Chanukah 2020: In Darkness Create Light
Due to COVID-19, it feels like an especially dark time to many of us. Even the hours of sunlight are growing shorter, grayer, too gray. Virtually everywhere we turn is news about increasing daily death tolls and ever increasing official numbers of those contracting the virus. Yes, 2020 has been a year to remember because paradoxically we would like so much to forget it and just resume our lives with some sense of normalcy.
In our darkness, along comes Chanukah, our festival of lights. There are 2 original stories appearing in the Books of the Maccabees which inform our understanding of Chanukah which have the power to lift our spirits.
The first story focuses on the military victory of Judah the Maccabee and his followers in Jerusalem as they rebelled and fought against the Syrian-Greek emperor Antiochus IV, who resolved to Hellenize the Jews by desecrating Judaism’s holiest site, the Temple. He had a statue of Zeus erected and ordered the Israelites to engage in acts of sacrifice to pagan gods, and prohibited Jewish practices upon threat of death. The Maccabees fought back, and after 3 years of fighting they were able to re-conquer Jerusalem and rededicate the Temple. But their victory was short-lived, as the new Jewish monarchy, the Hasmonean kings, embarked on their own Hellenistic/Greek acculturation. They thought of themselves as High Priests as well as Kings, violating Judaism’s principle of separation of religion and political power. It wasn’t long before the Israelites fell to another foreign power, the Romans, led by Pompey whose invasion of Jerusalem was ultimately successful. Though the Israelites rebelled, they were defeated and this time the Temple was completely destroyed. Some of the rabbis argued to cease the observance of Chanukah. They asked why celebrate a victory and freedom that had been lost, a fair question but one that succumbed to the second story of Chanukah.
The second version though, is the story that became canonized in our tradition. Here, we learn about how the Macacbees in rededicating the Temple upon defeating Antiochus found a single cruse of sealed oil, from which they relit the Menorah, a single cruse which somehow survived Antiochus’ desecration. Miraculously, the light burned for eight days, not just the expected single day, and this became the narrative of Chanukah which we commemorate every year with the lighting of our own candles for eight nights. The message is clearly one of hope, declaring that regardless of military might, faith is transcendent. As the prophet, Zechariah observed, “Not by might nor by power but by My spirit, says the Lord Almighty" (Zechariah 4:6).
The story of Chanukah is a thoroughly Jewish one but also one that resonates throughout human history. Military victories are recognized and honored but military victories, when viewed through the long arc of history, come and go. As Rabbi Jonathan Sacks z”l, observed, “…the real victories that determine the fate of nations are not so much military as cultural, moral and spiritual” (December, 2012). Think of all the empires whose military strength enabled them to conquer vast lands. Where are they today? Where are these empires? Where are the Romans who vanquished the Israelites and destroyed the Temple?
And, yet, our tiny people survives to this very day with odds so stacked against us throughout history, we can only conclude that Jewish civilization, Jews and Judaism themselves are their own kind of miracles, ones whose abiding strength we commemorate each year during Chanukah for the past 2000+ years.
We are living through an historic though not unprecedented pandemic, and our days and times feel very dark. Too many have tragically succumbed to this plague. Too many have fallen ill and all of us are affected daily.
Yet, in spite of all this, during Chanukah we come together as best we can, utilizing whatever technology is at our fingertips to re-tell the Chanukah story, to light our candles and sing our songs which are in their own way much more enduring over time than the pervasive darkness which seems to envelop us presently. We see the light, we become the light and by doing so we bring light and hope into our world. No less is required of us during even these times.
In our darkness, along comes Chanukah, our festival of lights. There are 2 original stories appearing in the Books of the Maccabees which inform our understanding of Chanukah which have the power to lift our spirits.
The first story focuses on the military victory of Judah the Maccabee and his followers in Jerusalem as they rebelled and fought against the Syrian-Greek emperor Antiochus IV, who resolved to Hellenize the Jews by desecrating Judaism’s holiest site, the Temple. He had a statue of Zeus erected and ordered the Israelites to engage in acts of sacrifice to pagan gods, and prohibited Jewish practices upon threat of death. The Maccabees fought back, and after 3 years of fighting they were able to re-conquer Jerusalem and rededicate the Temple. But their victory was short-lived, as the new Jewish monarchy, the Hasmonean kings, embarked on their own Hellenistic/Greek acculturation. They thought of themselves as High Priests as well as Kings, violating Judaism’s principle of separation of religion and political power. It wasn’t long before the Israelites fell to another foreign power, the Romans, led by Pompey whose invasion of Jerusalem was ultimately successful. Though the Israelites rebelled, they were defeated and this time the Temple was completely destroyed. Some of the rabbis argued to cease the observance of Chanukah. They asked why celebrate a victory and freedom that had been lost, a fair question but one that succumbed to the second story of Chanukah.
The second version though, is the story that became canonized in our tradition. Here, we learn about how the Macacbees in rededicating the Temple upon defeating Antiochus found a single cruse of sealed oil, from which they relit the Menorah, a single cruse which somehow survived Antiochus’ desecration. Miraculously, the light burned for eight days, not just the expected single day, and this became the narrative of Chanukah which we commemorate every year with the lighting of our own candles for eight nights. The message is clearly one of hope, declaring that regardless of military might, faith is transcendent. As the prophet, Zechariah observed, “Not by might nor by power but by My spirit, says the Lord Almighty" (Zechariah 4:6).
The story of Chanukah is a thoroughly Jewish one but also one that resonates throughout human history. Military victories are recognized and honored but military victories, when viewed through the long arc of history, come and go. As Rabbi Jonathan Sacks z”l, observed, “…the real victories that determine the fate of nations are not so much military as cultural, moral and spiritual” (December, 2012). Think of all the empires whose military strength enabled them to conquer vast lands. Where are they today? Where are these empires? Where are the Romans who vanquished the Israelites and destroyed the Temple?
And, yet, our tiny people survives to this very day with odds so stacked against us throughout history, we can only conclude that Jewish civilization, Jews and Judaism themselves are their own kind of miracles, ones whose abiding strength we commemorate each year during Chanukah for the past 2000+ years.
We are living through an historic though not unprecedented pandemic, and our days and times feel very dark. Too many have tragically succumbed to this plague. Too many have fallen ill and all of us are affected daily.
Yet, in spite of all this, during Chanukah we come together as best we can, utilizing whatever technology is at our fingertips to re-tell the Chanukah story, to light our candles and sing our songs which are in their own way much more enduring over time than the pervasive darkness which seems to envelop us presently. We see the light, we become the light and by doing so we bring light and hope into our world. No less is required of us during even these times.
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