WE could have been in Poland or Russia more than 100 years ago, such were the images and sounds surrounding us. But it was only a few years ago and we were in Jerusalem. A brisk wind blew across our faces as we walked though the crowded streets of Meah Shearim, the Orthodox neighborhood overflowing with people, noise and religious fervor. Israeli soldiers guarded the entrance to the street, protecting those who lived, prayed and worked there.
We arrived at dusk, just in time to watch the amazing transition from earthly darkness to spiritual light.
Fathers, mothers, grandparents, uncles and rows of children stood in full view of kitchen and dining room windows, each person lighting candles on their own hanukkiah (menorah), as is the custom in Ashkenazi families. The street lit up like the Milky Way, hundreds of candles sparkling overhead. My family marveled at the sight.
Its like the street is one big birthday cake! my 10-year-old daughter squealed with delight.
Her remark hit me as deeply insightful because Chanukah, in its truest sense, is a celebration of the re-birth of Jewish might and spirit.
THE story of Chanukah I learned as a child is well known and often cited as the archetypal example of Jewish resistance against assimilation.
In 167 BCE the Syrian King Antiochus desecrated the Temple in Jerusalem with pagan G-ds and impure animals and attempted to obliterate Jewish rituals like circumcision and Shabbat.
Mattathias the High Priest, father of Judah the Maccabee, refused to succumb to his rule and led his five sons and a band of ragtag Jewish farmers into the caves of the Judean desert with the rallying cry, Whoever is for G-d, follow me!
For three years, this small band of Jews fought in fierce guerrilla warfare against the well-equipped, well-trained Syrian army.
On the 25th of Kislev, the Maccabees succeeded in restoring the sanctity of the Holy Temple and rededicated it to G-d.
We learn from the letters on the dreidel that A Great Miracle Happened There a miniscule amount of pure oil lasted for eight days until more could be found to keep the Temples sacred Menorah lit.
But there is a story within this story that is not as well known. For while Chanukah is one of only two important festivals in the Jewish calendar not mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, it is also one of the few festivals for which definitive historical records exist.
Within 25 years of the rededication of the Holy Temple, the First Book of Maccabees was written which chronicled the actual events from eyewitness accounts and historical records of the period.
The book depicts the Maccabees accomplishments in religious and nationalistic terms. They fought for G-d so that they could carry out His plan for a just world. It is a story of might and power, of the rebirth of Jewish ritual and observance through the physical efforts of the Jewish people.
NOW comes an interesting historical turn. Some 400 years later when the Talmudic rabbis described the holiday of Chanukah, they never mentioned the valiant struggle or even the word Maccabee. They emphasized G-ds saving spirit and highlighted the story about the single cruse of oil miraculously burning for eight days. Why?
The rabbis were no dummies; their interpretation was both diplomatic and politically savvy. By the time of the Talmud, the Hasmonean dynasty (direct descendants of the Maccabees) had been discredited as a group of corrupt Jewish rulers. The rabbis didnt want to associate Chanukah with a victory that led to the rise of a degenerate Jewish dynasty.
They also feared raising a red flag in the face of the Roman Empire by emphasizing how the Jews overcame oppressive foreign rule. So they emphasized the spiritual instead of the physical the the miracle of the oil.
This dual interpretation of Chanukah represents the two essential approaches to the survival of Judaism and the Jewish people the physical and the spiritual.
It also helps us understand the wisdom of our sages when they counseled: Pray as if everything depends upon G-d, but act as if everything depends upon you.
