A VERY HAPPY HANUKAH

חג חנוכה שמח

We are taught these days that Hanukah is about freedom. We picture the Maccabees as freedom fighters fighting against the power of an empire that has been subjugating them. We picture them to be like the partisans in the forests of Europe resisting the Nazis, or the liberation movements of the third world throwing off the burden of imperialism.

But there are two parts of the story that are generally ignored, two parts that we do not teach our children and maybe do not want to think about at all.

You see, the rebellion of the Maccabees was not just against an occupying army or an imperialistic power.

It was also, more importantly, a rebellion against an alien ideology that was being imposed, and it was also a rebellion against the so-called Jewish leadership of the day that aided and abetted the imperialist effort to culturally assimilate the Jewish Nation.

The alien Greek-Syrian rulers imposed their will through their Jewish puppets to whom they gave positions and power and money, including even a puppet priesthood in the Temple in Jerusalem. The story makes it clear that victory to the rebels meant the opportunity to cleanse the Temple of corruption that was imposed by these so-called Jewish leaders who identified their interests more with the foreign rulers than with their own people, the JINO’s (the Jews in name only), of the time, who were more than willing to dilute and even ignore Jewish ethnic, political and religious interests to conform to the demands and interests of the powerful, whether for personal gain, or for what they saw as the safety provided by "fitting in” with the powerful.

You see, little in human nature is different from era to era. Just as today, people saw two extremes. They saw one class of Jews who gained favor with the rulers by conforming to their ways and in exchange being called "leaders”, given prestigious positions, and assumed to be the spokesmen for all Jews, and who insisted they defined Judaism (though it was a matter of conforming to Hellenistic values)

and at the other end of the spectrum, some Jewish groups that isolated themselves and became religious cults, claiming to define Judaism by their cult standards, rejecting the world, leaving the masses of the Jewish nation with no real direction to go.

The Maccabees came from that mass in the middle, wanting direction, objecting to the leaders that represented the rulers and not the people They fought and won.

All Jews today exist as Jews because of what they did, not because of what the assimilated leaders did, and not because of what the isolation oriented sects did, but because the Maccabees prevailed at least for a while.

So, when we celebrate Hanukah today, lighting the candles, singing the songs, are we Maccabees or not? Are those of us in the Diaspora willing to stop allowing so-called Jewish leaders, people who are JINOs, to represent us and claim to speak for us? Are those of us in Medinat Yisrael going to allow those that look to Europe for their standards and values, determine our culture? Are we going to allow isolationist cults to define Judaism? Or are we going to be Maccabees and fight for a free Jewish nation committed to its history and Torah, to its own values and standards, to its uniqueness?

So celebrate the event of 2200 years ago with food and games and fun, and when you light those candles and sing the songs, remember to be a Maccabee and remember what they really fought for, not only against a foreign enemy but for Jewish cultural integrity, for the values taught by Torah.

You know, our sages warned against us adopting Hellenistic thought, which had less to do with the common belief that it was an emphasis on sports rather than learning. They were worried that Judaism would be infected by the Hellenistic view of man just being a subject of fate and in need of a hero, (the basis of Christian thought) rather than the Jewish emphasis on responsible behavior.

Because sadly, when you look around and even hear sermons of many Rabbis, and when you see who the world looks at as "Jewish leaders”, and when you see Judaism reduced to clothing and ritual by some, have the Maccabees really won yet?

Or we can be reminded that Torah and Judaism are Revolution toward civilized standards and values. The real revolution. Make lighting the candles start something and really mean something.

1 This is wonderful! We take it for granted that the Hebrews fought against alien ideologies -- the Philistines, the Amalekites, etc. And triumphed on the battlefield against all of them. If only they could have resisted the cult of Ba'al when Ahab and Jezebel pushed it.

2 Yep. Israel fought her internal battles as much as external. And sadly, in many cases, lost to the same kind of thinking that we are fighting against today.

3 And we are going downhill just as Israel and Judah did. And for the same reason: we turned our backs on God.

4 Sadly true Dana.

Israel and Judah split; I wonder if we'll do THAT? It saved a remnant for a time.