Saturday, December 24, 2005
No matter how you spell it, Chanukah is what lots of Jewish kids and most of the non-Jewish community grew up thinking was a really important Jewish holiday. After all, it is right there at the right time of year.
Hannukah starts on the 25th of the Hebrew month of the winter month of Kislev, and that other popular holiday, the heartbeat of the winter consumer season, is on the 25th of December. So Chanukkah has got to be important. (Every 19 years, the Hebrew and Gregorian calendars coincide on this date, and that happens tomorrow night!)
Yet, from a strictly religious viewpoint, Hannukkah is not as important to Jews as the high holidays of Rosh HaShanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), or the three pilgrimage holidays mentioned in the Torah: Sukkot (Tabernacles), Pesach (Passover) and Shavuot (Pentecost). Hannukkah is not in the Bible, and it's barely mentioned in the Talmud. And it's certainly nowhere near as seminal to Judaism as Christmas is to Christianity. (By the way, Merry Christmas to all my Christian friends.)
Nonetheless, Hanukah is important. It's a holiday that teaches us about survival under oppression. It's a holiday that teaches us to stand up for ourselves in a world that thinks it can live without us. For many Jewish people, it's a starting point, the way in to their religious identification, if they'll let it happen.
TV show with a message
I'm reminded of a television show from about 40 years ago. I can't remember exactly which one it was -- I think it may have been on Kraft Television Theater or some other "high-class" show. The protagonist was a secular Jew. You know, "Sure I'm proud of being Jewish, but I don't wear it on my sleeve, if you know what I mean ..." He barely goes to synagogue at all; he's uncomfortable with talking about being Jewish, God, or religion in general, and he claims it's not relevant to his life. He thinks ritual is silly, and if it has a reason to exist, it's for the kids.
The plot revolves around a Jewish family as they light a Chanukiyah, (the special nine-branched candelabra that many of us grew up calling a menorah, the term for any lamp). Our main character, a visiting relative, is making fun of the ritual, saying he doesn't need it. The foil in the scene, the father of the family, asks him to put himself back in the times of the Hasmonean revolt, when basic Jewish religious rights were prohibited.
Suddenly, our hero, put on the spot, imagines himself as a rebel, a Maccabee, willing to fight to the death for the religious freedoms denied the Jews of 165 B.C.E. The scenes play out, and this secular, practically anti-religious Jew (now in Greek clothing) is spouting the noblest clich & eacute;s and calling for religious freedom for all minorities.
I have this memory of this show on our old 17-inch, black-and-white Philco with the screen closing in on this transformed man in ancient garb, and then the camera pulling back and, Presto!, he's back in modern (circa early 1960s) clothes, finishing a speech that would have made Patrick Henry proud.
And as he finishes saying how, if we were oppressed today, he would fight and die if he had to in order to preserve our religious freedoms, the father says to him something like, "OK, Mister Big Shot. We fought that war already! The Maccabees won. Why don't you try using the religious freedoms they fought for? If you would be so willing to fight for these rights if they were to be taken away, why not take advantage of them when you have them?" Chagrined, our man lights the last candle, hand shaking a little, holding back a tear.
Relevant lessons
I haven't thought of this shmaltzy show in years, but it says a number of things to me. For one, it says that television used to take Judaism seriously. It was the subject of a prime time network show. If that happens today, it's on "Rugrats" or "South Park."
It also tells us that religion is not just for kids. Religion can teach lessons relevant to every age. It is the serious pursuit of rational adults. The message is accessible, and it is beautiful.
Every ancient religion had its winter holiday, usually celebrated by lighting candles. The candles expressed the faith that the days would grow long again. The Druids hung candles on trees in this season. Candles also play a significant role in other traditions, including Kwanzaa, the black American cultural celebration. Even in ancient Rome, people gave candles to each other for Saturnalia, which took place near the solstice. In fact, I read that the first Christmas candle was a Saturnalia candle. So in keeping with the winter custom, my blessing for all of us is that when the darkness seems the deepest, our hopes for peace and light will be kindled as well by the light of a Chanukiyah in a window.
Oh, and maybe we'll even come to an agreement as to how the holiday is spelled.
XRabbi Joel Berman heads the Ohev Tzedek-Shaarei Torah Congregation in Boardman.