, NEWLYREVISED edition, -' i -'riffi:';,'i;,;',;,' tikf)ian'biiii,:f;'"'

THE HANUKA FESTIVAL- A GUIPE, FORTHE RESTOF US

by Hershl Hartman, vegyayzer

A few words before we begin...

Jews, both adults and children, even those from culturally consciousor religiously observant homes, cannot be convinced that khanikeis a reasonable substitute for the tinsel, glitter and sentimentality that surround Xmas, the American version of Christmasthat has virtually engulfed the world. Accordingly, it is nof the purpose of this work to help project khanikeas an "alternative Xmas" but, rather, to provide non-observantJewish families with a factual understanding of the festival'sorigins and traditions so that it may be celebratedmeaningfully and joyously in its own right.

Why "...for the rest of us"? Increasingly,American Jews are identifying with their ethnic culture,rather than with the Jewishreligion. At the sametime, Hanuka is being projected more aggressivelyas a religiousholiday, focused on the "Miracle of the Lights," purporting to celebrate"history's first victorious struggle for religious freedom," to quote the inevitable editorial in your local newspaper.Actually, as we shall see, Hanuka is nothing of the sort. l'he issuesof "religious freedom" vs. "national liberation"vs. "multicultural rights" wereactually confronted back in the secondcentury B.C.E.,albeit with other terminology.'l'hisbooklet seeksto separate fact from fanry so that those who identify with Jewishculture will not feel excluded from celebratingthe festival.

Now, about the matter of spelling. 1'he "right" way to spell it is: il!'tJrt.What is 'l'he the "best" way to transliteratethe Hebrew into English? earliest"official" form was Chanukah or its inexplicablevariants: Channukah and Chanukkah. Hearing non-speakersof Yiddish or Hebrew saying "tcha-noo-ka"convinced the arbitersof these things to try Hanuka and ifs variegatedversions: Hanukah, Hanrtukah, Hanukkah, etc.None of theseapproximate the Yiddish (Ashkenazi)pronunciation for which there is a transliterationstandard: khanlke.l'hat's the form that most satisfiesthe author, although he has bowed to common practicein this work. Yott arefree to makeyour own choices.The right to be differentis part of lvhat khanike is all about"' -Hershl Hartman Do you sometimesfind it difficult to maintainthe 'Hanukaspirit'when: .the Oil Miracleseems just too mythological? .the 'superiority'of Hebrewlore overGreek philosophy doesn't jibe with your collegeclassics course? rgiving childreneight gifts appears more like consumerismthan Judaism? ....evencelebrating the Maccabees'victory feels a bit too militaristicfor comfort?

Takeheart: your ambivalenceis not unique in Jewishhistory and traditions. From its very beginning-even beforeits official beginning-Hanuka has been a controversialfestival. For almost 2,000 years, thanks to the Talmudicrabbis, it was considereda "minor holiday,"when ordinarywork is permitted.The recordof its historicalorigins, the Bookof Maccabees,was excluded from the Bible.To this day thereis continuingcontroversy over the "realmeaning" of Hanuka. To help sort it all out, perhapsit would be helpful to go backto the very beginning of a festivalthat the ancientHebrews and their descendantsin Palestine cameto know asNeyrot, or Lights. Primitive Origins

Primitive peopleever;nvhere and especiallyin the easternMediterranean and the Middle East met the crisis of the winter solstice,the dying sun, with the traditionsof imitativemagic. To encouragethe rebirth of the sun, they lit bonfires or, as in the rites of Dionysus,ran through the hills, carrying torches.In some cultures,ever-larger fires were lit on successivenights. In more northerly Europe, the threatof the deathof all living thingswas ameliorated by the promiseof rebiith inherent in the evergreenfir tree.Worshipping it encouragedthe restof natureto be rebom. The trunk of that tree, the yule log,was set ablazeas an exampleto the sun of what wasexpected of it. In Scandinavia,young women paradeto the village squarewearing wreaths of candlesin their hair, creatinga blazeof light. In all these customs,human activity is seenas manipulating the forcesof nature,rather than posinghumans as the meresubjects or victimsof naturalor supernaturaiforces. In ancient Israel,these primitive winter solsticecustoms were retainedin the eight-day,folk_festival of Neyrot. As a folk holiday, it was disdainedby the priesthoodand is not mentionedin the Bible.Interestingly, when the Talrirudic rabbis sought to downplay the Maccabeanexploits, they turned to the flame- lighting traditions of Neyrot.Even such an unremittingly pagan tradition was preferable,it seems,to a celebrationof the hatedMaccabees. We,-however, need to recall and understandthe important episodein Jewishhistory that underliesthe modernfestival of Hanuka. Hanuka - The Historical Aspect

