This year, Chanukah seemed to sneak up on me unawares. I just this morning checked my cupboard to make sure I have enough candles and I will most likely engage in some serious latke making this afternoon [...maybe].
More than being stressed, though, I am somewhat pleased at my lack of preparedness. Chanukah is a minor holiday on our calendar; one shouldn't need weeks to get ready to celebrate it fully. By ignoring the hoopla that surrounds the festival when observed as the "Jewish un-Christmas", I have been able to focus on the serious issues that Chanukah raises for us today. Chanukah is, in fact, an early precursor to our modern struggle between Jewish assimilationists and those who wish to have nothing to do with the surrounding gentile culture and those of us who strive for a different balance between the two. Read this quote from the Book of Maccabees:
At that time there were some evil-doers in Israel who tried to win popularity for a policy of integration with the surrounding nations. It was because the Jews had kept themselves aloof for so long, they claimed, that so many hardships had befallen them. They acquired a following and applied to Antiochus, who authorized them to introduce the Greek way of life. They built a Greek gymnasium in Jerusalem and even had themselves uncircumcised.
So even in a 168BCE, it was a question about whether to join the gym!
More seriously, however, the earliest records of the events that led to Chanukah posit a view of Jewish living that belies most of our history. Unlike those who maintain that Judaism only thrives when it is completely protected from outside influences, I [and mainstream Jews generally] state unabashedly: Jewish tradition, observance and culture is axiomatically a cosmopolitan tradition, which was influenced positively by the myriad of cultures we have lived amongst. Acculturation can be reinvigorating for the Jewish people and is not--in and of itself--assimilation. Clarity about this distinction is crucial for our survival.
The questions for us today, therefore, are whether the steps of acculturation we make are strengthening our relationship with God [as individuals and as a people], with Jews [of today, yesterday and tomorrow], and with our task of tikkun olam. We must navigate this path carefully and when we are confident that it meets these conditions, we do absorb the surrounding zeitgeist. This balancing act is hard to perform, and many folk fall off entirely. Chanukah can challenge us today to reassess the delicate balance we strive to maintain.
If you would like further information, see this article by Rabbi James Ponet from whom I took the Maccabees quote. For more background of the development of Chanukah, you can go here. Chag Chanukah Same'ach!
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