Perhaps you have friends who don't really know much about Chanukah and think of it merely as "the Jewish Christmas." They are not entirely wrong, because both Christmas and Chanukah have a message of hope for the moments of darkness and both are focused on lighting lights as signs of hope. Still, Chanukah has its own specific and quite deep meaning, and deserves to be celebrated in its own meanings, and not just as an adjunct to the dominant culture and its celebrations. Perhaps you've heard the fairy-tale version about oil sufficient for one day that burned for eight nights, but the actual miracle is at once much deeper and much more connected to reality--so I want to tell you the real history and the adult version of the story, in the hopes that you might share it with others. And then, I'll tell you how it can be celebrated in a way that accentuates its spiritual depth.
Happy Chanukah (chag urim samey'ach), Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanza, or Happy Holliday season to all.
Many blessings,
Rabbi Michael Lerner
RabbiLerner@tikkun.org

 

Chanukah
celebrating the world’s first recorded national liberation struggle
First night: light candles after dark, December 25th, 2005 and then add one more each night through eight night Sunday evening, January 1st, 2006.


 Rabbi Michael Lerner on Chanukah

     Chanukah celebrates history’s first recorded national liberation struggle. On the first night, Dec. 26, we light a candle after dark, and then add one more each night through the eighth night, Sunday evening, January 1st, 2006.

 • The Story • 

     In the seventh century before the common era (bce), King Cyrus of Persia allowed the remnants of the ancient tribes of Judah and Benjamin to return from the exile imposed upon them by Babylonian conquerors. They then formed the kingdom of Judea and were part of the Persian Empire, and later part of the empire of Alexander the Great. During this time, Judea had relative autonomy to shape its own internal religious life. 

     When Alexander died at the end of the fourth century bce, his empire split into three rival factions, and Judea was caught between two of them: the Seleucids, centered in Syria, and the Ptolemies, centered in Egypt. For the next one hundred and fifty years, these two kingdoms warred and sought to incorporate Judea as part of its empire. 

      Although the battle was largely military, there was an important ideological dimension. Alexander had introduced the Jews to Hellenistic Greek culture—its philosophy, its literature, and its impressive technology and power. Forcibly dragged into the larger Mediterranean world, many Jews could see that “the real world” was dominated by new knowledge, wealth and power. Some Jews, primarily those who lived in and around the larger cities, saw an opportunity to join this larger world by becoming merchants and traders, or by establishing political and economic relationships with others in the Hellenistic empire. 

     It was apparent to these Jews that their old tribal religion would have little meaning to those who had conquered the world. The religion of their fathers seemed irrelevant; they were drawn by the allure of a society that worshiped the body and saw reality in terms of what could be tasted, touched, and directly experienced by the senses. 

     Jewish Hellenizers saw no point in resisting Greek rule. Their goal was to live in peace with the powers that ran the world. They could benefit from the connection to the expanding trade of the Hellenistic world. On the other hand, the vast majority of the Jewish people were small, independent farmers, who lived on the land and brought its produce to Jerusalem three times each year to celebrate their hard-won freedom from slavery in Egypt. They bore the brunt of the oppressive taxes imposed first by the Greeks, and then, alternately, by Seleucids and Ptolemies. These Jews resented foreign rule and detested the city-dwelling elites who seemed to be currying favor with the Hellenistic conquerors, imitating their ways, abandoning the religion of the past, and becoming worshipers at the shrine of political and cultural “reality.” 

     Judea’s plight worsened considerably in the early part of the second century with the ascendence to the throne of the Seleucid Antiochus IV. Claiming that he wanted to “protect” Judea from the Ptolemies, Antiochus invaded Judea and marched toward Egypt, where his armies were defeated. He turned back to Judea and attempted to impose Hellenistic culture by force. He ordered the Temple in Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Greek gods and forbade the practice of circumcision, kashrut (dietary laws), and observance of the Sabbath. 

     To the already assimilated elites of the city, the new rules were insensitive, but did not constitute a major crisis. Perhaps Antiochus was a boor, but the culture he represented was “happening,” while the Jewish religion he forbade was a remnant of the past. 

     People in the countryside, burdened by increased Seleucid taxes, found the Hellenists’ narcissistic fascination with their own power repugnant. Their now-banned religion insisted that there was a single God governing the universe who made possible freedom from oppression. In the name of God they joined a rebellion against the Seleucids under the leadership of a country priest named Mattathais and his five sons (of whom Judah became the most famous, known as “the hammer” or Maccabee).