Among the many major contributions of seculariststo the history and developmentof the Jewishpeople is their historians'rescue of the Maccabeanrevolt from the secretchamber into which it had been thrust by rabbinicJudaism for almost2,000 years. It is virtually impossibleto transmit the utter, iiberatedjoy of Jewishyoung peoplein the 1880sand beyond-both in "the old home" of Eastern Europeand "the new countries"in the Americas,Palestine, South Africa and Australia-upon learningthat the Maccabeesdid more than mint freshcoins upon rededicatingthe Templein Jerusalem;that they had conducteda successfulrevolt againsta mighty Empire.The Yiddishpoet Morris Rosenfeldrhapsodized: I havean ancientdream: few, you werea warcioronce; lew, you werea victoronce! O, how strangethat seems! More than poeticsexpressed their delight.In post-WorldWar I Europeand in the Palestinianyishuv, Zionist youth organizationsformed soccerteams and leagues calledmakabi and competedin tournamentscalled makabiadd, a sort of Jewish Olympics. (That the Maccabeanrevolt was directed,in paft, againstHellenic athleticsdid not seemto bother the young Zionist enthusiasts;one can only imagine the horror of the anti-ZionistOrthodox rabbinateof the time.) Beyond sports,the principleof armedJewish self-defense that was sharedby both Zionist and Socialistyouth took inspirationfrom the Maccabeesand waslater expressedin Jewishanti-Nazi resistance and in Israel'swar of independence. Hanuka,unlike otherJewish holidays, is basedon historicalfact, verified in the Bookof Maccabeesand in othersources. The historyof the Maccabeesis complex;what followsis a condensationof the summaryprovided by Dr. TheodorGaster (Festivals of thelewish Year): When Alexanderthe Great(356-323 B.C.E.) conquered the PersianEmpire, including Palestine,the influence of Hellenism (Greek culture, language, philosophy,religion) beganto spread,aided by a policy that we might call, nowadays,"cultural pluralism."The subjectpeoples of the HellenicEmpire, from Egyptto India,were permitted to "follow the waysof their fathers"as long asthey obeyedtheir rulersand paid their taxes.In the tiny but strategicallylocated corner of the empireknown asJudah, the nobility and much of the priesthoodbegan to becomeHellenized, but the peasantsand artisansresisted assimilation. After the deathof Alexander,the empirewas dividedamong his generalswho formed the separatekingdoms of Egyptin the south under the Ptolemaicdynasty and Syriain the north under the Seleuciddynasty. Palestine, which lay between them, passedfrom one to the other for over a centuryuntil, in 198 B.C.E.,it was conqueredby Antiochusthe Great,king of Syria.His son, AntiochusIV, ascended the throne in 175 B.C.E.and commencedplanning an attackon the Ptolemiesof Egypt,partly to preventthem from seekingto avengeor reversehis father'stheft of Palestine.Preparation for that effort required"national unity," which AntiochusIV soughtby replacingAlexander's traditional policy of "cultural pluralism"with one of "cultural imperialism." In Jerusalem,that poliry resultedin the removalof the moderatelyHellenistic high priest of the Temple,Onias, replaced by his more fully assimilatedbrother, Joshua,who promptly adoptedthe emphaticallynon-Jewish name, Jason. (This may comeas something of a shockto a whole generationof AmericanJews named Jason.) The Hellenistictrend that had startedgenerations earlier in a relativelynatural way now becameaccelerated under the pressuresof both the Seleucidimpedal state and the Jewishtheocratic state. Among the peasantsand artisans,however, state pressuresproduced stiffened resistance, rather than compliance.They could not gain statusby dressingin Greekcostumes or by playing in the gymnasium,but they would lose their own identitiesif they ceasedto be Jews.A resistancemovement developed,called the Pietists(hasidim-no relation to the current hasidicsects) which soughtonly a return of the right to "follow the ways of the fathers,"i.e., religiousfreedom. Antiochus,frustrated in his plansto conquerEgypt by a warning from Rome, the newly developingsuperpower, intensified his efforts to weld the disparate peoplesof his empireinto a singleSeleucid whole. It wasn'tthe classicalculture of Greciansplendor he had in mind. He proclaimedZeus to be a super-godwith whom all the lessergods of the subjectpeoples would be identified.He also declaredhimself to be "Epiphanes,"the living manifestationof the super-god.To makehimself perfectlyclear, he orderedthat the new title, AntiochusEpiphanes, appearon all newly-mintedcoins and that servicesin all religiousholy places-in Jerusalem,that meant the Temple-be conductedin accordancewith the new state religion.Failure to complywas punishable by death. The orderwas brought to the small town of Modin, to its agedJewish priest namedMattathias (in the Greekpronunciation; matesyohu in Hebrew),of the family calledHasmoneans (khashrnanoyim). His response,as retold in the FirstBook of Maccabees(2:77-28): "Even if all the nationswithin the king's dominions...fallaway each one from its ancestralfaith...yet will I and my sonsand my brethrenwalk in the covenantof our fathers."...Now,when he hadfinished speaking thesewords, there came aJew...to sacrifice on the altar...inthe mannerprescribed by the king'scommandment. But when Mattathias sawhim, his zealwas inflamed...and he slewhim besidethe altar.And Mattathiascried out in the city in a loud voice:"Whoever is zealousfor the Law and would maintain the Covenant-let him follow me." And he and his sonsfled to the hills.

