Putting the Dedication in Chanukah

At varying times both Mao Tze Dung and Thomas Jefferson agreed that governments need revolutions in order to avoid stagnation and corruption. You may have heard the quote that we need a revolution every ten years. Judaism also offers a strategy for recommitment to the organization of society in the celebration of the Festival of Lights, Chanukah. Starting with the name Chanukah, dedication, this festival has every opportunity for Jews to recommit themselves to their Judaism, but there are obstacles in our way. For instance, the proximity to Christmas can change the focus of our holiday.

But Christmas is not the only challenge to Chanukah celebration. The State of Israel poses different educational problems. Chanukah is an historical holiday. It commemorates the Hasmonean Wars and the victories of a Jewish family-led military over the Syrian-Greeks. Or does it?

In Israel, where models of Jewish heroism are in high demand, this story fits comfortably with the historical essence of Chanukah. But in truth, this non-religious holiday was created (it is not found in the Bible) for the purpose of helping Jews connect to the continuous concern of God for His people. Sometimes we don't see the miracles around us, and Chanukah is a holiday that the Tanaim, our sages, invented for this purpose. The story of the Chanukah lights is a legend told to remind Jews that God still cared for us after taking our people out of Egypt and during our often difficult existence in the Land of Israel.

As an educator and father, I often ask my students and children why the rabbis created the legend of the oil miracle. My pedagogy never insists on finding a definitive conclusion, but we often discuss the possibility that the rabbis made up a miracle story to assure Jews that God still cared. Of course, I prefer the conclusion some of my wiser students arrive at - that humans are simply limited in seeing the miracles that are always happening around them and that they sometimes need the help of their teachers to point them out.

The modern world also offers a third educational angle on this holiday. Clearly Antiochus tried to end Judaism by keeping Jews from practicing their religion. This was a very good strategy, and Mattathias knew it just as well as his adversaries, which is why he was willing to have his family band together and fight an overwhelming enemy.

What we can all learn from this is that keeping a Jew from Jewish rituals and traditions can contribute greatly to ending Judaism. So now I am forced to ask, why, in the modern era, do some Jews do this to themselves? Why do they, of their own will, not celebrate Shabbat? Why don't they engage in the various rituals that sustain Judaism?

This Chanukah, as Director of Education at Solel, I implore you to ask these questions around your table. Hopefully, it will be a table full of latkes and sufganiot, jelly donuts, with a Chanukiah in the window to share your pride in your Jewishness, but, at the very least, it will be a conscious decision and not a lapse of dedication.

Chag Urim Sameach!