We’ve all heard of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. But have you heard of The Christian School that Expelled Chanukah? Here’s what happened last week.
A committed young messianic Jewish couple are sending their first child to a Christian school for Kindergarten. The kindergarten teacher asked several Moms to help with the class Christmas party by bringing cookies. This Messianic Mom volunteered, saying she would also bake and bring Chanukah cookies. This makes perfect sense since Jewish followers of Jesus generally observe both the festival of Chanukah and the birth of the Messiah. And this year will mark the first time since 1959 that the first night of Chanukah will fall on Christmas Eve. After signing up to bring Chanukah cookies, the kindergarten teacher sent this loving mom an email, writing that since this is a Christian school, only Christian holidays are allowed to be observed. In other words, keep your Jewish Holidays and Chanukah cookies out of our Christian school. Even after trying to explain the significance of Chanukah for Christians, the teacher, backed up by the school administration, remained adamant, these children would not learn about Chanukah or eat Chanukah treats. This well intentioned teacher is emblematic of what is all too common among Christians: A failure to understand the Jewish roots of our faith and a determined desire to remain ignorant about the Jewish people.
Read more: https://michaelrydelnik.org/christian-school-expelled-chanukah/
Marty Zide is the director of the Midwest Messianic Center. As a Jew, Marty placed his trust in Jesus as his Messiah in December, 1971.
The Bible refers to Hanukkah in both testaments. In the Old Testament it's speaks of Hanukkah prophetically in the book of Daniel and in the New Testament we see Jesus celebrating Hanukkah in John 10:22 (The Feast of Dedication). This was in Winter and Jesus was walking in the Temple.
Read more + listen: http://vcyamerica.org/blog/2016/12/13/hanukkah