What’s the most important message to learn from Chanukah? Is it a lesson about God’s miracle or about the Jews' overcoming adversity? Or is it about religious freedom?
The Chanukah story is not found in the Tanach. Rather what we know of the Maccabean revolt comes from the writings in the Apocrypha and Flavius Josephus. The miracle of the cruse of oil lasting eight nights is found in neither of these sources, but in the Talmud. The essential story is one of freedom. The Maccabees rebelled against the Hellenism of the Syrian/Greeks as well as against those Jewish assimilationists who would “go along to get along”: accepting Greek gods so as to be acceptable to the Greeks. The miracle is that people are willing to fight for a belief and for their right to worship as their conscience demands. The eight day festival is reminiscent of the eight day Festival they were denied during the two year guerilla war; HaChag, Sukkot, the Harvest Festival. Thus Chanukah can have meaning to us today, offering thanks that God preserved us to celebrate this ideal and that human commitment has resonance even in the face of seemingly insurmountable opposition.
Actually, Hanukkah speaks to two audiences - the Jewish community and the global community.
To the Jewish community, the main message is - stand up for your beliefs. Pre-Hanukkah, most Jews abandoned ship. Only a handful resisted the tempting offer of Live as Jews, and you have nothing, not even your life, but give up your Judaism and you will have everything. We do not exist on the basis of following the majority; we survive and thrive based on doing what is right, even if we are a minority within a minority, as was the Pre-Hanukkah demographic. It would be horrible if the result of living in a free world is that we willingly reject what our ancestors gave their lives to protect.
To the global community, the main message is that we should have zero tolerance for any oppression, and no matter how bleak things look, in the end justice and truth will prevail.
Miracles, overcoming adversity and religious freedom are all important messages during Hanukkah. However, from a values standpoint I would have to focus on the theme of religious tolerance.
Putting aside the miracles of the Hanukkah story -- namely, the military victory over the Syrian army and the oil lasting for eight days -- I think it's important to focus on the hatred that was directed at the Jewish people. The desecration of the Temple and the intolerance toward the Jewish faith is a message for all humanity. During that time in history, the Jewish people were not allowed to practice their religion freely. They were discriminated against because of their beliefs.
The inherent value we can learn from this story is V'ahavta L'reiacha Kamocha, treat others as you wish to be treated. Religious freedom is of utmost importance. It is that value that, like the lights of the menorah, will shed much light during these dark days.
Copyright 2020 all rights reserved. Jewish Values Online
N O T I C E
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN ANSWERS PROVIDED HEREIN ARE THOSE OF THE INDIVIDUAL JVO PANEL MEMBERS, AND DO NOT
NECESSARILY REFLECT OR REPRESENT THE VIEWS OF THE ORTHODOX, CONSERVATIVE OR REFORM MOVEMENTS, RESPECTIVELY.
