Confession of an Ex-Messianic Jew: True Meaning of Chanukah & Greek Influence on Judaism
My Journey from Messianic Judaism to Discovering the True Meaning of Chanukah
In 2001, at age thirty-five, I discovered I was Jewish. I learned I was descended from Sephardic families (Dias, Lucero, Trujillo, Almanzar, Ramirez). These families had hidden their identity for centuries after the Spanish Expulsion. That same year, I entered the Messianic Jewish world, convinced I had found the “completed” Judaism. For the next seventeen years, I lived there. I viewed the Torah through a lens that superimposed Jesus onto every festival. It also overlaid Jesus onto every typology and every verse.
In that community, we were taught that the ancient Greeks were the eternal enemies of the Jewish people. Greek philosophy was poison. The Greek language was profane. We fasted on the anniversary of the Septuagint translation. We were even forbidden to read the Books of Maccabees. For us, the true meaning of Chanukah was a simple story of victory. Pious Jews defeated wicked Hellenists. They forced paganism upon us. Light overcame darkness. No nuance. No deeper insight.
Understanding The Whole Story Is How We Were Taught.
In 2014, I started my formal Orthodox conversion process under a non-recognized beit din. I completed it several years ago, in 2018. The fundamental shift began earlier through the profound lectures of Rabbi Dr. Akiva Tatz. He explained that true freedom comes only from being bound to truth. “Be like the tzitzit,” he taught. “Tied in knots that spell the Name of God and the 613 commandments. Only a slave to truth is truly free.”
This idea guided me. I asked questions relentlessly and sought elders with an unbroken chain back to Sinai.
Rabbi Efraim Palvanov’s Lecture That Revealed the True Meaning of Chanukah
Chanukah 5786 Palvanov’s lecture “Chanukah & the Final Redemption” changed everything.
Recently, during the buildup to Chanukah 5786 (2025), Rabbi Efraim Palvanov’s lecture “Chanukah & the Final Redemption” changed everything.
Rabbi Palvanov explains that the true meaning of Chanukah is not rejection of the Greeks, but redemption and integration. The miracle of the oil lasted eight days. This allowed time for Jewish light to absorb and elevate the best of Greek influence on Judaism without extinguishing it.
He cites rabbinic sources showing how deeply the Sages embraced Greek wisdom:
- Talmud Megillah 9b: A Torah scroll is written only in Hebrew or in Greek. These are the only two languages declared kosher for a Sefer Torah.
- Bereshit Rabbah 36:8: “Yaft Elokim le-Yefet—God shall grant beauty to Japheth (ancestor of Yavan/Greece). However, he shall dwell in the tents of Shem.” Greek beauty finds purpose inside Torah tents. This is fusion.
“Chanukah & the Final Redemption”
- Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel (Bava Kamma 83a): He raised five hundred students in Torah. He also raised five hundred students in Greek wisdom (chokhmat Yevanit).
- Rambam: He praised Aristotle as the greatest mind after the prophets.
- Yehuda Halevi was the author of the Kuzari. My family descends from his Sephardic lineage. Greek is the most precise language after Hebrew. It is worthy of translation into the Torah.
Palvanov highlights Greek loanwords in Hebrew: Sanhedrin, apikoros, afikoman, prosbol, gematria (from geometry), androgynos, Metatron (meta + thronos), and more. The Talmud embraces these. Tradition refines, not rejects.
Hidden Light of Chanukah: Gematria and Redemption
The gematria is profound. Chanukah’s 36 candles match the 36 hours of primordial light from Creation’s first three days (Genesis 1). This hidden light Chanukah reveals itself to the righteous each year.
This year, Parashat Miketz has exactly 2,025 words—hinting at redemption in our era.
The key: Yosef = 156. Tzion = 156. Joseph, exiled yet rising as “Melech Yavan” (king of Greece), embodies the fusion—foreign wisdom, yet faithful to Yaakov.
Tzion (ציון): Tzadi (tzadik, Jewish soul) + Yud-Vav-Nun (rearranges to Yavan). Same letters. Tzion completes only through Greek influence on Judaism.
I was stunned. What I was taught to hate, the Sages cherished. Greek wisdom was incomplete light, waiting for Torah’s tents.
A Question for Christian Friends
The Deeper Lesson: Integration for Redemption
The true meaning of Chanukah is adding light nightly, following Beit Hillel. We increase. Science, logic, philosophy—these are raw oil for Torah’s flame.
The Third Temple rises when Tzadi embraces Yavan—Jewish righteousness marries Greek clarity under primordial light.
This is my confession as an ex-Messianic Jew: I hated what I misunderstood. I saw Greek wisdom as evil, missing its threads in the Talmud. No more.
Tonight, I light all eight candles—in partnership with every truth spark. The menorah is a bridge.
Cross it. Tzion awaits.
Chazan Gavriel Ben David Chanukah 5786 / December 2025
Additional Outbound Links for Authority
- Learn more about Rabbi Akiva Tatz’s teachings on truth and freedom: akivatatz.com
- Rabbi Efraim Palvanov’s blog for deeper Chanukah insights: mayimachronim.com
- Sefaria.org for primary sources like Kuzari: sefaria.org