left that had not been defiled by the Greeks. Oil was needed for the menorah (candelabrum) in the Temple, which was supposed to burn throughout the night every night. There was only enough oil to burn for one day, yet miraculously, it burned for eight days, the time needed to prepare a fresh supply of oil for the menorah. An eight day festival was declared to commemorate this miracle.


When the Macabees went out to battle, they had no feasible chance of winning. Not only were the Jews fewer and weaker than the well-oiled Syrian Greek war machine, but amongst the Jews themselves, only a sparse few went out to battle under the command of Juda Macabee and his brothers. Thus the essential miracle of Chanukah was not the war victory, but rather the very fact that a few Jews realized that "things just cannot go on this way", they arose, and with immense faith in the Almighty, and in an act of incredible courage, declared war on the superpower of their day. Think of it like the movie the 300, except that the Jews didn't lose!
The relevance of Chanukah is pertinent in modern times as well. When masses of Islamic fundamentalist terrorists are against us, we train for war while hoping for peace.

George Washington, upon learning about Chanuka from a Jewish soldier at Valley Forge said, "Perhaps we are not as lost as our enemies would have us believe. I rejoice in the Macabees' success, though it is long past...It pleases me to think that miracles still happen." (Hat tip Brad Hart)

Chanuka Today

Wolverine wrote:It's a good time to remember Hanukkah celebrates a rebellion against foreign occupiers of Jerusalem and the re-consecration of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, 160 years before Jesus Christ was born, and 730 years before Mohamed. In light of that, no pun intended, how can it be controversial for Trump to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel?

Shalom! Happy Hanukkah! I hope everyone finds 2018 be a happy and prosperous year.

To answer your question, Jerusalem is claimed by Muslims, Christians and Jews as a city of very important religious significance. The city is also the capital of the secular Israeli government. The USA's previous foreign policy on the city was to not acknowledge it as the capital of the Israeli government to appease the various religious stakeholders. Trump has upset these religious stakeholders by stating the obvious that the city is the capital of the secular Israeli government. Thus the tension between the religion and secularity.

Unfortunately, the Muslim extremists that lack rational thought give Trump's pronouncement of the obvious from a secular perspective way too much importance and consider it the a horrible insult that is worthy of death and violence.

Most of the time a watermelon is just a good tasting fruit. Unfortunately, SJWs will always claim watermelons are racist no matter what and if to a starving person.

OneGun wrote: ↑Sun Dec 17, 2017 10:35 pm

Wolverine wrote:It's a good time to remember Hanukkah celebrates a rebellion against foreign occupiers of Jerusalem and the re-consecration of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, 160 years before Jesus Christ was born, and 730 years before Mohamed. In light of that, no pun intended, how can it be controversial for Trump to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel?

Shalom! Happy Hanukkah! I hope everyone finds 2018 be a happy and prosperous year.

To answer your question, Jerusalem is claimed by Muslims, Christians and Jews as a city of very important religious significance. The city is also the capital of the secular Israeli government. The USA's previous foreign policy on the city was to not acknowledge it as the capital of the Israeli government to appease the various religious stakeholders. Trump has upset these religious stakeholders by stating the obvious that the city is the capital of the secular Israeli government. Thus the tension between the religion and secularity.

Unfortunately, the Muslim extremists that lack rational thought give Trump's pronouncement of the obvious from a secular perspective way too much importance and consider it the a horrible insult that is worthy of death and violence.