You celebrate Chanukah. Of course you do! You eat latkes (with sour cream… or do you prefer apple sauce?) and spin the dreidel. You even light the menorah at home every night of Chanukah. But have you ever tried to live Chanukah?
How does one “live” Chanukah, you ask?
Good question. First we have to remember what actually took place, what we are commemorating. As the saying goes, “They tried to kill us, we won, let’s eat.” Right? Wrong.
You see, the threat to the Jewish people in the time of the Chanukah story was not a physical one. The Syrian-Greeks didn’t seek to eliminate Jews, they sought to eliminate Judaism. They tried to impose their Hellenistic culture on the Jewish people.
Not all the Jewish people of the time reacted the same way. Many of them, the more pragmatic ones, resolved to do the best they could considering the circumstances. Others liked the new Hellenistic lifestyle being introduced and they willingly joined the Syrian-Greeks. Only a small group of Jews, led by the famous Maccabees, responded with utmost determination and self sacrifice in the face of this negative influence.
Chanukah therefore represents the victory of the determined few who held steadfast to their beliefs, even to the extent of putting their life on the line, to stand up for what they knew to be true and correct.
The result is an amazingly potent holiday, with a powerful message for today. Chanukah gives us the spiritual fire-power to live Jewishly in a decidedly un-Jewish world.
***
All too often, the lighting of the menorah has been relegated to becoming a prop at the dinner table. Even if you haven’t always in the past, this year, please make sure to light the menorah every night of Chanukah and when you do, pause. Pause to marvel at the miracle of the Jewish flame that miraculously still burns after thousands of years of our enemies trying to extinguish it...
...And I want to thank you for being this year's link in the unbroken chain of Jewish tradition.
Here are a few points to ponder this Chanukah as you light the menorah:
1. Would I have joined the Maccabees in their battle against the Syrian-Greeks and religious persecution?
2. Does it trouble me that so few Jews are educated in the rudiments of their faith?
3. What am I prepared to do to reverse that trend in my own family?
4. Do I allow the Torah to illuminate my life?
5. Do my children understand how important Judaism is to me and my commitment to it?
Wishing you a happy and illuminated Chanukah!