Dear B’nai Shalom members, families, and friends:
As you read these words, you should be preparing for the celebration of our joyous holiday of Chanukah. This year, our holy festival comes out simultaneously with the Christian holiday of Christmas. This unfortunate occurrence of the calendar only underscores the regrettable comparisons and tendencies to lump Chanukah together with Christmas by our non-Jewish neighbors and friends. How often do we hear our clearly well-intentioned non-Jewish colleagues and peers wish us “happy holidays” or Happy Chanukah? Please do not misunderstand. This is a beautiful sentiment and a sincere wish on their parts. No question about it. However, how is it, and WHY IS IT that non-Jews EVEN KNOW anything about the existence of Chanukah? Are we ever wished a “Happy Purim” by the same neighbors and friends come the Hebrew month of Adar which contains Purim? And isn’t Purim identified as the “happiest” of all Jewish holidays? And for purposes of categorization, is not Purim something of the “sister holiday” of Chanukah? Why Chanukah and NOT Purim?
And, as long as I am asking the question, why would anyone outside of our faith know anything about a holiday that is NOT in “the Bible” (our Torah), and that is considered “minor” compared to the “Shelosh Regalim”, the (three Pilgrimage Holidays) specifically commanded in our Torah? It is clearly because of the “Christmasization” of Chanukah, its proximity on the secular calendar that brings it prominence and focus that is NOT placed on far more deserving holidays such as Shemini Atzeret, Simchat Torah, or my personal favorite: Shavuot. Why, even JEWS have not heard of Shavuot, the very holiday we celebrate for G-d’s giving us the Torah. What could be more deserving of attention and celebration than the very basis for ALL JUDAISM, stemming from the lessons and commandments of our Torah? And how is it that the holiday of our very foundation and our laws and values, Shavuot, is unknown to Jews and certainly to non-Jews? When is the last time our non-Jewish neighbors and friends wished us a Happy Shavuot? “What, Shavu-WHAT?” Huh? “What’s that?” “Is that some kind of ‘minor holiday’?”
How ironic since Chanukah, in its purest form, celebrates the resistance and repelling of the Jews’ move towards assimilation into the host culture and ideology of the Syrian Greeks in 162 BCE. How ironic is it that because of the Jews movement, involvement, and comfort levels here in the United States with the host culture around us, that the very holiday we celebrate for moving away, and rebelling against blatant assimilation is absorbed by Jews and non-Jews alike in the most clear blending of our holiday of resistance with the non-Jewish celebration of what Christians believe to be the “son of G-d”? The irony and absurdity should be evident to all.
But allow me to NOT spoil anyone’s celebration of Chanukah with somber, potentially upsetting presentation of facts of history and values here. Rather, I will concentrate on that which makes Chanukah special and joyous.
There are many things we know about Chanukah and certainly many things we love about Chanukah. It is possible that there are a few facts that might not be as well known as the story of Chanukah or the two miracles we remember as we light the eight-branched Chanukiyah.
Having recently finished our celebration of the American holiday of Thanksgiving, we probably still have in mind the impetus and motivation of the early Pilgrims who came to this land seeking religious freedom. The truth be told, our holiday of Chanukah is the first incident that we are aware of in recorded history of a nation throwing off the yoke of religious tyranny. There are many examples of nations trying to repel other nations bent on taking over that country’s land or natural resources. But Chanukah is not about that. Had we, G-d forbid, acquiesced to the religious agenda of the Hellenized Syrian, we could have avoided any type of bloodshed and learned to live peacefully and symbiotically with the Greeks, though not as Jews. The Greeks were not after our land, they were after our minds, our spiritual loyalty, and our very souls, wanting us to turn our backs on Torah and Torah values. So, with the Maccabean revolt, we Jews were the first people to strike out against religious oppression and domination. In addition, while certainly a dubious distinction, the desecration of our Holy Temple, the Bait HaMikdash, was the first recorded incident of vandalism against a Jewish place of worship. This is hardly a point about which to be proud. However, it does underscore the ongoing battles and challenges we Jews have had to face in each generation of our existence, challenges to simply maintain the ideals and values espoused in our Torah and from which others are determined to drive us away. The Syrian Greeks were not interested in destroying the Holy Temple, the Bait HaMikdash, as were the Babylonians with the first Temple 400 years earlier, or as the Romans who would eventually destroy this, the second Temple. The Greeks’ objective was to take it over for their own use and purposes. Thus we learn that a statue of the Greek god Zeus was placed prominently in the center of the Temple and that the Greeks placed pigs on the holy altar. Our enemies did this, of course, to conspicuously underscore the heavy and cruel hands of their oppression in temporarily triumphing over us.
The holiday of Chanukah is also our only holiday in which the duration of the festival begins in one month, Kislev, and continues into (and endings in) the next, Tevet. This is hardly a surprise since the holiday begins near the end of the month, on the 25th of Kislev. In this way, the sixth day of Chanukah is always Rosh Chodesh (and because of details about the Jewish calendar too complicated to detail here, sometimes the seventh day as well). As a result, on the sixth day of Chanukah (and sometimes the seventh), the “Silent” Amidah prayer, as well as the Birkat HaMazon, (grace after meals), present us with the longest versions of each, since the insertions for Chanukah and Rosh Chodesh (the new month) must be included. Also, when the sixth (and sometimes seventh day) of Chanukah comes out on Shabbat, it is, in fact, the longest version of the BirkatHaMazon, since the insertions for Chanukah and Rosh Chodesh (the new month) must be included AS WELL AS that of Shabbat.
With the meaningful messages of Chanukah plus these points in mind, I wish all of you a Chag Chanukah Sameach, a happy and healthy Chanukah to all.
B’Shalom,
Rabbi Dr. Yaacov Dvorin