Camie Davis
My eleven year-old son loves learning about history. The American Revolution and WW II have
captured his attention for the moment.
For the next eight days though, I hope his attention will be captured by
a time in history that is mainly celebrated by Jews, but that we, a non-Jewish
family, will commemorate as well.
Chanukah commemorates a military victory. That victory involved untrained Jewish
farmers turning into soldiers, like minutemen, and battles against Greeks on
elephants. You know, the kind of
stuff an eleven year-old boy finds fascinating. And although I find underdogs and elephants
fascinating too, the message of the Maccabees’ resistance resonates strongly
with me for other reasons. I’m a
mother who wants to raise her children to be brave, strong, and to be people
who don’t always follow the crowd, especially when the crowd is heading in the
wrong direction.
Unfortunately, that is what many Jews did centuries ago when
the Greeks came to town. They
followed the wrong crowd. During
the Second Century BCE, the path of a Greek king of the Seleucid Empire named
Antiochus crossed with Israel. Antiochus changed his name to Epiphanes, which means “visible
God.” Yes, he had a few egocentric issues. He liked to think that he and the
god Jupiter were identical.
Because of little idiosyncrasies like that people called him “the
Madman.” And unfortunately the madman
took out his “issues” on the Jews in Israel.
Antiochus had his sights set on ruling Egypt. And the rode to Egypt went through
Israel. Hence, he wanted to
conquer the Jews. But he didn’t
want to conquer them physically.
The madman was actually quite brilliant on one level. He knew that the real way to conquer a
Jew was to conquer him spiritually, for that is where the true power of a Jew
resides - in his connection to God.
Bottom-line, Antiochus wanted to Hellenize the Jews.
He implemented his goal of Hellenization by forbidding the
keeping of the Sabbath and Rosh Chodesh (the observance of the New Moon, hence
the observance of life according to “Jewish time”), circumcision (the sign of
being in covenant with God), and the study of Torah. So, in essence, he banned the cornerstones of the Jews’
connection to God. He also had the
audacity to put up a statue of Jupiter in the Holy Temple because it resembled
him, and more importantly he thought he was God, so as madmen go, he thought he
should be worshipped. And to add
insult to injury, he slaughtered pigs on the altar of the Holy Temple too.
Unfortunately, many Jews went along with everything
Antiochus did. They liked the
Greeks modus operandi. Though seen
as extremely intelligent, the Greeks way of thinking was actually much more
simplistic than Judaism. A
Greek mindset was often one-dimensional; a totally external approach to the world,
emphasizing physical pleasure disconnected from anything deeper. Sound familiar? Hence, the Greeks elevated the
physical to be of utmost importance.
The Greek’s glorification of the physical left little to no room for spirituality. And this way of
thinking made Judaism, or more aptly put, made Torah observance look rather
foolish. A Torah/Biblical outlook
in life imbued godliness and spirituality into everything. Greeks spurned that notion. And sadly, many Jews joined the
Greek’s way of thinking and shrugged off the fact that the most important
things in life can’t be seen with physical eyes. They traded in their spirituality for . . . drum roll
please . . . cultural normalcy.
And that, my friends, is why my family and I will light
candles for eight nights. Because
we are right smack in the middle of that same kind of battle. We are living in a culture that is
anything but normal. Yet everyday
our culture would love for you and I to believe that being a person who
includes spiritual insight in our day-to-day lives is not only abnormal, but also
absurd. We are in the midst
of a battle of continuing to elevate the spiritual aspects of life while living
in culture of materialism, self-gratification, and the glorification of “if it feels good, do it.” We live in a one-dimensional
culture where the belief in, much less the implementation of spiritual values
is often considered foolish. And
though it might seem unimportant, menial, or silly to some, lighting candles
during Chanukah is a way of reminding ourselves to be light in a culture of
darkness.
The Maccabees represented Jews who did not fall prey to the Greek
mindset. They stood up to the
cultural normalcy that the Greeks tried to implement and said, “No!” They stood up for their beliefs,
because their beliefs represented the fact that there is a God in this world,
and if they didn’t include Him in their world, their world would be nothing.
So no, my family won’t be celebrating Chanukah like our
Jewish friends do. I don’t know
how to cook latkes or kugel. But I
do have a candleholder that has places for eight candles. Eight for the number of days the great
menorah in the Temple burned with the little oil that was found when the Temple
was finally taken back from the Greeks.
Yet, what I will think about this year when I light the candles is not
so much about the miracle of oil.
But the fact that in a culture that tried to suck the heart and soul out
of spiritual people, there was still a group of people, though they be few in
numbers, who remained spiritual. And
I will think of all the “miraculous” people I am privileged to know today. Those who in the midst of darkness
still shine God’s light. Who in a
one-dimensional culture, see beyond the material world. And who are as abnormal as they come,
in a cultural of "normalcy."
