The Real History Of Hanukkah Is More Complicated Than You Thought

Americans who know anything about the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah may have heard that it celebrates the victory of good over evil -- the triumph of light over darkness. But the real history of Hanukkah’s origins is more complicated. It is as much the tale of a Jewish civil war as it is about successful resistance against foreign interlopers.

● In 175 BCE Antiochus IV Epiphanes ascended to the Seleucid throne and initiated an explicit program of hellenization in the Jewish territory -- promoting the values of worldly knowledge, physical beauty, hedonistic indulgence and polytheistic spirituality.

● Antiochus’ measures were welcomed by some local Jews and Antiochus encouraged the development of the Greek educational system in Jewish society.

● A growing number of Jews began worshiping Greek gods, too.

The rising influence of hellenism was not immediately a source of open conflict within the Jewish community. But, eventually, Antiochus and his Jewish allies, including the high priest Menelaus, pushed the more pious Jews too far in a campaign of radical hellenization in 167 BCE:

● prohibited fundamental Jewish practices, such as circumcision, on pain of death

● introduced foreign rites into the Jewish Temple

● forced Jewish pilgrims to sacrifice pigs on the Temple altar

● built an altar to Zeus on top of the sacred altar to the Yahweh

● allowed prostitutes to solicit their services freely on the Temple grounds

Pious Jews rebelled only when religious persecution reached a level they could no longer tolerate. The line in the sand seems to have been the Torah and the [commandments], and the profaning of the ritual of the Temple. A series of cunning Hasmonean military maneuvers and setbacks for the Seleucids elsewhere in their empire helped the pietist militias conquer the city of Jerusalem in 164 BCE. They restored the ancient Jewish rites of the Temple, tearing down the altar to Zeus and other pagan gods.

Several centuries later, the rabbis likely developed the miracle-of-oil narrative that is so well-known today in the Hanukkah story. The first mention of the miracle is in a passage of the Babylonian Talmud dating to some time between the third and fifth centuries CE. It gave the rabbis, who were uncomfortable with the Maccabees, a way to say they respected Hanukkah, but they did not think focusing on a military victory and upheaval was a good lesson for Jews to have while living under the Roman empire. They didn’t want little Jewish boys to grow up and try to be Judah the Maccabee and attack the Romans. Read the complete article from which the above information came at -- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/real-history-hanukkah_566752afe4b080eddf55ff0b

The Closing of the American Jewish Mind

From the earliest years of my childhood, I always learned that the Jewish community valued intellectual debate. I witnessed this at every stage of my Jewish education. I grew up as the son and grandson of Conservative rabbis, attending services every week where the congregants and leaders engaged in vigorous discussions about the meaning of the liturgy. I studied at the Solomon Schechter Day School where my favorite class was Talmud, where our teacher Rabbi Lerner would carefully walk us through each line of text and demonstrate how every word and sentence could be dissected for new meaning. Rabbi Lerner taught us that the Talmud showed us how the Jewish people believed in debate for debate’s sake rather than trying to make everyone conform to the same opinion. That is the essence of Judaism. . . 

We no longer seek debate, nor do many shuls even allow it to happen. We are having trouble being tolerant of the other side. Rather than having different sides of the Jewish community debate the issue of U.S.-Israeli relations, too many shuls around the country are moving in the direction of simply prohibiting one side or the other from having a voice. As this exchange indicated to me, some shuls are now reaching the inevitable next step of slandering the character of fellow Jews simply through their possible associations. Read the complete article at -- http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/195443/closing-american-jewish-mind

“The Greatest Generation” Stood Up and Accepted their Challenge – Now It’s Our Turn!

How many more mass shootings? How many more political scandals? How much more corruption? How many more people killing in the names of their gods? How much more unbridled greed for profit at the expense of "We the People... and the Common Good?" Is this how we, Americans, are choosing to live in our nation today? Is this the legacy we want leave to our children and grandchildren? Was this the vision the Founders had for us?

I've mentioned many times, in the work that I do, that I come in contact with those who remain from that the "GREATEST GENERATION." My parents of blessed memory and their friends were part of that group as well. I've spent many hours listening to their stories and being constantly amazed by such a diverse group of people and experiences who came "TOGETHER" to respond to the horrible evils that threatened to swallow the entire world!

