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CHANUKA

Someone stopped me on the street and said to me: “I read your articles every Shabat and I enjoy doing so. I know that you intend to write about Chanuka this coming week. Please write something new and fresh because all of the old ideas about Chanuka I know already.” I was flattered that he was such a fan of mine but I was disappointed that he wanted to dictate my Chanuka article for me. Because to my mind, the newest, freshest insight on Chanuka is simply found in retelling the Chanuka story itself.

There can be nothing as relevant to our world and our current situation as revisiting the Chanuka story and taking lessons and heart from it. For the Chanuka story details for us three separate struggles that comprise the tale of the Hasmoneans and their descendants. These struggles were fought to a great extent simultaneously and over protracted periods of time.

The triumph of the Hasmoneans was viewed as being immediate but the victory of Chanuka is apparent only over the long run of Jewish history and life. The three struggles were: 1) the Jews versus the Syrian-Greeks, 2) the original Hasmoneans versus the Hellenist Jews and 3) the Hasmoneans versus the Hasmoneans in a bitter civil war. The results of these struggles are extremely instructive to us in our current situations.

In truth, it is not difficult for us to realize that we are living in Second Temple times, so to speak. Thus the Hasmoneans and their struggles are not past history alone but are in reality a description of current events. 

The struggle against the Syrian-Greeks ended in partial victory for the Hasmoneans. It was only the unfortunate alliance of the Hasmoneans with the Romans that finally squelched the threat of Syrian-Greek invasion of the Jewish state. The Romans stationed one of their legions on Jewish soil. They never left and the country inevitably fell under Roman domination.

The rabbis of the time, pointing to the miraculous lights of Chanuka as proof of Divine protection, objected to the alliance with Rome. They saw Rome as being even a greater threat to the Jews than were the once-vanquished Syrian-Greeks. Needless to say, rabbinic scholars know nothing about diplomacy, military matters or national policy and their opinion was disregarded by the ruling power of the Hasmoneans.

When in 63 BCE Pompeii conquered Jerusalem and instituted the family of Herod as Roman puppets to govern the country, the rabbis were unfortunately proven to have been correct in their assessment of the dangers confronting the Jewish state.

The second struggle against the Hellenist Jews continued for centuries. The Hellenist Jews morphed into the Sadducees who centuries later would become the Karaites and whose false views regarding Torah and Divinity still have adherents today in the Jewish world. There are plenty of these Jews around today. Some are simply ignorant of Jewish life and tradition and know nothing about the Jewish past. Others are vicious self-haters who really need some sort of spiritual and mental therapy. The struggle to defend Jewish holy tradition is still continuing today in combating assimilation, secularism and Jewish self-hatred. The miracle of the lights of Chanuka remain as the symbol of the Torah’s eventual triumph in this matter.

Finally the struggles between the Hasmoneans themselves brought about the eventual destruction of the Second Temple. The ambition and greed for power split the family, brother fought brother and a spirit of intolerance, hatred and suspicion of others was created. This led to the unwarranted hatred between different factions of the Jewish people and it is to this spirit of dissension, constant carping and mutual distrust and hatred that the rabbis of the Talmud attributed the cause of the destruction of the Second Temple.

The fragmentation of parties for the forthcoming general election here in Israel is a source of disappointment and worry to me. For it leads to bitter words and unwarranted accusations one against the other and certainly weakens the fabric of our public life and deterrent powers of defending ourselves against our enemies.

Why we cannot agree to disagree civilly and seriously without all of the bombast and personal besmirching that abounds is beyond me. But Chanuka teaches me that things can improve and that we are not ever far from Divine help and inspiration.

So, it is the old story of Chanuka that actually remains the fresh one with new insights since it is so relevant regarding our world and our struggles.