It is clear,then, that the sparklit in Modin ignited both a civil war and a war of liberation. The Pietists believed, rightly, that the Hasmonean partisan brigades were aiming for more than a restoration of the former "religious freedom" but were intent on ousting the Seleucidempire as it weakened under pressure from ever- expanding Rome. An uneasy "united front" was established,with the common aim of driving the enemy, including Jewish collaborators, out of the now-defiled Temple in Jerusalem. Leadership of this peasant guerrilla arfirl, after the death of Mattathias, was vested in the third of his five sons, Judah, whom his followers named "the hamslsv"-fus'makabi, the Maccabee.After a three-year guerrilla-war campaign, the Maccabeesrecaptured Jerusalem and the Temple, cleansedit on the 25th of Kislev, 166 B.C.E.,and proclaimed an eight-day celebration, "like sukls (Sukkot)."Thus, khanikeor Hanuka, dedication. Had theirs been the only revolt in the empire, there is little doubt that Antiochus could have crushed it easily. However, other subject peoples were also rising up against Antiochus' decrees.His troops, therefore, were fighting a multi- front war, in Parthia and Armenia, for example. (Che Guevara,in our day, called a similar situation "one, two, many Viet Nams.") It can be truly said, therefore, that the victory of the Maccabeeswas due, not to supernaturalintervention nor to moral superiority, but to the simultaneous strugglesof many oppressedpeoples for their own freedom. And, by the same token, the Maccabean victory hastened the liberation of other peoples. Is it any wonder that the Zionist and Socialistyouth of our century found such inspiration in the history of Hanuka? More-and less-inspiration could be found in the post-liberationrecord of the Maccabeandynasty, for such it became. On the plus side, from one point of view, was their fulfillment of the goal of national independence, rather than mere "religious fteedom." On the negative side was how they behaved as independent rulers. SaysRabbi Sherwin T. Wine gudaism BeyondGoA:

In many respectsthe Maccabeeswere no differentfrom Antiochus.Each adversary was committedto the absolutevalidity of his position and to the necessityof destroyingall opposition.The Hellenistsfared no betterunder the Maccabeesthan the pious did under Antiochus...Ultimately,John Maccabee,through his conquestof Samariaand Galilee, soughtto imposeJewish identity on the newly conquered.As a JewishAntiochus, he combinedimperialism with religiousconformity.

Let us note here, painfully, that the imposition of Jewish identity-and its re- imposition on Hellenists-involved forced male circumcision.Wine adds:

Nationalliberation is distinctfrom personalliberation...What the Maccabeesachieved for theJewswas not religiousfreedom or personalindependence...(but)...a government of Jewswho werenot the puppetsof outsidepowers...In so far asthey wereindependent, the nation wasindependent.

