The Brew: Light in the Darkness
And so tonight begins the Festival of Lights, Hanukkah.
Yet this year the Jewish festival means so much more as our Jewish brethren still recoil not only from the terror of October 7, but in witnessing so many supposed friends slink away, silent at the sharp rise in anti-Semitic attacks, silent as American campuses fill with calls for genocide, where the Jewish state itself is accused of genocide merely for attempting to eliminate those who have raped and kidnapped and tortured and murdered innocents from infants to the elderly. A force that insists October 7 was just the beginning. That “From the River to the Sea” Jews will be wiped away.
Yet the Festival of Lights itself is a reminder of God’s faithfulness to His people in the darkness, in the face of invaders in the Promised Land.
Chabad.org tells the miraculous story of the recapture and rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem some 2200 years ago:
Against all odds, a small band of faithful but poorly armed Jews, led by Judah the Maccabee, defeated one of the mightiest armies on earth, drove the Greeks from the land, reclaimed the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and rededicated it to the service of G‑d.
When they sought to light the Temple’s Menorah (the seven-branched candelabrum), they found only a single cruse of olive oil that had escaped contamination by the Greeks. Miraculously, they lit the menorah and the one-day supply of oil lasted for eight days, until new oil could be prepared under conditions of ritual purity.
To celebrate this miracle, this demonstration of God’s faithfulness, Hanukkah was born. Hanukkah, meaning “dedication.” In this day when the oil again seems in sparse supply, let us re-dedicate ourselves to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and re-commit ourselves to bringing light in the darkness.
Gov. Newsom Cancels Public Christmas Tree Lighting in Face of Pro-Palestinian Protesters
California Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to be President someday. We already know his campaign slogan: “I surrender.” After already surrendering his streets to criminals, illegal immigrants and the homeless, he’s now surrendered Christmas to “pro-Palestinian” thugs.
Newsom was supposed to be on hand Tuesday for the lighting of the California Capitol Christmas Tree lighting, a tradition going back to the 1930s. Instead, specifically because hundreds of pro-Hamas forces were planning to protest the event, the public lighting was cancelled. Instead, a virtual event was held last night.
As Gateway Pundit observed, Newsom had no problem clearing the streets of homeless in honor of Chinese dictator Xi, but he ran from protecting the Christmas tree lighting and honoring the birth of Jesus Christ? Yeah, that’s someone you want in the Oval Office come crunch time.
White House Interns Rebel, Demand Biden Push for Permanent Cease-Fire in Gaza to Stop “Genocide”
Some 40 White House interns have written a letter to the President and Vice President requesting they push for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza to stop Israel’s “genocide.” They say Biden has “ignored” the “pleas of the American people.” (What people? The ones tearing down posters of Hamas hostages? The ones chasing Jews around campuses? Susan Sarandon?)
NBC News got hold of the letter.
It’s a sign of the division within the White House as the radicals complain about Biden’s support of Israel’s right to defend itself. NSC spokesman John Kirby has already criticized how the word “genocide” is being “thrown around in a pretty inappropriate way.” As NBC News reports Kirby is clear to note that it is Hamas, not Israel that is pursuing the eradication of an entire people.
Read the letter. It reeks not only of ignorance but entitlement. Interns demanding the President of the United States abandon our closest ally in the Middle East?
Somewhere Monica Lewinsky has to be thinking, “And they say I gave White House interns a bad name?”
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Meanwhile, the House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, along with 91 other Democrats, voted “present” Tuesday on a resolution condemning anti-Semitism.
Let’s contrast Jeffries — and whatever response to the interns comes out of the White House — with Sen. Marco Rubio’s response to a protester who confronted him about Israel’s campaign against Hamas.
My senator delivers an epic takedown on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict 🏆pic.twitter.com/Tn2WB4sMmc
— AngelOfficial 🎙 #IStandWithIsrael (@AngelOfficial) December 6, 2023
“Lose Gracefully”?
Hey, Dodgers. Remember that World Series you lost because the Houston Astros cheated? Suck it up. Learn to “lose gracefully.” Or at least that’s the logic of Fatima Goss Graves, head of National Women’s Law Center. She testified Tuesday on Capitol Hill in favor of men competing in women’s sports, arguing that women getting defeated by the bigger stronger males who identify as female need to “learn to lose gracefully.”
A Twitter commentator named Bill Dubs had a better idea: “The argument can be made the other way. Men who want to be women, should learn how to lose gracefully in men’s sports.”
Singer Taylor Swift Has Been Named Time’s “Person of the Year”
Hitler. Stalin. Swift? Pop singer Taylor Swift has been named Time’s “Person of the Year.” The award is supposedly bestowed upon the person who the magazine believe most greatly impact world events. Not sure how having the most lucrative concert tour in history and dating an NFL player did more than distract from the real momentous moments of 2023. But perhaps that’s the point. Distraction from how bad things are domestically and globally. Or perhaps it’s not about 2023 at all. Perhaps it’s about 2024, and trying to further elevate Swift so her inevitable involvement in the election will help Democrats maintain power. Eh, who we kidding. They want to sell magazines. Guns & Ammo would put Swift on the cover if they could find a way.
The Lamp That Lights Up the Darkness
Who would you have picked for Time’s “Person of the Year”? One choice seems clear: The Anti-Semite.
And thus we start where we began, on the first night of Hanukkah. In Psalm 18, David writes how “the cords of death entangle me; the torrents of destruction overwhelm me.” Yet from His temple, God heard his voice and delivered him.
“It is you who light my lamp; the LORD, my God, lights up my darkness.” (PS 18:28)
Chag urim sameach. Happy Festival of Lights.
Along The Stream
Our friends at Mass Resistance tell the story of Bonnie Manchester, the “Teacher Fired for Whistleblowing on Transgender Groomers Sues School.”
Al Perrotta is the Managing Editor of The Stream, co-author, with John Zmirak, of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration and co-author of the counter-terrorism memoir Hostile Intent: Protecting Yourself Against Terrorism.
