Rabbi Weill's Blog

December 19, 2024

Dear Friends,

This week Jewish communities all over the world are celebrating the joyous festival of Hanukkah. We all are familiar with the story of Hanukkah. In 167 B.C.E. the evil Seleucid forces of King Antiochus defiled the Holy Temple of Jerusalem. Replacing the ritual objects of the Temple with statues of Zeus and other pagan artifacts, Antiochus planned to have the Jewish people "forget the Torah" and completely assimilate into Hellenistic society.

But in 164 B.C.E, the Holy Temple was retaken by the Maccabees, cleansed and rededicated for worship by the Jewish people. Thus, two of the three great miracles of Hanukkah: that a single cruse of oil meant to last a single day lasted the full eight days necessary to prepare additional oil for the sanctuary lights. And, that a small band of righteous Jewish fighters was able to defeat a mighty evil army.

I believe there is a third Hanukkah miracle – one which plays out every day in the life of every living Jew to this day. Solomon Schechter, one of the founding rabbis of the Conservative movement, and the first Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary famously said that the genius of Judaism is “its ability to assimilate the best from its surrounding culture, but not be assimilated by it”. This, I believe, is the third and lasting miracle of Hanukkah and one of the reasons for Jewish survival over the millennia: that despite the lure and attraction of Hellenistic/Greek society in Maccabean times, and despite the lure of contemporary secular society today, the Jewish people steadfastly remain an am kadosh – a unique people, charged with being a “light unto the nations”.

Yet, Schechter reminds us that the strength of Judaism lies not in isolating ourselves from our non-Jewish neighbors and retreating into a “shtetl mentality” but in helping to bring our shared world to a better place through interaction with our neighbors, even as we strengthen our own commitment to Judaism and Jewish way of life.

Hag urim sameach,

Cantor Daniel Gale

PS – Click on this link for a fun Hanukkah playlist

https://on.soundcloud.com/xZyYEkpSPEZWStfF6