Every year I am amazed by the opportunities to transmit our Jewish values that we pass up when Hanukkah rolls around.
First, it is truly valuable to share with family and community the lighting of the Chanukah Menorah. Countless lessons emanate from the flickering flames: the victory of light over darkness, the miracle of the small cruz of untainted oil designed to cast light for one day, lasted 8 full ones.
However, from my humble perspective, we may be missing the enormous depth that Chanukah seeks to convey:
By way of comparison, it is as if on Pesach, instead of talking about freedom, we only talk about the symbols we put on the table at the Seder.
Chanukah is ancient history and today’s headlines.
It is history because we remember a heroic episode in our history.
The cultural clash that occurred between the Seleucids and the Israelites may be difficult to fathom in our modern times, but without fear of being wrong, it was as profound as the one that occurred with the Spanish upon their arrival in the Americas.
For an imperial mentality like the one carried on by the Hellenistic culture, there could be no coexistence with Torah values.
Let’s look at it this way. One culture proposed that the world was created to be beautified and enjoyed in the present; beauty exists in perfection and appearance, physical activity in gyms. Their many gods had the passions and characteristics of mortals, concrete and tangible, even cruel.
They are confronted with a Judaic Civilization tthat has a single intangible deity and a people who revere, piety and benevolence.. Their objective is to sanctify the Earth in which they live and to modify it to improve it for the next generations, to leave it better than they received it; their social values are not physical but spiritual. The mere existence of this modus vivendi challenges the world view of the Seleucid.
The Greek Syrians conquer and impose. Impose change. They transform synagogues into gyms, housewives into courtesans, prohibit Shabbat observance, among other measures to destroy a nation from within.
This policy, gained followers among the locals themselves, who yearned to enjoy the tangible present and not a hypothetical future.
Friends. This corruption imposed first by the promise of enjoyment and tangible goods, followed later by force, brought us to the brink of disappearance. Hellenistic culture could not bear the mere existence of a Jewish nation state.
Resistance was not easy.
A small, poorly trained local army opposed a huge military force that even included war elephants.
The epic moment, as we have seen it reflected in modern times by Howard Fast`s “My Glorious Brothers”, was infinitely hard and heroic.
We live today in equally difficult times. We culturally confront new Hellenists who maintain that enjoyment is in the immediate present and that the world tomorrow will be a problem for future generations. And at the same time, many others who also cannot bear the mere existence of a Jewish state.
Our work is to resist and teach by example. A Heroic, daily and unequal challenge.
But just as the Maccabees taught us, we will be strong and courageous so our People of Israel will live and thrive. Am Yisrael Chai!
When you light the next candle, when it is time to bring more light to separate us from the darkness, keep in mind this relevant message from our ancient history.