Dateline Jerusalem – Tuesday at sundown it is that time again, when the proverbial “We were persecuted, we won, let's eat” often is said to describe the holiday of Chanukah, also known as the Festival of Lights and the Festival of Miracles. As with most Jewish holidays, the food we eat is symbolic of the holiday. Chanukah is celebrated by eating fried foods and cheese dishes. Chanukah’s symbolism goes beyond food.
Two thousand years ago the Syrian Greek Empire besieged Israel, persecuting the Jewish people who circumcised their newborn sons, observed Shabbat, and obeyed the kosher dietary laws of the Torah. They were forced to eat pork, accept idol worship, and assimilate into a secular, anti-religious Hellenistic lifestyle. The Holy Temple in Jerusalem was desecrated and defiled. A small band of Jews, the Maccabbees, fought against 40,000 well-trained Syrian Greek soldiers, defeating them recapturing, rededicating and purifying the Holy Temple.
Purification involved preparing non-polluted oil and making new holy vessels. It took eight days to ready the non-polluted oil. There was only enough pure olive oil to burn for one night. A miracle occurred when the oil burned for eight days and nights. A David vs. Goliath miracle occurred when the small band of Jews defeated the powerful Syrian Greeks. Hence the name for Chanukah, Festival of Miracles.
As with much of Jewish history, women played a major role. One turning point in Israel's fight against its oppressors was the result of the bravery of Yehudit, who went into the enemy camp of Gen. Holofernes. She fed him salty cheese to make him thirsty and plied him with wine to make him drunk and sleepy. Seizing his sword, she cut off his head, displaying it in a nearby town. When his soldiers saw the head of their leader on display, they became scared and fled, enabling Israel to prevail over them.
Therefore Chanukah is celebrated for eight days in commemoration of these miracles. Fried foods, such as latkes (potato pancakes), sufganiot (jelly doughnuts), and cheese dishes are symbolic of the miracle of the oil burning eight days. The cheese represents the cheese Yehudit fed Holofernes. The holiday is celebrated by eight nights of igniting colorful candles or lighting wicks that float in olive oil-filled glass holders of a menorah called a chanukiah. Hence the Festival of Lights. A game of dreidel (pronounced DRAY-dul, a spinning top) is played, the sides of the dreidel having Hebrew letters. In the States, one of the Hebrew letters stands for “a great miracle happened there.” In Israel, one of the letters stands for “a great miracle happened here.”
Chanukah is about fighting for the right of religious freedom to observe Torah and about anti-assimilation. The greatest threat to the existence of the Jewish people from ancient times to today is assimilation and failure to observe Torah. Outside Israel, many secular and non-religious Jews try to assimilate into various cultures, traditions, even religious observances around them. For example, celebrating Halloween, Valentine's Day, and Thanksgiving, non-Jewish religious holidays, often takes precedence over the Jewish versions of these holidays. Halloween is Purim, Valentine's is Tu B' Shevat, and Thanksgiving is Sukkot. Yet so many Jews never have heard of the Jewish holidays but readily celebrate the non-Jewish ones. Among the non-religious Chanukah is treated as a major Jewish holiday, which it is not, giving gifts as though in competition with Xmas. Often they have Chanukah bushes, white flocked Xmas trees with blue bulbs.
I have a difficult time understanding how those who make such a big deal about celebrating Chanukah in the States are the ones who feel Torah laws are obsolete in this day and age. They do everything they can to assimilate into their host country.
Happy Chanukah!
L'hitraot. Shachar
