Happy Hanukkah!

December 22nd

O King of the Gentiles, yes, and their desire; O Corner-stone, that makes two of  one: come to save man, whom You have made of the dust of the earth!

O Rex Gentium antiphon

We thank You also for the miraculous deeds and for the redemption and for the mighty deeds and the saving acts wrought by You, as well as for the wars which You waged for our ancestors in ancient days at this season.  …You in your abundant mercy rose up for them in the time of their trouble, pled their cause, executed judgment, avenged their wrong, and delivered the strong into the hands of the weak, the many into the hands of few, the impure into the hands of the pure, the wicked into the hands of the righteous, and insolent ones into the hands of those occupied with Your Torah. Both for Yourself did you make a great and holy name in Thy world, and for Your people did You achieve a great deliverance and redemption. Whereupon your children entered the sanctuary of Your house, cleansed Your temple, purified Your sanctuary, kindled lights in Your holy courts, and appointed these eight days of Hanukkah in order to give thanks and praises unto Your holy name.

Al HaNassim prayer

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Because: irony. Since Hannukah starts at sunset tonight: Happy  Hanukkah, or “G’mar tov” since I’m typing this and there’s no possible way for me to mispronounce it.

Here is Tom Inglis et al. (on We Are One) singing A King is Born on Youtube and Spotify respectively. This is one of the few Integrity/Hosanna songs I genuinely like.

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…and here is an image of Herbig-Haro 110 from last year’s Hubble Advent Calendar in The Atlantic. (Herbig Haro objects are basically like exhaust jets from a star.)

Here’s this year’s calendar, if anyone’s interested.