Governments are governments and politicians are politicians, but at that time, the government responded to the terrible hardships of the Depression by creating programs to put people to work and in doing so provided the groundwork for America's infrastructure. We came together as a nation to accomplish our task. Millions of women went to work in factories, ration cards, meatless Tuesday’s, scrap metal drives, victory gardens.  

Even the "outcasts", African Americans and Japanese Americans joined in the fight, to sacrifice for a country that rejected them when Pearl Harbor was attacked! This country, with all its faults, is still the most unique place on the planet, because it was intended to be nation of laws, built on the power of "We the People... and the Common Good."

Again, RAH (“evil,” not the Hollywood Devil or Satan garbage) -- the OPPOSITE OF TOV --  “Words Thoughts and Actions Which Destroy Life, it's Function and Quality -- has raised its specter on our world, as it hides in the Darkness of Anonymity. Technology has helped isolate more and more Americans to the point that radicalized authoritarian groups with "extractive values" are becoming attractive options to them. They feel entitled and spiritually driven to inflict their wills and desires upon all who are not in their elite circles!

I'm not offering Eternal Salvation, Prosperity Gospel, Perfection, or Cornucopia to all the problems on the planet, or even to Change the World! We are surrounded by people and groups offering all of those things and it is clear they are working. One thing they have in common is that they all point to something or someone else to fix things!

Real change in our parts of the world requires that we look in the mirror and point to that image as the source of change. However, that person cannot do what will be required alone. To use a familiar phrase – it requires teams. Over the past twenty-five years I have been on a journey and it has been preparing me to understand and explain to you why this teams approach is required. The first reason is that America is built on a team model – “We the People” – not “me and a bunch of unconnected individuals!”

In order to transform a bunch of unconnected individuals in teams, they must jointly recognize something as valuable and commit to protecting and preserving it. That’s what the members of “Greatest Generation” did. Many died for it. However, their “enemy” was very different from the RAH (“evil” we face). Their enemy attacked from the outside and wore identifying uniforms. The sources of RAH we face are very different and their targets are the minds of Americans. In addition to RAH, American minds have been under attack by others too – primarily for commercial purposes. The bottom line is that they played a major role in creating the “Me Generation” and all of the unconnected individuals living in America today.

As I said above, getting to this point has been a twenty-five journey and I believe that what we, Jim Myers and I, have learned has the power to begin the process of change that must begin before it is too late. We know that unexamined religious belief systems cannot provide the links that will connect Americans and make them a team. We also know that unexamined political and economic beliefs systems can’t do it either. The only thing we believe that can accomplish this is shared values -- and all Americans, especially those with Judeo-Christian heritages, already know them.

I want to bring people together, teach them about their shared values, help them create values-based relationships, and implement those values in their lives. We created a uniquely American model to help us successfully do these things – a sports model. This doesn’t mean we want to treat life as if it is just a game, but it means that the sports model has proven its worth in creating and training teams. We call our approach TOV Teams. TOV is a Hebrew word that appears in the first creation account of the Bible. It is the standard the Creator used to judge his work and reveals Values Family – groups of related values beginning with Life.

Implementing those Values in the lives of TOV Teams members, as well as others, are the primary goals of TOV Teams. Every Values Family below Life in the above graphic is required to create Life according to the Creator’s Standard.  

The sports model approach begins with creating – TOV FANS. Why do you professional sports teams – NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB – have so much influence today? Everyday there are many football, basketball, hockey and baseball games in America, but no one ever hears anything about them. Even though this may surprise a lot of people, it isn’t the game that causes professional games to be so important. What makes certain sports very important is that lots of fans tune in to watch their favorite teams. And, that is where a miracle takes place that most people are not even aware of – by being a fan and watching, they begin to learn the game.  

We created TOV Teams to do the same thing. The first step is to become a FAN and participate in activities you choose and learn more. You will learn by following TOV Teams Updates, participating in Gatherings and other social media activities. As time passes, more opportunities will become available for members who choose to become even more involved as players, coaches, sponsors, etc.