A more historical view is offeredby Theodor Gaster,who cautions:

...wemust not readmodern ideas and idealsinto an ancientstory. At the time of the Maccabees,the modern conceptof personalliberty of consciencehad not yet been developed,and religionwas a collectiveregimen rather than an individualpersuasion. And then there is the role that the Maccabeanuprising played in the American Revolution. The ministers of the Congregational Church in New England faced a dilemma: their hearts were with the colonists but their theology taught that kings ruled by divine right. Where in the holy books was permissiongiven to opposethe royalty that God had anointed? They found it in the First Book of Maccabees. "Resistanceto tyranny," said old matesyohu,"is obedienceto God." Gotcha, George IIMi there, SamAdams!

When and Why The Oil Myth Was Invented

The story of the one-dayflask of sanctifiedlamp oil that lastedfor eight days appearsin the Talmud, wdtten centurieslater. It is one of three contradictory Talmudicstories on the samesubfect. But, first, somebackground. Therewere many reasonsfor the intensedislike, in the post-Hasmoneanera, of the rabbisfor the Maccabeesand for the intenseefforts over severalcenturies to suppresstheir memory.Many rabbissided with the Pietistsin their emphasison spiritual,rather than military, might. The Maccabees,they noted, assumedboth religiousand temporalpower, contravening Jewish tradition that put the stateinto the handsof descendantsof KingDavid. "And worst of all," writes Arthur Waskow(Seasons of Ourloy), "the Hasmonean kings sidedwith the Sadducees,the priestlyupholders of the primacy of Temple sacrifice...againstthe Pharisees-forerunnersof the rabbiswho sawprayer and the study and interpretationof Torah as the path to God." And it was the Maccabees who alliedthe Jewish state with Rome,opening the way to Romandomination that threatenedJewish sovereignty on the one hand and,on the other,raised the specter of wholesaleslaughter in the eventof Maccabee-inspireduprisings. This lastmotive for the rabbisto replacethe Maccabeeswith a miraculousflask of oil leadsa bemusedTheodor Gaster to note that "it is as if the Catholicchurch, nervousabout the implicationsof the Christmasstory, had officially substitutedthe Yule log for the cradlein the manger as the symbol of the day when Jesuswas born." Whatevertheir motives,it is ciearthat the rabbis,who ruled under Roman domination,took stepsto minimizethe Maccabeesas far asthey could.The Bookof Maccabees,as noted, was excluded from the Bible;Hanuka is the only holiday not evenmentioned in the mishna,the first level,or layer,of the Talmud."And iir the laterlayer-tlrre gemara-it is treatedin a very off-hand waf ," Waskownotes: The rabbisare discussing what kinds of candlesmay be usedfor Shabboswhen one of them asks,rather casually, whether the rulesfor Hanukkah(sic) candles are different. They explorethis for a bit, talk abouthow the candlesare to be lit, and then one of them says,as if he cannotquite remember, "What is Hanukkah?"They answer him: Our rabbistnught: On the twenty-frfthof Kistevfbeginj the eightdays of Hanukkah,on which lamentationfor the dead and fasting are forbidden.When the Greeksentered the Temple,they defiledaII the oils in it, and when the Hasmoneandynasty...defeated them, they searched and foundonly onebottle of oil sealedby the High Priest.It containedonly enoughfor one day's lighting.Yet a miraclewas brought about with it. ..they lit fwith that oil] for eightdays. ..fshabbat 2lb]. And at oncethe rabbisgo back to discussingthe candles.They haveno more to say aboutthe internal divisionsof the Jews,the revolt againstAntiochus, the victory of the Maccabees,the rededicationof the Temple...

They have no more to say about the vaunted Miracle of the Lights, either. And for good reason.The oil-that-continues-to-burn was a tired old magician's trick by then. As Halyim Schauss(The lewish Festivals)notes, the Greeks "also relate that the bit of oil poured into the lamp near the statue of the goddessAthena, on the Acropolis,burned for an entire year." Even more significantly, Schausspoints out that "Amongst Jews the...miracle ...isalso found in the talesof Eliiah and Elisha"-intheBible! Sureenough, Elijah (l Kings 77:16)tells of an oil jug that keepson pouring and Elisha (ll Kings 4:7-6) relatesthe tale of a debt-foreclosureaverted by a jug of oil that keeps filling other containersthat can be sold. Schaussunderlines another significantmatter: in other parts of the Talmud, the rabbis explain the Hanuka candlesand the eight-day length of the festival without referringto any miraclesst all! In one part of the midrash, the third layer of the Talmud, the reasonfor kindling lights on Hanuka is given thus:

When the sonsof the Hasmonean,the high Priest,defeated the Greeksthey enteredthe Templeand found thereeight iron spears.They stuckcandles in thesespears and kindled them.