      They became known as Maccabees, and they rejected the notion of the Jewish establishment that it would be pointless to fight, that one would do best by appeasing the ruling class, learning their language and ways, and accepting their system of oppression. The Maccabees understood Judaism as teaching that “the spirit of the people was greater than the man’s technology,” or, in traditional Jewish terms, “not by power, and not by might, but by My spirit, says the Lord of Hosts.” 

     To fight against superior military force was illogical and unrealistic from the Hellenizers’ standpoint. But the Maccabees rejected assessments of “realism” that derived from the framework imposed by the imperialists, and drew instead upon the Jewish religion and the stubborn spirit of a people who had come to believe that every human being was created in the divine image, and hence had a right to be treated with respect and decency. These were people who would not submit to the rule of the imperialist, and whose religion taught them that they need not, because the central Power of the universe rejected the reality of oppression. Their Torah told the tale of their origins in a slave rebellion against another imperialist power thought to be invincible—Egypt of the Pharaohs.

     Armed with these stories, the Maccabees and their followers used guerrilla tactics to win the first national liberation struggle in recorded history. In 165 bce they retook Jerusalem, purified and rededicated the Temple (Chanukah means dedication), and rekindled its eternal light. The fighting continued many years more, but eventually the Maccabees and their descendants (called Hashmona’im) set up an independent Jewish state. 

      Unfortunately, that state degenerated as the Hashmona’im tried to become a nation like all other nations, adopting the same perversions of state power that other nations adopted, and becoming “realistic” and hence spiritually and morally corrupt. 

     The rabbis who shaped rabbinic Judaism were depressed at the defeat of Jewish rebellions against Rome and aware of the moral degeneration of the Hashmona’im. These rabbis tried, by telling a story about a miracle of a pot of oil that kept the temple flame burning for eight nights, to downplay Chanukah’s political importance and reframe it as a religious event. 

     But something political and miraculous had happened: a critical mass of people recognized in the 160s and 150s bce that there was a Force in the world that made possible the transformation of what is to what ought to be. That recognition, when it takes hold of large numbers of people, becomes a manifestation of God’s presence, suffusing “the power of the people” with divine energy and overpowering the technology and manipulations of oppression.

     Some people believe military power is the primary way to create security for Israel, just as some believe that the US can achieve security while our economic system continues to generate social injustice around the world. They believe that larger social transformations are “unrealistic” and think that our survival depends solely on our armed strength. This thinking echoes Hellenism-—accepting "that which is" and denying "that which ought to be." 

     Spiritual progressives affirm a different vision of strength. Our survival and that of the planet depend on creating a world of love and caring, a world of peace and justice, a world in which every human being is treated as an embodiment of the spirit of God. Hellenism denied that building such a world was possible, but we affirm it when we take God seriously. When progressive Jews light the Chanukah candles we affirm our rejection of "realism" and we affirm the possibility that the world can be transformed and that healing--“tikkun” in Hebrew--is possible. 

     Commitment to transform the world makes the Tikkun Community and the Network of Spiritual Progressives a serious enterprise, in the best traditions of the Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Buddhist insights about the possibility of healing the world. We recognize as sisters and brothers in the spirit all people committed to a world of love and kindness, peace and social justice, ecological sanity, and treatment of human beings as deserving of respect and caring and generosity. Whether religiously based or secular, we call all this belief and work "spiritual."

     Too many talk about God and religion but act as though the world's inequalities, injustices, wars and violence are somehow fixed and cannot be changed, just like the Hellenists. This kind of thinking also comes in secular form, e.g. New York Times columnist Tom Friedman and his preaching that "There is no alternative" to capitalist globalization, assumed in his latest book, The World is Flat. The challenge of Hellenism-–caving in to the powerful and their definition of what is "realistic”–-surrounds us every day. 

     We have to examine our own choices, to have compassion for ourselves and for each other's compromises and fears, and then to reaffirm hope. That hope is at the heart of Chanukah, as it is also at the heart of Christmas, Kwanza, and other celebrations of light in these dark times. 