I am asking people who know me to support our vision by becoming a TOV Teams Member -- and simply being a TOV Fan. I am looking forward to regularly meeting with members who live in my “Home area,” at Gatherings designed to help them learn more and interact together. If you would like to be a member of my Home TOV Team, join today and let me know.

We have also created a special TOV Team which only a very few will have an opportunity to join – The Founders TOV Team. Membership in this team will only be available until December 31, 2016. The only other requirement is that it is for those who join as Lifetime Members. We understand that as members of the Founders Team, you will be with us as we deal with the “bumps in the road” we face during the launch phase. We will all learn and Co-Create together to make our parts of the world and our lives more TOV.

If you are considering where you will make yearend tax-deductible charitable donations for 2015 – please consider the TOV Center. Over the past twenty-five years we have collected lots of information. We have a vision and a plan. We know how to begin repairing the damages that have been done to Americans and America. We need two things to take things to the next level – members and funding.

I hope you will join with me by becoming a member of TOV Teams. For those living in the Dallas area, I look forward to seeing you at our Gatherings -- CLICK HERE TO JOIN.

Now it’s our turn to face the challenges of our generation. Let us leave a legacy for our descendants that include a better and safer American than the one we are living in now. Choose Life 1^st by Being a Co-Creator of TOV!

Rabbi Jeffrey Leynor

THE LIGHTS OF HANUKKAH ARE THE LIGHTS OF TOV TOO!

I always loved Hanukkah, of course as a child, but also as an adult as well. There are warm memories of the sights, smells and feelings which return each year lighting the candles and giving the little gifts to family and friends. 

Growing up, we heard the story of the "miracle" of the cruise of oil that lasted for eight days. Later, it was interesting to study and learn about the real history behind the Hanukkah story, beginning with learning that the Oil story was created by the Rabbinic Sages a few hundred years after the events. Traditions are important, but the facts of the story in historical context teach some impressive lessons.

First, the true "miracle" was that a small band of guerrilla fighters with no military training and even less weapons defeated a Syrian Greek standing army and forced them to abandon Jerusalem. They then “re-dedicated” the Temple to Yahweh. The name “Hanukkah” comes from the Hebrew word that means “to dedicate.” Tradition tells us that the first Temple (Solomon's Temple) was dedicated on the festival of Sukkot (Tabernacles) which is eight days long. The Jews could not celebrate that festival at the correct time because the Greeks controlled the Temple.

Second, Hanukkah was the first war in history fought over religious freedom. What started as a civil conflict between Jews who wanted to assimilate completely into Greek culture and Jews who wanted to remain with their traditions, spilled over into international politics. The traditional Jews had the upper hand and the losing side invited the Syrian Greek King Antiochus in on their side. He outlawed the practice of Judaism, which in return led to the rebellion.

Third, many cultures and traditions light lights in ceremonies at this time of year. Why? The Darkness and cold of winter. There is a saying, "It's better to light one candle than to curse the darkness."

Today, there is a lot of darkness in our world -- terrible violence, hatred, bigotry and intolerance. These types of darkness seem so strong, that we seem to have lost our way. This year, help us provide a new reality and a new option to bring people, who may disagree about everything, together in TOV! The first thing to be declared TOV by the Creator was Light! Learning to live by the Creator’s TOV Standard and creating TOV Values-Based Relationships brings people together to CO-Create the solutions to the problems we face. This is what helps dispel the terrible darkness that surrounds so many and leads to Light and Life for the GOOD of all. So, don't curse the darkness, Co-Create the Light that adds to Life!

Doing TOV is Choosing Life and making it your Highest Value & Top Priority.

Learn more by visiting our website today by CLICKING HERE.

Rabbi Jeffrey Leynor

National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day - The Awakening of the “Sleeping Giant”

Today is National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. Just before 8 a.m. on December 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The barrage lasted just two hours, but it was devastating: The Japanese managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight enormous battleships, and almost 200 airplanes. More than 2,000 Americans soldiers and sailors died in the attack, and another 1,000 were wounded. The day after the assault, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress

On December 8^th President Roosevelt said, “Yesterday the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked . . . No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory. I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.” See pictures and read the complete story at -- http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor