As Chanukah approaches, we busy ourselves with preparing the Menorah, the dreidel, and the parties, and the joy that comes along with them. However, it is worth taking a few minutes to ponder what motivated the Maccabees to risk their lives to fight the Hellenists.
The Maccabees’ lives were not in danger. They were permitted to practice almost all of the mitzvot – even though a few laws were forbidden, such as circumcision. They were even permitted to learn Torah! Well, they were not allowed to say the blessing before they learned, but how bad is that? Could they not endure such a comfortable life under Greek rule that it is was worth putting their lives at risk, just because they suffered some “inconveniences” regarding the nuance of the law?
To strengthen the question: According to Jewish law, we can only put our life at risk if we are challenged to disobey any of the three cardinal sins: idolatry, adultery, or murder. None of these were being forced upon the Jews. This begs the question, why, from a Halachic perspective, would the Maccabees put their lives in danger?
The Maccabees saw a bigger picture. They recognized that the fabric of the Jewish people was coming apart at the seams—Jews were assimilating into Greek culture. They didn’t have time to worry about the nitty-gritty of the law. Correctly and according to Greek law, they could have sat in the comfort of their homes and under their palm trees and just concerned themselves with their own needs, and when Greek soldiers came around, they could have pulled out their dreidels and started playing so that they would not be caught teaching Torah to the children, the way it should be taught. Yet that was not who they were. They were warriors! They were leaders! They put the community’s needs before their own. When they noticed that the Jewish community was “slipping” into the Greek way of life, they said, “We have to do something about this. We must bring Judaism back into the center of people’s lives.”
Interestingly, G-d recognizes this and performs a miracle with oil – making one day’s worth of oil last eight days – to teach the Jewish people that by adding a little light into their lives they can transform their world and make it into a holy place. They can rid themselves of the Greek influence and reconnect with G-d.
This message applies to our generation as much as it did to theirs. We, too, are distracted by our culture and can slip into our surroundings and get confused as to what it means to be a Jew, to be able to define to ourselves what Judaism means to us and to our family and community. But on Chanukah, when we kindle a light, we remind ourselves that we have what it takes to stand up to the forces of the world that try to silence us, and we tell them that we will always be a light unto the world.
Nothing can stop us!
Happy Chanukah