  Copyright © 2005 Tikkun Magazine. Tikkun ® is a registered trademark. 2342 Shattuck Avenue, #1200 Berkeley, CA 94704 510-644-1200 Fax 510-644-1255. Edited by S. Lewis 

• Making It Real •

In the contemporary world, Jews have turned Chanukah into a Christmas clone, trying to give their children and each other gifts to approximate the gift-giving frenzy that has been particularly promoted by the capitalist market. We need to find creative ways to give of our talents, our love and creativity—but if we can’t resist the pressure of the market to equate love with buying materials goods, we undermine the spiritual message of Chanukah: that the world as constituted, with all its distortions, and with all of its incredible power to shape our sense of need and desire, can nevertheless be fundamentally changed, healed, transformed, and rededicated to higher spiritual purpose.

What follows is a spiritual exercise that you can try with your family as a way to give this message more immediacy in our lives.

Try these exercises and you will see how Chanukah can have a different focus than a mere fixation on who has received the best presents.

Each evening, pick a theme in which you allow yourself to imagine how things could be if they were the way they ought to be. Then tell in detail what would have to happen in order for your vision to be made real, and how you might participate in some way in its actualization. Everyone in the family, Tikkun discussion group, circle of friends, or any other group observing the ritual will share his or her answer.

For example, imagine changes in your:
1. world of work
2. relationship with your parents
3. Jewish community
4. your neighborhood and relationship with neighbors
5. society
6. American politics
7. social change movements
8. larger world

Share your vision with others and listen, without criticizing, to theirs. Then rejoice and sing songs of celebration and of struggle—both Chanukah songs, and songs from other liberation struggles around the world.

Please reproduce this and encourage friends to use it as a guide for constructing their own meaningful Chanukah observance. And urge them to subscribe to Tikkun magazine (send $29 to Tikkun, P.O. Box 460926, Escondido, CA 92046) and to join the Tikkun Community. Urge them to read the Core Vision at www.Tikkun.org and to join on line or by calling 510 528 6250. Invite them to come to the Spiritual Activism Conference of the Network of Spiritual Progressives, an interfaith project of the Tikkun Community. Or plan to buy for them a copy of The Left Hand of God: Taking Our Country Back From the Religious Right (which will be published by HarperSanFrancisco, a division of HarperCollins, on Feb. 7, 2006 and available both through on-line bookstores and in local bookstores everywhere in the U.S. and Canada. Written by Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of Tikkun, in memory of his beloved mother, Beatrice Irene Hirschman Lerner who died some fourteen years ago.

• The Ritual •

Each night of Chanukah we light candles, starting with the shamash (used to light the others) plus one candle, and then adding one additional candle each night for a total of eight nights. The tradition is to sing, dance, and rejoice in our liberation and our freedom.

The traditional blessings over the candles:

• All nights: •
1. Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheynu Melech ha’olam, asher kidshanu bemitzvotav, vetzivanu, lehadleek ner, shel chanukah.
(Blessed are you, the Force that rules all of existence, who sanctifies us by giving us a way of life directed by holy commandments and commanded us to light the lights of Chanukah.)

2. Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheynu Melech ha’olam, she’asah nisim la’avoteynu, bayamim hahem, bazman hazeh.
(Blessed are you, the Force that rules the universe, who made possible miracles for our ancestors, in those days, and also makes the same possible for us in our own times.)

• Add on the first night or the first time you actually light Chanukah candles this year: •
Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheynu Melech ha’olam, shehechiyanu, vekee-imanu, veheeg-iyanu, lazman hazeh.
(Blessed are you, the Force that rules the universe, who has kept us in life, made us flourish, and made it possible for us to reach this happy occasion.)

If you happen to live or be in the Bay Area, you are invited to celebrate with Rabbi Lerner
* On the first night, from 3-6 p.m. at the Synergy School in San Francisco (25th and Valencia in the Mission district) on Sunday, Dec. 25th,
*On the 6th night, Dec. 30th, at 7 p.m. at the Noe Valley Mission, 1021 Sanchez in S.F. (followed by a full Shabbat evening service),
*And Saturday morning Torah study Dec. 31st at Rabbi Lerner's home, 951 Cragmont Ave in Berkeley at 11 a.m.

ADMISSION COST FOR EACH OF THESE EVENTS: Each family unit must bring a main course vegetarian dish to feed at least 12 people--to share for a sumptuous pot-luck. WE WILL SUPPLY THE LATKES, APPLE SAUCE AND SOUR CREAM--you bring a main course vegetarian dish--something delicious to share!