December 15th, 2017 27 Kislev, 5778 While the story of Hanukkah celebrates the win of a small number of Jews over theSeleucid Empire and the Jews refusal to worship Greek gods, theres also a part of the story that is about an internal Jewish feud
December 15th, 2017 27 Kislev, 5778
While the story of Hanukkah celebrates the win of a small number of Jews over the Seleucid Empire and the Jews’ refusal to worship Greek gods, there’s also a part of the story that is about an internal Jewish feud. We don’t usually give as much attention to this part of the story. In reality, many of the Jews were OK with becoming more Hellenized. They thought the Greek life wasn’t so bad and they enjoyed being a part of it. The Maccabean revolt wasn’t just one against the Greeks, it was also a fight by certain Jews to keep their Judaism central to their lives and to not become too assimilated. This part of the narrative upholds pride in our Judaism as a central component of the holiday.
Hanukkah then asks us to think deeply about our identities as Jews, particularly ones that live (and thrive!) in a secular world. Hanukkah reminds us of the balance that we try to strike in our lives. How do we celebrate the culture around us and still maintain an authentic sense of our Jewishness? How do we have pride in our particularistic culture, and celebrate that, without shutting out the outside world from which we benefit greatly? There is not one right answer to this question, and at different moments in our lives our answers will change. But I believe that continuing to ask ourselves this question - a continued struggle, really - is part of what it means to be Jewish in our time.
Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Sarit
P.S. I hope you’ll continue to post your Hanukkah photos on Facebook. Tag them with the hashtags #HanukkahMemphis and #LightsofBethSholom so we see them!
