Shabbat Shalom and Happy Hanukkah!
We had a great week at Kesher this week – the Hanukkah celebrations were certainly the highlight! Take a look at what each of your child’s classes are doing:
Shorashim parents can visit the class Wiki Page here:
http://shorashim.wikispaces.com/
Nitzanim parents can visit the class Wiki Page here:
http://keshernitzanim.wikispaces.com/
Anafim parents can visit the class Wiki Page here:
http://anafimkesher.wikispaces.com/
Te’enim parents can visit the class Wiki Page here: http://kesherteenim.wikispaces.com/
Once again we happen upon the “holiday” season. Chanukah, the festival of lights and the commemoration of Jewish perseverance becomes so misunderstood not only by our non Jewish neighbors – but also by many in the Jewish community. Chanukah has that unique quality of being a popular Jewish holiday even among the non-affiliated as well as the tenuously affiliated Jews. It is ironic and frustrating to those of us steeped in the Jewish community that contained within the message of Chanukah is the warning to strengthen one’s affiliation and become more Jewishly connected.
History tells us that Alexander the Great was kind to the Jews. Alexander the Great was a world conqueror who brought his nation to the pinnacle of its power and dominion. He revered the Jewish sages of his time, and their wisdom. He ruled beneficently over the Jews for all of his days. In Alexander’s time, the intelligentsia of Greece appreciated the Torah, and even allowed the Jews their pride in being its
chosen followers. That only lasted during Alexander’s lifetime. His successors did not view Jewish pride in the same way. To them it was a form of rebellion. Even though the Jews were physical subjects of their kingdom, their attitudes were noticeably different.
After Alexander died, Athens remained the center of the culture of the Greeks, but the dominion shifted to the Syrian Greek rulers. They put great pressure on the Jews to conform, and indeed many did. The Greeks blamed the Torah for preventing the vast majority of Jews from conforming, and targeted Torah observance. Laws were made outlawing Sabbath Observance, Circumcision, and Rosh Chodesh, the designation of the beginning of the new lunar month. The Greeks identified these three commandments as forces which made the Jews unique, and kept them from conforming. Why were these three in particular the ones the Greeks chose?
As far as Shabbat was concerned, Sabbath observance is a statement that there is a Creator Who rested on the seventh day from God’s creative activity. By resting on The Sabbath we show our belief in God’s existence, and our subjugation to God’s will. Clearly, this was a threat to the culture and belief structure of the Greek empire.
Circumcision is a stamp on the flesh. It states that the body and not just the soul are meant to work toward spiritual goals. This did not sit well with the Greeks who believed that the body rules in its world, and the soul in its world. The Jewish calendar in those days was verbally established each month by the Jewish Sages through the first sightings of the waxing moon. All of the Jewish Festivals and the observances tied to them depend on the beginning of the months being established. Jewish life is inexorably tied in with the correct observance of the Festivals in their proper time.
Once aspect of the Chanukah story that we too often forget is that is was the first recorded Jewish civil war – as well as a war against the Greek empire. At first the Greeks tried to influence the more stubborn portion of the Jews through their brothers who had already taken on the new way of life. When they saw they were failing, they used force. Many continued to perform commandments in hiding. Perhaps the greatest catalyst for the Maccabees entrance into battle came from many of the brave Jewish women who actually shamed their husbands into battle. Woman went out of hiding and publicly circumcised their children at the expense of their lives. Their message to their husbands was “go out and fight, for if you continue to hide and even observe Torah clandestinely, soon you’ll have no wives and children, and you’ll all perish. We will not hide, but we will keep our holy commandments publicly. If you want to save us, go out and fight. May God be with you!” That is when Mattitiyahu and his sons established armed forces, and they fought bitter and bloody battles. In the end, the weak and the few prevailed over the strong and the many.
Our holidays are not meant to be empty memorials of historical events. Our attitude is that we are living in the days that the miracles happened, albeit many years hence. We are also fighting the battle against prevailing influences, and we are trying to maintain our idealism in the face of new ideas and challenges to our faith and traditions which we are constantly exposed to. The Greeks had conquered stronger nations before turning their attention to the Jews. They rose to the highest heights only to be humbled by a nation militarily inferior to them. They sought to extinguish the light of Torah, and not only did they fail, but through them a new holiday was established. Chanukah commemorates our eternal hold to Torah.
We must remember that this was a battle against assimilation. We must not try to assimilate this holiday into the holiday season. It stands on its own. The message of Chanukah is one against Jewish assimilation and lack of Jewish identification. Hopefully, the yearly repetition of the story motivates us towards a stronger Jewish identity for us as well as for our children.
Shabbat Shalom and Happy Hanukkah!
