At Vicksburg’s House of Israel, Chanukkah celebration began as the rabbi, dressed in a traditional ancient robe and prayer shawl, spoke softly in Hebrew and delivered a short sermon about Jesus.
Chanukkah — also spelled Hanukkah — began at sundown Tuesday and lasts until Dec. 24.  The House of Israel began its celebration Wednesday— the 25th day of the Hebrew month Kislev with about a dozen men in prayer shawls engaged in a call and response prayer with Rabbi Ahmetahee Ben Israel.
“At this season, we commemorate the miracle the Lord did for Israel,” Ahmetahee said.
Chanukkah is perhaps the best known Hebrew holiday because its proximity to Christmas, yet is one of the least understood.
The eight-day festival marks the military victory of Mattathias and his five sons over the Syrian Greek monarchy that had taken over the Middle East about 160 years before the birth of Jesus.
Scripturally, the event is recorded the Book of Maccabees, which is not part of the Protestant cannon but is included in the Catholic Bible.

“They defeated the enemy, restored the temple and restored the lights in the temple,” Ahmetahee said.
During the celebration, families light a candle each night held in a candelabrum called a Hanukia. Many people incorrectly refer to the Hanukia as a menorah.
Candles in the Hanukia are lighted each night for eight nights in remembrance of Mattathias’s band of warriors restoring light to the Temple in Jerusalem.
“We do it because God did for us miracles in those days,” Ahmetahee said.
In John 10:22-23, Jesus is at a Chanukkah feast — sometimes called the Festival of Dedication — when men gathered around Him ask if he is the Messiah. Christ famously says “I and the Father are one.”
House of Israel members practice a faith that looks traditionally Jewish, but they accept Jesus as Messiah.
“We don’t celebrate Christmas, but we do celebrate Chanukah. It is found in the scripture,” Ahmetahee said. “Celebrating Christmas is not found in the scripture.”
As Vicksburg’s white Reform Jewish population has been dwindling, the African-American House of Israel has been growing. House of Israel opened its current temple on Washington Street in 2010 and has a core group of 30 dedicated members who show up each Saturday —  the Hebrew Shabbat or Sabbath.
“If everyone who visited ever came very week, I wouldn’t have room to seat them all,” Ahmetahee said.