Rabbi Howard Morrison

Tonight begins Rosh Chodesh Kislev. It is hard to believe that we are already in the month of Chanukah, which begins on the twenty-fifth of Kislev - Sunday evening December 14th.

While many of us know the familiar tale of Chanukah - the miracle of the oil lasting for eight days, there is much more to the holiday:

During the time of the Maccabees, the Jewish people were waging battle on multiple fronts. There were the Syrian-Greek Hellenists who threatened our very existence with coercive legislation. With the penalty of death, Jews were barred from observing Shabbat, Kashrut, Brit Milah, and other central aspects of Judaism. The holy Temple was made idolatrous with pagan symbols. 

What is less known is the internal battle which the Maccabees faced. There were Jewish Hellenists who bought into Hellenistic culture and were glad to give up traditional forms of Jewish thought and practice. On the other extreme, there were Jewish fundamentalists who opposed the mainstream approach of the Maccabees. For example, the Maccabees initiated the idea of fighting on Shabbat in order to save Jewish life. The fundamentalists of the time opposed such an innovation since Shabbat laws had to be violated. They preferred to die than fight on Shabbat. Fortunately, the Maccabean approach won over the secular Jewish Hellenists and the Jewish fundamentalists of the time.

The historical lesson of Chanukah speaks to us right now. On the one hand, we are fighting a battle against many forms of anti-Semitism. They appear on the streets, at peaceful Jewish demonstrations, in public schools, and even among elected governmental leaders who are supposed to preserve peace and promote multi-cultural unity. On the other hand, on the far Jewish right are anti-Zionist Jewish groups who stand with many of the anti-Semitic non-Jews regarding the sovereignty of the State of Israel.  On the far Jewish left are also anti-Zionist groups who have bought into woke culture and who wrongly reverse the roles of aggressor and victim over the past number of years.

Most of us are like the Maccabees, who represented a  centrist approach to our values. They fought for Jewish freedom and the practice of Jewish ideals in the midst of external foes and internal extremists on the left and right.

May we, the modern Maccabees, be victorious as were our original Maccabean ancestors over two thousand years ago.

Shabbat Shalom and Chodesh Tov

Rabbi Howard Morrison