Hanukkah and the Mystery of Lawlessness.

Every year during the months of November and December, the Jewish world celebrates the festival of Hanukkah. It starts the 24th of Kislev on the Jewish calendar and continues for eight days. This holiday remembers the historical events which took place in 167 BC during the time when Israel was under Syrian-Greek rule and the Jewish people were suffering severe political and religious persecution.

The Greek ruler Antiochus Epiphanes intended to de-Judaize the people of Israel. He forbid the study of Torah (Books of Moses) and many biblical practices, such as circumcision. He also desecrated the Temple in Jerusalem by sacrificing pigs. It is considered one of the darkest hours for the people of God.

Until finally, Israel was delivered through a bold leader, Judas Maccabeus. The great miracle celebrated during Hanukkah is that a tiny portion of remaining oil for the Temple’s menorah amazingly lasted for eight days, enough time to ritually produce a new supply of pure olive oil.

ICEJ helps sponsor latest Aliyah flight of Bnei Menashe.

A group of 248 members of the Bnei Menashe tribe from northeast India arrived in Israel early Tuesday morning on an Aliyah flight sponsored in part by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem. With the ICEJ’s funding of flight tickets for 49 of these newest immigrants to Israel, the ICEJ is wrapping up a remarkable banner year for our Aliyah efforts, despite the Corona lockdowns and travel bans worldwide.

Due to Corona, the new arrivals will be quarantined for two weeks at a facility near Netanya and will begin lessons on Hebrew and Judaism, before settling down in Nof Hagalil in northern Israel.

The Bnei Menashe community dates their heritage back 2700 years to the time when the Assyrian empire exiled the northern ten tribes of Israel, including the tribe of Menashe. They were re-settled with other Israelites in Persia and along the ancient Silk Road. Over the centuries, their particular community ventured east into China and later down into northeast India, before reconnecting with Israel and the Jewish mainstream in recent decades.