The eight-day festival of Chanukah – which ends Wednesday — celebrates the unlikely victory of the Jews in their biblical heartland against overwhelming odds for liberation and preservation of their identity and religion.
The Maccabees fought against the Syrian-Greek Empire because of the desecration of Jewish holy sites and attempts to extinguish the Jewish religion and identity. The victory it commemorates is relevant to Jews and Gentiles alike.
Less than 200 years after the miracle of Chanukah and the preservation of Judaism saw the birth of the Jewish sect that eventually became Christianity.
The story of Chanukah has been read in homes and synagogues around the world for thousands of years. It primarily took place in the region of Israel called Judea and Samaria.
Most of the early war saw the use of guerilla tactics that took advantage of the hilly topography of the region. The war began in the Judean foothills. Nearly all the major battles were fought there.
Part of the celebration of Chanukah includes the spinning of a four-sided top called a dreidel. Each side has a letter which together allude to the miracle of Chanukah. They spell out: Nes (N-miracle), Gadol (G-great), Haya (H-happened) and Sham (S-there, meaning in Israel).
Or, “a great miracle happened here,” if it’s an Israeli dreidel.
* As Jews, they joyfully spin dreidels and sing songs about the Maccabees.
* As hypocrites, these same Jews take the position that there should be a complete ethnic cleansing of all Jews from the same territory where the Maccabees fought .
* As Jews, they sing songs about the brave Maccabees who fought and died against vastly greater forces for 25 years.
* As hypocrites, they speak and write that today’s Jews should be evicted from the very same land over which flowed the blood of the fallen Maccabees.
* As Jews, they proudly tell the story about the great miracle that happened in Judea when a group consisting primarily of farmers and tradesman defeated mighty foreign armies sent to support efforts to extinguish the practice of Judaism.
* As hypocrites, they demand that the
government of the modern Jewish state sanction the ethnic cleansing of all Jews from that very same land. They refer to the Jewish communities of Judea and Samaria as “illegal settlements” and the Jews living in the historic Jewish heartland “illegal settlers.”
* As Jews, they celebrate the retaking of Jerusalem with the Kotel and Temple Mount by the Maccabees.
* As hypocrites, they call for Jerusalem to be torn apart for only the second time in 3000 years.
* As Jews, they celebrate the retaking of Jerusalem. The battle that allowed Judah Maccabee and his army to retake Jerusalem took place just north of Hebron.
* As hypocrites, they call for part of that very same Jerusalem, including the Kotel and Temple Mount, to be given to Israel’s genocidal adversaries. Judah Maccabee was killed near modern-day Ramallah.
Thousands of years later, Judea and Samaria were again liberated by modern day Maccabees.
In 1967 Israel ended the 19-year Arab occupation that followed the 1948 invasion by foreign Arab armies. During that occupation, the invaders renamed the occupied parts of Judea and Samaria the West Bank of Jordan. In a direct parallel to the Chanukah story, that occupation was marked by the genocidal ethnic cleansing of Jews and the desecration of Jewish holy sites.
As it says in the Book of Maccabees, “…we have liberated the land of our forefathers from foreign occupation.”
It’s ironic that some Jews who observe Chanukah appear to be naively unaware of their hypocrisy and the damage they are causing Israel.
While they may consider themselves to be ethical people of faith with deep rooted humanitarian concerns, they are supporting forces dedicated to the eventual destruction of the Jewish state. For those Jews, their celebration of Chanukah is a despicable display of supreme hypocrisy.
As we light the menorah candles in celebration of the miracle of Chanukah, we should consider its uncanny parallel with modern times. As part of the celebration, we should mention the relevance of the ancient miracle being celebrated to the modern miracle that is today’s Jewish state of Israel. – And ask the hypocrites how the heroic Maccabees would react to the positions they champion.
Then take a few moments to consider why Jews traditionally conclude the Passover Seder with the proclamation “Next year in Jerusalem,” and never “Next year in West Jerusalem or East Jerusalem.”