Elsewherein the Talmud,Schauss continues, the eight-daylength of the festival is explainedby the fact that it took the Hasmoneans(the rabbispreferred to avoid the term, Maccabees)eight daysto erectand whitewashthe new altar and to install the new sacredutensils. The reasonfor kindling the lights, in this contradictory vetsion,is that the Hasmoneansentered the Templecarrying their own eight iron spearswhich they then coveredwith wood in which they kindledlights. Furthercommentary on these'sacredcommentaries' would be superfluous.

A Hanuka CelebrationFor The Restof Us: a) The Secularistmenorq/khanike lempl Having, by now, thoroughly trashedthe erstwhileTalmudic oil-miracle folderol, have we not thereby crushedunderfoot the eight-branchedcandelabra that has beenthe symbolof Hanukafor over Z,O0Oyears? Not at all. As described above,the Hanukalights have their roots deepin the customsthat are common to all humanity, the meansby which primitive and ancientpeople sought to exercise humancontrol over the unrulv forcesof nature. In fact, we have seenthlt part of the motivation for the creationof the oil- miracle legendwas the need to imbue the ancient folk-tradition with a "holy" significance-thatit did not have.The origin of the Hanukalights is non-religious. ShouldSecularists, of all people,discard them? And yet there are Secularand HumanisticJews who find that a ceremonial lighting of ca-ndlesis too closeto religiousritual for their comfort. Not only on Hanuka.On shabes(shabat, sabbath), too. It is not candles,per se, that they find objectionable.Candles on a dining table are acceptable,charrying, beautiful, even romantic. It is the ceremonialkindling of candlesthat makesthem uncomfortable.This stricture,however, does not seemto apply to birthday cakecandles which are both lit and extinguishedceremonially, not to sayritually. The problem, somehow,seems to centeronly on Jewishceremonial candles. Consistencyand intellectualhonesty would, then, demand equal rejectionof fireworksduring celebrationsof July 4th, or of BastilleDay, yom ha'atzmauf,or in the skiesover Moscowin celebrationof victory in the GreatPatriotic War. ForJewish ceremonial candles are the fireworksof a smallpeople, oppressed for much of its recent history, in exile of one kind or another for much of its existence-apeople that hasnever been accorded the dght of national/culturalself- determination,not even in the nominally free New World, not to this very day. Thosecandles are our fireworks.But they aremore than that: thev areour lini

Beforewe turn to the matterof what to do when lighting the candlesand while they'reburning, please permit a small,personal digression about terminology. For just about a millennium, the Jewsof Central and EasternEurope had a fond, diminutive name for the Hanuka candle holder: khanikelempl, or little Hanukalamp. Then, in the courseof the presentcentury, the Reformmovement on this continentdecreed that the once-modestlittie lamp,now growingever-larger as Hanukabecame more and morepopular in Westerncountries, should be calledby a grandername: menorah,candelabrum. Moreover, it was not to be pronounced menoyre,in the Ashkenazicway. Most North AmericanJews went along,fearing to appearuncouth, unlettered, or somehowanti-Israel. Yet, lo and behold,it was from israelitself that a new decreecame forth. Inasmuchas menorah, in modernHebrew, can meanany light- even a traffic light-the Hanuka lamp was hereafterto be called by all right- thinking Jewsa...hanukiah (or khanukeeya,if you want to be gutturally trans- 'literativeabout it). For fl€, both menorahand hanukiahevoke the huge, public-display monstrositiesthat the followersof Chabad(khabad, actually) insist on erecting alongsideChristmas trees on public property.as a meansof proving that Jewish fundamentalists,too, can disdainthe FirstAmendment. If it's alrightwith everyone concerned,I think I'11go backto callingit by the nameit had beforeit assimilated: a poshet(a simple)khanike lempl. End of digression

