Friday, December 04, 2020
Elder of ZiyonIt seems that Jewish Voice for Peace agrees that Chanukah is problematic for them:
The Story of HanukkahThe history behind the story of Hanukkah is painful and complex. In the days before the Maccabean Revolt, Judea was firmly under the control of the Seleucid Empire. The Jewish elite of Judea had become largely Hellenized - the dominating culture of the day. In reality, the Jewish zealots led by the Maccabees fought as fiercely against assimilated Jewish Hellenists as they did against the Selucid Empire. The ancient rabbis, writing about 300 years after the Maccabees, were all too aware that the military victory of the Macabees was short lived and they did not want to glorify it. They chose a reading in the Haftarah to go alongside the painful history - “Not by might and not by power but by My spirit, says the Lord of Hosts.” (Zechariah 4:6). They wanted to underscore the dangers of putting our ultimate faith in military power over spirit.
The choice of Haftarah for Chanukah is because it talks about rededicating the Temple as well as Zechariah's vision of a seven-branched Menorah.
While it is true that the rabbis initially didn't want to emphasize the military aspect, they certainly didn't eliminate it. As the Maharal of Prague wrote, "The main reason that the days of Chanukah were instituted was to celebrate the victory over the Greeks. However, so that it would not seem that the victory was due only to might and heroism, rather than to Divine Providence, the miracle was denoted by the lighting of the Menorah, to show that it was all by a miracle, the war as well."
This is obvious by looking at the Al HaNissim passage addition to the prayers. It emphasizes the miraculous aspect of the military victory and doesn't mention the miracle of the oil at all.
JVP then says something strange:
Another story we tell during Hanukkah is that once the Maccabees made it to their desecrated temple, they found a Menorah that ritually needed to be kept lit at all times with only enough olive oil for one day. This small amount of oil kept the lamp lit for EIGHT days - lasting the time it took for a replenishment of oil to arrive. This is a mysterious divine creation of abundance from scarcity that we lift up. And this story is made up. (Check out the Talmud - Shabbat 21b.) Our Rabbis took the opportunity to teach the stories they wanted to lead us with. They reimagined history, in order to teach us something about who we could become–– a people with faith, not in militarism, but in a different kind of future. We are following in their footsteps.
The Talmud says the story is made up?
Shabbat 21b is the origin of the miracle of the oil story! It isn't mentioned in the Books of the Maccabees; it was first described in the Talmud:
מַאי חֲנוּכָּה? דְּתָנוּ רַבָּנַן: בְּכ״ה בְּכִסְלֵיו יוֹמֵי דַחֲנוּכָּה תְּמָנְיָא אִינּוּן דְּלָא לְמִסְפַּד בְּהוֹן וּדְלָא לְהִתְעַנּוֹת בְּהוֹן. שֶׁכְּשֶׁנִּכְנְסוּ יְווֹנִים לַהֵיכָל טִמְּאוּ כׇּל הַשְּׁמָנִים שֶׁבַּהֵיכָל. וּכְשֶׁגָּבְרָה מַלְכוּת בֵּית חַשְׁמוֹנַאי וְנִצְּחוּם, בָּדְקוּ וְלֹא מָצְאוּ אֶלָּא פַּךְ אֶחָד שֶׁל שֶׁמֶן שֶׁהָיָה מוּנָּח בְּחוֹתָמוֹ שֶׁל כֹּהֵן גָּדוֹל, וְלֹא הָיָה בּוֹ אֶלָּא לְהַדְלִיק יוֹם אֶחָד. נַעֲשָׂה בּוֹ נֵס וְהִדְלִיקוּ מִמֶּנּוּ שְׁמוֹנָה יָמִים. לְשָׁנָה אַחֶרֶת קְבָעוּם וַעֲשָׂאוּם יָמִים טוֹבִים בְּהַלֵּל וְהוֹדָאָה.
The Gemara asks: What is Hanukkah, and why are lights kindled on Hanukkah? The Gemara answers: The Sages taught in Megillat Ta’anit: On the twenty-fifth of Kislev, the days of Hanukkah are eight. One may not eulogize on them and one may not fast on them. What is the reason? When the Greeks entered the Sanctuary they defiled all the oils that were in the Sanctuary by touching them. And when the Hasmonean monarchy overcame them and emerged victorious over them, they searched and found only one cruse of oil that was placed with the seal of the High Priest, undisturbed by the Greeks. And there was sufficient oil there to light the candelabrum for only one day. A miracle occurred and they lit the candelabrum from it eight days. The next year the Sages instituted those days and made them holidays with recitation of Hallel and special thanksgiving in prayer and blessings.
Where here does it say that it was made up?
The entire anti-Zionist view of Chanukah is necessarily bizarre because the plain story of the re-establishment of a Jewish government in Eretz Yisrael, and especially Jerusalem, contradicts everything that they believe.
You can be sure that when they refer to the Haftarah for that Shabbat, they don't want you to look at the very first verse: "רָנִּ֥י וְשִׂמְחִ֖י בַּת־צִיּ֑וֹן - Shout for joy, Fair Zion!"
