Reflecting on Chanukah, 8th Day, See the Light

Yesterday was Rosh Chodesh Tevet and the seventh day of Chanukah.  As has been my custom for the past few years, I went to pray at Shiloh Hakeduma, Tel Shiloh, the site of the Biblical Tabernacle. Shiloh was the first Capital of the Jewish Nation.

We became a Nation during the rule of Joshua and the conquest of the Land of Israel.   We left Egypt as twelve tribes.  We lived and marched and wandered the wilderness as tribes surrounding the Mishkan, Tabernacle, but once the Tabernacle was placed in Shiloh, where it remained for 369 years we evolved into the Jewish Nation.

After Jerusalem replaced Shiloh as Capital, there was still a Jewish presence in Shiloh and later on, because of the crucially and nationally important biblical stories of Shiloh and the Jewish People, the Christians and later the Muslims came to Shiloh.

photographed at Tel Shiloh by Batya Medad

And they even included Jewish symbols in their mosaics, as you can see.

For the past sixty-five years we have had a state, but although we periodically pull out Jewish symbols on occasions, like Chanukah,  we still haven't learned how to be a fully sovereign Jewish State in the Land of Israel.

The main Mitzvah commandment for Chanukah is pirsum haness, publicizing the miracle which is why you'll find Chanukiyot, Chanukah menorahs in windows and by front doors.

It's all nice but not enough.  We need to show our Jewish pride full-time,  more than we're doing now.  We need to be sovereign, not just talk sovereignty.

The State of Israel was established to be a Jewish State, not a "state of all its residents," not multinational. We must stop this dangerous game of "peace negotiations."  We must make it clear that there won't be an Arab state here in Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley. We must accept the fact that the 1949 ceasefire borders were meant to be temporary. They were updated and improved as a result of our miraculous victory in June, 1967.

We Israelis do have the ability to be sovereign and secure here in the Land of Israel.  That is what the State of Israel is supposed to be.

All photos are by me, Batya Medad