b) A Folk-Cultural Hanuka Observance The challengeis: how canSecularist and HumanisticJewscelebrate Hanuka in a meaningful,moving, enjoyableway without compromisingtheir integrity just to 'go along?'The questionis not any of these:How do they celebrateHanuka in Israel? What arethe traditionalways of celebratingHanuka? What aspectsof Hanukaam I, personally,most nostalgicabout? These may all be legitimatequestions, but they do not help us determinewhat aspedsof the traditionsassociated with Hanukacan be adoptedor adaptedto meet the needsof Secularand HumanisticJewish families, both in-marriedand inter-cultural. In additionto the centralrole of the Hanukalights, a Secularistand Humanistic Hanuka celebrationmust focus on the Maccabeeswithout attempting to depict them as simply the "heroic leadersof a people'suprising for freedom."It is important that we and our childrenknow that greatleaders-in storiedhistory no lessthan in the recent past-are no more than human, with all the frailtiesand weaknessesthat we recognizein ourselves.With that understanding,we can and should-must-honor the Maccabeesfor their roles as leadersof a trulv radical strugglefor national self-determinationin opposition to both the assimilationist and pietisticpaths that continueto contendfor loyaltyamong the Jewishpeople. The self-delusionof the Hellenistsin Jerusalemis still with us-the ideathat denial of our own identity, strippingoff our own cultural uniqueness,somehow brings us closerto others (who have their own identities,after all) or somehow hastensthe day when all humanity will be bereftof distinctiveidentities and that this is somehowA Good Thing. And still among us is the self-delusionof the Pietists-the conceptthat all wisdom, all knowledge,all virtue is assignedto the anointedof Gee-dash-Deeand that if the restof us would but follow blindly behind self-erectedghetto walls, shunning them and any of their non-kosherideas, then surelymoshiakh, the Messiah,will arrive,perhaps not in Brooklynbut certainlyon prime-timetelevision and the internet. One way to placethe Maccabeesat the centerof our Hanukaobservance is to tell their story, simply and honestly.Another way is to dedicatethe candlesto othersin history and in our own time, Jewsand non-Jews,who exemplifysome aspectof the Maccabeanspirit. The conceptneed not necessarilybe limited to individuals:ideas, too, are worthy of celebration-including the idea of cultural pluralismthat is discussedjust above.Most important is the thought processthat goesinto makingthe selectionof peopleor ideasto be honored.A discussionof the reasonsfor their selectionmakes an interestingwhile-the-candles-burn-down activity,even if it's not asengrossing as betting on the candle-that-lasts-the-longest. Candlededications, no matterhow intellectuallymeaningful, cannot truly be emotionallymoving. For that, we needto look to the sourcesthat religionhas exploitedso successfully:poetry and music. Secularand HumanisticHanuka observances,communal and familial,can be inordinatelyenriched by appropriate readings:Some brief, Somenot-so-brief, SOme funny, Somemoving, Someheart- rendin!, somesoul-lifting-but all expressingwhat we feel as well as think about the wh-ole,rounded, profbund meaning of Hanukain our past,distant and recent, in our presentand in our future,not overlookingwhat must be done and overcome if we are to have any future at all. We might-should-even try our hands at writing someof thesereadings. But whereto find the rest? W'irerewe find appropriatereadings for Hanukadepends on where we look; wherewe look dependsorlour outlookas to the fundamentalnature of Secularand HumanisticJewishness. SomeSecularists and Humanistslimit their searchto religiousrituals, customs, aggadot,sayings of the sages,etc., taking careto eliminate all direct referencesto the de1ty.Thdt step, they seem to believe, producescertifiabfy secularmaterial, appiopriately"kbshetized," in SherwinWine's phrase, by dutiful.adheranceto "the tfadition." No matter that the ethosof suchmaterial is unremittinglynon- or anti- humanistic(e.g., in attitudestoward women or non-Jews).Little concernthat this newly-secularizldwisdom comes no closerto moderntimes than the tenth century C.E.hnd doesnot reflectmore than a thousandyears of relevantand exceedingly rich Jewishexperience. It's easy.It's all laid out. lt's comfortinglyflmiliar. Howevet, it is not a useful contribution {o the developmentof celebrationsfor therest of us. In additionto the statedobjections to bowdlerizingmaterial from the religious tradition, thereis the considerationthat inherentin the act is the implicationthat Secularistsand Humanistscan only delete-that we have nothing new, usefuland creativeto contribute.That is a confessionthat all thoughtful SecularHumanistic Jewswill reject. We have much to contribute.Very little of our treasurehas been translatedinto English.Worse yet, very little of that treasureis known to its rightfui inheritors,the leadersand spokespeopleof SecularHumanistic Jewishness. It is for that reason-and not ftom motivesof maudlin nostalgia-that we must gain accessto the treasure-troveof the thousand-yeartradition known as Yiddish culture.That cultureis secularand humanisticto its very core,in its very marrow. Without it, we cannot hope to developcelebrations, observances and life-cycle eventsthat aremeaningful, moving and, aboveall, rootedin rich Jewishtradition. Without accessto fhe scoresof thousandsof poems...thevolumes full of pithy, profound and funny folk expressions...thehistorical, cultural, anthropological-and social insights of hundredsof thinkers, researchersand essayists...thehundreds upon hundreds upon hundredsof songscreated both by -a,ndfor the folk...the tFousandsof personalmemoirs that can keep an army of historical researchers goingon grantsfor decades...and,yes, whole librariesfull of novels,play-s and short Jtori6s...overflowingarchives of ihousandsof newspapersand periodicalsfrom every continent on earth-without accessto this treasuretrove we cannot createa meahingful,viable Secular and Humanisticexpression in Jewishlife. Evenif, somehow,we couldfigure out how to do so while bypassinga tradition that is truly our own, we would still be guilty of depriving the Jewishpeople as a whole of iti accessto our treasure-trove.For if we don't provideit, no onewill. All of which is emphaticallynot a call for the Secularand HumanisticJewish movementto becomeYiddishistic or evenYiddish-speaking. It is, rather,a call to exert the necessaryenergies required to gain accessto our cultural treasure-trove and to useit to the fulleslextent possible, lest we and al1our worksbecome sterile, unrooted and cut off from a past of richnessthat we can hardly imagine or hope to duplicate. In terms of the immediatequestion at hand-what to do while lighting and watching the Hanuka candles-l have no doubt that there are at least-thirty-six poemsa6out the makabeyer,the Maccabees,in twentieth-centuryYiddish iiterature. Somebrilliant, no doubt;some probably marginal, but thirty-six timesbetter than what we haveat the moment.(See Appendix.) And asfor music,we will nevermake Maoz Tzur, ("Rock of Ages")secular, nor ludas MaccabeusJewish, while secular humanisticYiddish songs abound. c) The Fun Part

