By Rabbi Yair Hoffman Chanukah is fast approaching and we need to reflect on the two Nissim of Chanukah: The nais that the oil kept burning The nais of the remarkable military victory. QUESTION: But, why did Chazal emphasize the first nais over the second one? ANSWER:  So that we will not make a mistake and ignore the role of Hashem and wrongly attribute things to superior military moves and the like.

The Geminids — among the few major meteor showers to come from asteroids — peak on Friday. It’s one of the year’s last chances to see fireballs in the sky. The shower often produces meteors with a distinctly more yellow glow, likely due to the unusual origin material, said Sally Brummel, planetarium manager at the University of Minnesota’s Bell Museum. Under ideal viewing conditions, the Geminids typically put on one of the best and brightest shows of the year because of the high volume of meteors visible each hour. However, an almost full moon this year means up to 15 meteors per hour are expected at peak time, according to the American Meteor Society. The moonlight “will wash out a lot of them,” Brummel said. Viewing lasts until Dec. 21.

Two Swedish brothers in their 20s, converts to Islam, were arrested by Stockholm’s SÄPO security agency in March on charges of planning attacks on shuls and other Jewish sites on behalf of the Islamic State (ISIS). The suspects, identified as residents of Tyresö, a suburb southeast of Stockholm, allegedly pledged allegiance to ISIS’s Somali branch. Local media reported that they acquired a weapon at a “basement mosque” near their home. The older brother, 25, was allegedly tasked with recruiting terrorists to carry out mass killings of “infidels.” In February, he reportedly attempted to travel to Somalia to join ISIS but was stopped in Turkey and sent back after raising suspicions with his one-way ticket.

Classified documents revealed by Sky News Arabia on Wednesday indicate that Israel maintained a direct communication channel with ex-Syrian President Bashar Assad and his army through an Israeli agent nicknamed “Musa” or “Moses.” The report is based on documents discovered after the fall of the Assad regime and published on social media. The documents’ authenticity has not been verified but the documents bear the Assad military emblem and appear to have been written by top military officers. According to the documents, “Musa” transmitted messages from political figures in Israel directly to former Syrian Defense Minister Ali Mahmoud Abbas and from him to Assad’s former national security advisor Ali Mamlouk.

A large number of mysterious drones have been reported flying over parts of New Jersey in recent weeks, sparking speculation and concern over who sent them and why. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and law enforcement officials have stressed that the drones don’t appear to be a threat to public safety, but many state and municipal lawmakers have nonetheless called for stricter rules about who can fly the unmanned aircraft. The FBI is among several agencies investigating, and it has asked residents to share videos, photos and other information they may have about the drones. What has been seen in New Jersey? Dozens of witnesses have reported seeing drones in New Jersey starting in November.

A massive fire erupted at a home on 1838 E 4th Street between Quentin Road and Kings Highway on Thursday afternoon, quickly spreading to two neighboring houses and turning the block into a scene of chaos. The blaze began around 2:15 PM in a home that was reportedly vacant and under construction. Within minutes, strong winds fueled the flames, transforming the fire into a raging inferno. The intensity of the blaze caused the roof of the original house to collapse. The FDNY initially feared that firefighters were trapped inside, but it was later confirmed that all personnel were safe. In response to the dangerous conditions, all firefighters were immediately pulled from the building. Emergency services were on high alert, with Flatbush Hatzolah standing by to assist if needed.

A New Zealand man playing his first-ever competitive Scrabble game in Spanish, a language he doesn’t speak, has won the board game’s Spanish-language world title. Nigel Richards, a professional player who holds five English-language world titles, won the Spanish world Scrabble championships in Granada, Spain, in November, losing one game out of 24. Richards started memorizing the language’s Scrabble word list a year ago, his friend Liz Fagerlund -– a New Zealand Scrabble official -– told The Associated Press. “He can’t understand why other people can’t just do the same thing,” she said.

In a heated session before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Congressman Mike Lawler launched a scathing attack on Secretary of State Antony Blinken, accusing him of presiding over a legacy of “dysfunction, weakness, and death.” Lawler did not hold back as he condemned the administration for abandoning American citizens in Israel following the horrific October 7th terrorist attack, calling the response a catastrophic failure of leadership. Lawler began by addressing what he described as the administration’s pivotal misstep—the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, which left 13 U.S. service members dead and devastated their families.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said that he prefers Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to lead the war rather than his former partners in the opposition. In an interview with Maariv, he said: “Netanyahu is the prime minister; he was elected by the people. When I look at the options today, I can clearly say that it is much better that Netanyahu is leading, with all the criticism I had of him, than Gantz or Lapid. That’s my inner truth and I can’t tell myself another story.” He admitted that he made a mistake when he resigned from the emergency government during the war together with Benny Gantz’s National Unity Party.