The Evolution of Hanukkah Rev. Roger Fritts Unitarian Universalist Church of Sarasota Dec 9, 2012 I. Hanukkah Commemorates A
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The Evolution of Hanukkah Rev. Roger Fritts Unitarian Universalist Church of Sarasota Dec 9, 2012 I. Hanukkah commemorates a historic event, an ancient war when Jews fought against assimilation. According to historians, Alexander the Great conquered the entire known world, including the Jewish nation, 336 years before the common era. Later, after 160 years of Greek occupation, some Jews living in Jerusalem became assimilated into Greek culture. Over the years these city Jews became fond of the Greek theater, Greek athletics, and Greek literature. Other Jews, particularly farmers living in small villages, resisted this cultural assimilation. A civil war broke out between the Jews who had come to like the Greek culture and those who defended the old, traditional ways. The Greek occupiers joined the war on the side of the Jews whom the Greek culture had absorbed. What started as an internal conflict, a civil war between Jews, became a rebellion against the Greek rulers. Maccabees was the name of the Jewish farmers who were fighting to preserve the Jewish identity. One legend says that the word Maccabees means hammer. Like all wars this war was bloody and terrible, with cultural fanatics on both sides. The second book of Maccabees tells the appalling story of Hannah and her seven sons who refuse to eat meat from a pig. As each son refuses, the Greek soldiers tortured him and put him to death in front of Hannah. Before the soldiers kill the last child, the leader of the Greeks appeals to Hannah. They ask her to tell the boy to eat the meat of the pig so they will not kill him. Hannah asks her last son what he wishes to do. The child replies that he is only sorry that he had to wait so long to show his love of the Torah. Hannah praises him and the Greeks kill the child. Hannah also dies. The Book of Judith is another patriot war story from this period of Jewish history. It tells the story of Judith whose town is under siege by the Greeks. Judith dresses provocatively and prepares a sack containing food and wine. This beautiful woman walks to the Greek camp. The soldiers capture her and take her to their General. She assures the Greek General that he will capture the town and suggests that they go to his tent to celebrate. In the tent she feeds the general salty cheese. He becomes thirsty and drinks large quantities of wine until he falls asleep. Judith takes his sword and cuts off the General’s head. She puts it in a sack, goes back to her town and hangs the general’s head on the outside wall of the city. In fear the soldiers retreat and Judith’s actions save the town. Of course, these are not the stories we usually associate with Hanukkah. Around the year 168 B.C. the Maccabees took control of Jerusalem and the Temple. They cleaned it out, rebuilt the altar and rededicated the Temple. This rededication of the Temple is what Hanukkah celebrates for eight days. Hanukkah means “dedication” in Hebrew. The oldest account, the one that is closest to actual events is the first book of Maccabees. An unknown author wrote it about forty-five years after the rededication of the temple. It says only that they fixed the sacred vessels and menorah and does not mention any miracle with oil. The account in Second Maccabees also does not mention any miracle with oil. It does say that they celebrated for eight days. A Jewish document written three hundred years later, speaks about Hanukkah. It describes the lighting of eight lights and the saying of a blessing. The menorah might be a symbolic representation of the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden, with the eight lights as branches. The first place where the miracle of the oil appears is in the Babylonian Talmud, a document written by Jewish scholars in Babylon in about the 5th century. Writing at least 700 years after the event, the author of the Babylonian Talmud said that after the Maccabees defeated the Greeks, “they searched and found only one jug of oil with the official seal of the head Kohein, enough to burn for one day. But a miracle happened and the oil lasted for eight days.” In other words, the story of the miracle of the olive oil is a legend created to give religious meaning to an event that occurred hundreds of years before. II. However, in recent years meaning of Hanukkah has evolved. For liberal Christians, Hanukkah is an opportunity in December to reach out and show respect and inclusiveness to Jews. Its origins in an ancient religious war are down played. The message is, “at this time of year, when we have many symbols