The dreydl. No needto retell and debunkthe tortured attempts,in Sunday Schoolcoloring books, to link this medievalCentral European custom with events in the Middle Easta millenium earlier.The Yiddish dreydlis a spinning top, originally made of lead by schoolboys(kheyder yinglekh) who carvedtheir own woodenmolds. It wasused in a gamblinggame, played by childrenduring the time it took for the smallkhanike likht, Hanuka candles, to burn down. Rabbinictradition forbids using the lights for reading, so gambling-cards for adults, dreydl for children-was a festivepastime. The seculardreydl was "kosherized"by giving its lettersa pious meaning:Nes GodolHoyo Shom-a greatmiracle happened there. Actually,the lettersstand for gambling values.Next to eachof the Hebrewletters below is its name, its game valuein Yiddishand in English.Learn'em or lose!

gimel;gontz, gut Takeall X, nun;nrsht, Nothing (pass) J sheen;shtel, Pay the pot @ hey;holb, Take half the pot R

To startthe game,each player (any numbercan play)puts an equalnumber of tokens(traditionally, nuts or candies)into the "pot." Eachplayet, in turn, spinsthe dreydl,adding to or taking from the pot as determinedby the letter that faces upward when the dreydlfalls. In the eventof disputes,the decisionof the nearest adultshall be final. Or not. Very important: the plural of dreydlis not " dreydls"no matter what you may read or hear elsewhere.It is dreydlakh.Winners at the gamemay not keeptheir spoilsunless they repeatthree times: dreydlakh, dredlakh, dreydlakh.lt's a rule. khanike gelt or gifts. As Hanukacelebrates liberation, here is someliberating newsfor parentsand all adult relatives:there is no acceptedtradition-religious or secular-of giving eight gifts during Hanuka. The custom arosein recent decadesin North America,apparently as a desperateparental counter-measure to withstand the onslaughtof the televisedXmas frenzy. Hanuka gift-giving stemsfrom the EasternEuropean custom of presenting children with khanikegelt, coins, on the fifth night. None of the usual sources explainwhy that night wasselected, but we may surmisethat, being just beyond the mid-point of the festival,it held children'santicipation long enough to get them fully involved; postponingthe excitementany further would have risked frustration,disappointment and, ultimately, disaffection. Why give gifts at all on Hanuka?There can be no doubt that the custom was influencedby what washappening in late Decemberoutside the ghettowalls or in the countrysidesurrounding the Jewishshtetlakh in EasternEurope. Why coins? The truly Jewishanswer would be: why not coins?or: what else,if not coins?Toys were consideredfrivolity: children from the age of three or four had serious responsibilities-studyingfor boys, apprenticehousework for girls. New clothes weretraditionally made for peysakh,Passover. Which left gelt for khanike. Now, About That Hanuka Bush...

