Celebrating the Festival of Lights

With light as its symbol, the real miracle is that the light in the Jewish soul is never extinguished!

By DVORA WAYSMAN
Updated: DECEMBER 22, 2016 21:27
Jerusalem’s Straus Street (photo credit: BRIAN HENDLER)
Jerusalem’s Straus Street
(photo credit: BRIAN HENDLER)
It is a well-known joke that all the Jewish festivals can be summarized in three sentences: “They tried to kill us. We won. Let’s eat.”
Hanukka does seem to fall into this category. The Maccabees, led initially by Mattathias and later by his son Judah, triumph over the Greek Syrians, led by Antiochus Epiphanes. But the Jews of that time were divided into two camps – the Hellenists, who admired Greek culture, and a second group, led by the Maccabee brothers, who upheld traditional Jewish values. As we know, despite the defilement of the Temple by the Greeks and the attempt to make the Jews bow down to idols, Judaism won and survived. And “let’s eat” is especially relevant to Hanukka, with all manner of delicious fried foods like latkes symbolizing the one cruse of oil that miraculously lasted eight days.
Hanukka, perhaps Judaism’s happiest festival, takes on a special dimension in Jerusalem. At sunset, hanukkiot sit on almost every windowsill or balcony, proclaiming the miracle. As you walk along the streets, you can hear voices singing “Maoz Tzur” very robustly, from childish soprano to deep baritone. Visible all over Jerusalem is a giant menorah atop the Knesset, while others illuminate the tops of public buildings and water towers. In my local supermarket, in Jerusalem's Beit Hakerem neighborhood, all business stops at candlelighting time, and customers and staff kindle the lights and sing together. Everyone receives a free sufgania – a very fattening, jam-filled doughnut.
This holiday is popular with secular and religious alike. The charming candlelighting ritual, the rich fried foods, the games with the dreidel and the gift-giving are customs in which everyone can share.
From a historical point of view, we are celebrating the victory of the few over the many. Judah the Maccabee led a revolt against the Hellenistic Syrians who occupied the land around 165 BCE, and the Jews were victorious. The Hanukka miracle occurred on 25 Kislev, the day on which the Maccabees purified the Temple, after the Greeks had profaned it. They searched for sanctified oil with which to light the menorah in the Temple and found only one flask with the seal of the high priest – enough to last for just one day, but miraculously it lasted for eight (Shabbat 21b).
The story of the Maccabees is told in the Books of the Maccabees in the Apocrypha, a collection of ancient Jewish books not included in the 24 that make up the Hebrew Bible.
An interesting law evolved from their struggle. During the rebellion against King Antiochus, the Jews would not fight on Shabbat. The Greek armies went into the hills on Shabbat, found where the Jews were hiding and killed them. The Maccabees then enacted a law permitting Jews to fight on Shabbat in order to save their lives. “Let us break one Shabbat now so that we may fulfill many in the future.”
The aim of the Maccabees was to preserve their Jewish identity, as Antiochus tried to force the Jews to abandon their faith and assimilate into Greek society.
He ordered his generals to put to death Jews who were found observing their laws and rituals and to force them to violate the Sabbath and bow down to Greek gods.
Hanukka, however, possesses broad human significance and is far more than just a Jewish national celebration.
It is a festival of liberty celebrating the right to freedom of all peoples.
We celebrate Hanukka as a magic potpourri of light and song, dreidels, latkes and Hanukka gelt. But its miracle is not only the supernatural one of the flask of oil. It is the passion inside man which transcends the momentary and the opportune.
With light as its symbol, the real miracle is that the light in the Jewish soul is never extinguished!