of Christmas, we also have a Menorah to show our respect for the Jewish people.” Menorah lightings are planned in many other cities around the world. In Paris, a lighting planned for today will be near the Eiffel Tower. In Berlin, the menorah lighting will take place near the Brandenburg Gate. In London, a menorah lighting will occur Monday in Trafalgar Square. In New York City at 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue, a giant menorah carved from blocks of ice will be lit Dec. 11. In Washington, the National Menorah Lighting is scheduled for today at the Ellipse near the White House, with performances by the US Navy Band and a musical group called the Three Cantors. In many Unitarian Universalist congregations a menorah is lit as a way of being inclusive of members and friends who are of Jewish background. We have in our congregations persons who are in interfaith marriages and have joined hoping that here we will show respect for both Jewish and Christian traditions. III. However, I have found over the years that this does not make everyone happy. For some Jews, Hanukkah is a minor holiday of little importance that we acknowledge only because Christmas also occurs in December. I first heard this forty years ago. I was walking with a Jewish friend passed a Hanukkah display at the Student Union of Arizona State University. I was thinking to myself that it was good that the Student Union was including Hanukkah, when my Jewish friend said, “I hate the way Christians try to make Jews feel good by including a token Hanukkah display next to their giant Christmas displays. It shows their ignorance of Judaism. Hanukkah,” she told me, “is not an important Jewish Holiday! It is not the Jewish equal of Christmas! If they were serious about respecting and honoring the Jewish religion, they would know that the important Jewish Holy days are Passover, Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur! The Student Union never has a display about these holidays!” Twenty years ago, I had a similar conversation, this time with a Rabbi. It was 1989 and I was serving as a minister near Chicago. That year the Supreme Court ruled that Christmas trees are permissible on government property because they have become a secular symbol of the winter holiday season. The Supreme Court also found that a Hanukkah menorah is a symbol with both secular and religious meanings. They ruled that its display on public property is permissible. As a result, the city of Chicago at taxpayer expense, had placed a giant Christmas Tree and a giant menorah on Daly Plaza. However, not all Jews were happy about this. My Rabbi friend told me that Jews who wanted the Giant Menorah next to the Christmas tree were undercutting the arguments for separation of church and state. “We have rules about this,” the Rabbi explained to me. “Jewish law states that ideally, the Hanukkah menorah should be placed outside the front door of one’s home on the left side of the door as one enters. Rabbis did not intend Jews to display the Hanukkah Menorah in a public place such as a city square. The Jews and Christians who do this show their ignorance of our religion, by making a big deal about a minor holiday.” IV. However, not all Jews agree. One Jewish scholar, Dr. Ron Wolfson, argues that religious rituals evolve and change over time. In North America at least, Jews have transformed Hanukkah into a major celebration. Dr. Wolfson writes, Hanukkah in North America has become, and will continue to be, one of the most popular Jewish holidays, if not the most popular, even though it is considered a minor holiday in the hierarchy of Jewish celebration. For many American Jews, Hanukkah is not about an ancient war. It is a festive time to eat and sing. The song THE EIGHT NIGHTS OF HANUKKAH is a takeoff on the twelve days of Christmas. On the seventh night of Hanukkah, my true love gave to me 7 noodle ku-gels 6 pickled herrings 5 bowls of chicken soup 4 potato latkes 3 pounds of corned beef 2 Kosher pickles and Lox, bagels and some cream cheese On the eighth night of Hanukkah, my true love gave to me 8 Alka- Seltzers As the song shows, Jews serve special foods including potato pancakes and jam-filled donuts. Games are played with a Dreidel. Some parents give children gifts, usually small coins, “Hanukkah geld” on each of the eight days. And there are jokes. A famous Hanukkah joke is about sweaters and mothers. A mother gave her son two sweaters for Hanukkah. The next time he visited, the son made sure to wear one of the sweaters. As he entered his mother’s home, she said, “What’s the matter? You didn’t like the other one?” A few years ago the United States Postal Service started to publish Hanukkah postage stamps.