Are You A Maccabee?
It is said that every Jewish Holiday is the same: "They tried to destroy us… we won… now let’s eat!"
Like every Jewish Holiday, Chanukah has its heroes and villains. The villains of Chanukah – the Hellenists – sought the spiritual destruction of the Jewish people. They outlawed observance of Sabbath and Holidays, forbade circumcision and placed an idol in the Holy Temple.
Throughout Jewish History, G‑d has always intervened to save us – whether from our enemies or from ourselves. What makes Chanukah different?
What makes Chanukah different is not the villains or the triumph but rather the heroes of the story. The Maccabees; a family of Priests, were the generals in the war against the Greek Hellenists. This family of seven brothers, who had been groomed for the Divine Service since birth, took up arms and led a rebellion against the Hellenist oppression.
The Maccabees, fought to preserve Jewish religious identity amid the oppressive, state-mandated idolatry of the Greeks, who ruled Jerusalem at that time. While the Greeks didn't force us from our land, we were still very much in exile under their rule. They tried to banish our spiritual core, outlawing the vital celebrations of the Sabbath, the new moon, and even ritual circumcision.
As Jews, we are often uncomfortable with our own strength; we find it much easier to be the underdog "David" than the warrior heroes. We identify more easily with the oppressed Jews of Egypt – miraculously redeemed by open miracles performed at the hand of Moses and Aaron; or with the condemned Jews of Shushan – miraculously rescued by the pleas of Queen Esther and her prophetic uncle Mordechai, but sometimes that’s not enough. Sometimes we need to act boldly; to fight for what we believe.
Only a minority of Jews, in those days, were willing to stand up for their heritage. Most Jews acquiesced to Greek demands. Jewish males famously tried to surgically reverse their circumcisions, so that they could try to "Pass" for gentiles in the gymnasium. Observance of other commandments plummeted, while intermarriage was high.
The Maccabees rightly saw this as a battle for the Torah and its revolutionary moral clarity against the darkness of Greek culture, one that was so debased that it even accepted infanticide as "normal."
In America today, we enjoy religious freedom that our ancestors could never have imagined. We are not forced to choose between secularism and religion. But this kind of freedom also carries a threat – we are free, after all, to assimilate ourselves into extinction. Greek messages are still as powerful today as they were millennia ago: Why not work on being thinner, richer, and more beautiful? For people who think the body is all there is, no price will be too high to chase that elixir of youth.
In an open society, Jews need to behave more like Maccabees and less like the Jews in Egypt waiting for a Heavenly miracle. That's why the word Chanukah means "Dedication," but its root word, Chinuch, means "Education." We must go out and teach the beauty and value of our rich heritage; we must work to preserve it, even at the cost of our lives.
Chanukah celebrates the astonishing military victories, as well as the miracle of light – the tiny drop of pure oil discovered in the Temple, after the Greeks had defiled the holy site. That pure oil insistently burned for eight days, symbolizing the power of light against darkness.
We light our Chanukah menorahs in a window of our homes so that our neighbors can see our small, modest candles. They aren't flashy or fancy, but they quietly, even dramatically, light up the room with their power. When I sit and watch those flickering flames, I am strengthened by the memory of my ancestors who fought for our faith and were rewarded by miracles.
