Chanukah
I love Chanukah!
More than any other celebration of the Jewish year, Chanukah fills me with Jewish pride. Chanukah is different from most of our annual festivals and commemorations because on Chanukah we focus on the historical heroism of our people, in addition to the religious value of our ritual. Please understand that I am not saying that the ritual, message and meaning of our other festivals are not themselves important, are not sufficiently enriching and fulfilling. I am saying that there is something qualitatively different about the Chanukah story of real people, caught in the grip of a real national struggle, determined to manage their own religious destiny.
Chanukah is history. Different from Passover whose events are not historically verified with evidence outside of the Torah text, the Chanukah story (which is post-biblical) can be authenticated and confirmed. It is real history. But we shouldn’t confuse the Chanukah legend of the miraculous oil with the historical religious rebellion of the Maccabees. The former was fabricated by the rabbis of Talmud almost 600 years after the Hasmonean Rebellion of 2nd Century BCE. The truth of Chanukah lies in the courage and faith, the strength and dedication of those Jews who would not allow their heritage to be absorbed into Greek culture.
The villain of the Chanukah story is not Antiochus Epiphanes and his Assyrian-Greek armies, rather it is the belief that Jews would be better served by abandoning their faith and religious culture in favor of the more attractive, prestigious and impressive world of Hellenism. There were Jews in the 2nd C. BCE who thought it financially prudent, socially beneficial, and rationally intelligent to join “the rest of the world”. The life-style and life-values of Judaism were to them old fashioned, and prevented their full appreciation of, and participation in, the modern, sophisticated and scientific world of Greek Hellenist culture. Those Jews welcomed the edict from Antiochus that all Assyrian subjects should become Greek citizens of the world. Scholars believe that the majority of the Jewish population in Judea was in favor of shedding the appearance and practice of Jewish identity-preferring to become full and recognized citizens of their secular world.
Which leaves us with a fascinating irony-- this Jewish holiday, which celebrates victory over the attractions of assimilation, becomes itself the very occasion which prompts us to incorporate the attractions of secular American culture. And it’s true that for us today, the pull of secular culture is tempting, that many of us believe that it might be easier if we just weren’t Jewish. So it is with pride that we tell the story of Judah and his followers, who fought for their religious identity and the right to gather as a religious community. No other religion or culture has a holiday specifically dedicated to the protection of religious freedom. Only Chanukah declares that each person has the right to participate in his or her own faith-community without state interference.
As Americans we treasure the freedoms guaranteed in the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. But it is Jewish history and tradition which first declared the ultimate importance of those values. I am proud of our tradition which yearly reminds us that it is imperative that we preserve that freedom, and even fight for the integrity of our heritage. I love Chanukah. More than any other festival or occasion, this is a celebration of the dedication and determination of the Jewish spirit. Indeed, in fighting for both national and personal Jewish integrity, the Maccabees gave us nes gadol haya sham, “a great miracle, that happened there.”
I love Chanukah!
More than any other celebration of the Jewish year, Chanukah fills me with Jewish pride. Chanukah is different from most of our annual festivals and commemorations because on Chanukah we focus on the historical heroism of our people, in addition to the religious value of our ritual. Please understand that I am not saying that the ritual, message and meaning of our other festivals are not themselves important, are not sufficiently enriching and fulfilling. I am saying that there is something qualitatively different about the Chanukah story of real people, caught in the grip of a real national struggle, determined to manage their own religious destiny.
Chanukah is history. Different from Passover whose events are not historically verified with evidence outside of the Torah text, the Chanukah story (which is post-biblical) can be authenticated and confirmed. It is real history. But we shouldn’t confuse the Chanukah legend of the miraculous oil with the historical religious rebellion of the Maccabees. The former was fabricated by the rabbis of Talmud almost 600 years after the Hasmonean Rebellion of 2nd Century BCE. The truth of Chanukah lies in the courage and faith, the strength and dedication of those Jews who would not allow their heritage to be absorbed into Greek culture.
The villain of the Chanukah story is not Antiochus Epiphanes and his Assyrian-Greek armies, rather it is the belief that Jews would be better served by abandoning their faith and religious culture in favor of the more attractive, prestigious and impressive world of Hellenism. There were Jews in the 2nd C. BCE who thought it financially prudent, socially beneficial, and rationally intelligent to join “the rest of the world”. The life-style and life-values of Judaism were to them old fashioned, and prevented their full appreciation of, and participation in, the modern, sophisticated and scientific world of Greek Hellenist culture. Those Jews welcomed the edict from Antiochus that all Assyrian subjects should become Greek citizens of the world. Scholars believe that the majority of the Jewish population in Judea was in favor of shedding the appearance and practice of Jewish identity-preferring to become full and recognized citizens of their secular world.
Which leaves us with a fascinating irony-- this Jewish holiday, which celebrates victory over the attractions of assimilation, becomes itself the very occasion which prompts us to incorporate the attractions of secular American culture. And it’s true that for us today, the pull of secular culture is tempting, that many of us believe that it might be easier if we just weren’t Jewish. So it is with pride that we tell the story of Judah and his followers, who fought for their religious identity and the right to gather as a religious community. No other religion or culture has a holiday specifically dedicated to the protection of religious freedom. Only Chanukah declares that each person has the right to participate in his or her own faith-community without state interference.
As Americans we treasure the freedoms guaranteed in the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. But it is Jewish history and tradition which first declared the ultimate importance of those values. I am proud of our tradition which yearly reminds us that it is imperative that we preserve that freedom, and even fight for the integrity of our heritage. I love Chanukah. More than any other festival or occasion, this is a celebration of the dedication and determination of the Jewish spirit. Indeed, in fighting for both national and personal Jewish integrity, the Maccabees gave us nes gadol haya sham, “a great miracle, that happened there.”