Hanukkah Candelabra Lit in Berlin

The eight-day Jewish festival of lights, Hanukkah, commenced on December 25 this year, coinciding with worldwide Christmas celebrations. In a tradition of 19 years, a 10-meter-high Hanukkah candelabra was erected in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin for the duration of the feast.

This year in particular, it is more important than ever to set a sign of light that overcomes the darkness at this central location.
—Yehuda Teichtal, rabbi

Dramatic history: The festival of Hanukkah hearkens back to when the Jewish religion was threatened with extinction. The Hellenistic Seleucids, led by Antiochus iv Epiphanes, sought to blot out the Jewish religion. As the greatest of all insults, Antiochus erected an image of Zeus in the Jewish temple and commanded the sacrifice of pigs.

The revolt of the Jewish Maccabees, and God’s miraculous intervention, foiled Antiochus’s plans.

Not just history: The Jewish people again face existential crises, and they are looking to Germany as an ally. But the Bible warns about the rise of another Antiochus in our day.

However, this modern-day Antiochus won’t present himself as an enemy at first. … The Jews will likely invite him in, presumably to help keep the peace there. So he will enter peaceably into the city, no doubt with his flatteries and his deceit and his lies.
—Gerald Flurry, Trumpet editor in chief, “Europe Is About to Be Hijacked”

To learn more, read Jerusalem in Prophecy.