A wintertimegreeting card recently encountered shows a reindeerwith one of its antlersin the shapeof a Hanukamenora. Inside, the messagereads: "Happy Whatever."The card is probablya best sellerin its line, for it accuratelyreflects today'srelaxed attitude toward what wasonce considered a monumentalproblem. With interculturalfamilies proliferating year by yearand from one surveyto another,it is apparentthat Hanukaand Christmas(or Xmas,in somecases) will be celebratedtogether in many homes.Such celebrations need not leavethe children in thosehomes scarred for life by a fuzzyunderstanding of the differencesbetween the two holidays.It is possiblefor them to be uplifted,instead , by an atmosphereof family togethernessand warmth. As in so many other aspectsof child-rearing,the outcomedepends on the understandingand the skillsof the adultsinvolved. PreviousJewish generations looked on joint Hanuka-Christmascelebrations with horror or, at least,deep suspicion. Most often, the familiesthat engagedin such rites werethose in which both parentswere Jewish but who had accededto 10 their children's(or their own) desireto sharein the surroundingglitter. It was not the nativity of Jesusthat wasbeing observed,but the arrivalof SantaClaus with gaily-wrappedpresents under a tinselledtree. It was not Christmas,but Xmas.Its pagan (or secular,some argued) evergreen was not the symbol of an abandoned Jewish heritagebut of a "modern acceptanceof reality"-in short, the "Hanuka Bush," ruefully named to lessenfriction with grandparents.Nevertheless, the decoratedfir-whatever it wascalled-came to be seenas an emblematicdenial, or downplaying, at least,of one'sown Jewishidentity. (lronically, one rationalefor this developmentwas provided by the rab- binical traditionalistswho most deploredit. If Hanuka,as they insisted,was the celebrationof the Miracleof the Lig6ts,then it dovetailednicely with the twinkling lights of Xmasand its faintly-heardechoes of anothermiracle.) The needfor the protectivecover of the assimilationistHanuka Bush began to recedeas the BlackPride revolution produced a new legitimacyfor non-Anglo- Saxonethnic identity. For a complexof reasonsthat sociologistshave yet to unravel fully; by the late 1970s"being Jewish" in North Americawas far more acceptable than at any other time or placein recordedhistory. The Hanukamenora (or lemplor hanukiah)achieved unheard-of status, especially in thosemaior U.S.and Canadian cities and suburbsthat are centersof Jewishsettlement. Families that once might haveprided themselveson the perfectionof their ornamentedevergreens now vied as to who would have the most artistic,most original, commissioned,one-of-a- kind, hand-wrought,eight-branched and frequentlyelectrified candelabrum that couldunder no circumstancesever be mistakenf.or a khanikelempl.

The Inter-cultural Hanuka Bush

In an entirely differentcategory are the interculturalfamilies that seekto preservethe best of the heritagesbrought by eachpartner to the marriageand to their children.The mostsuccessful of theseobservances mark the winter solstice,in the SecularHumanistic tradition, with a selectionof the symbolsthat the folk- culturesof the family's joint heritageshave developedover the last two millenia. An addeddimension of this approachcombines the JewishFestival of Freedomwith the socialgospel and liberationtheology of progressiveChristianity. The immediate,shopworn objection is: "won't that confusethe children?"If that argumentwere ever valid, it certainlyhas lessweight now, as thoseself-same children confidently guide their parents' hesitatingsteps onto the information superhighway,treading tightly among Gophers,Archies, Veronicas, WWWs and who-knows-whatall.Children who "chat" with NASAfrom their kindergaften classroomsdon't have too much trouble understandingthat one part of their heritageis reflectedin the lights of Hanuka and another part-different, but no betternor worse-shinesin the lights of the Christmastree. Nor are suchchildren "confused"by the idea that their family honors the separatetraditions of both fatherand mother-just asit celebratesthe separatebirthdays of each. Recognitionof that reality seemspreferable to an earlier,seemingly en- lightened attempt to "protect the children from confusion" by encouraging(in somecases, insisting upon) the exclusiveadoption of one parent'scultural identity. In fact, radicalsin pastgenerations had it a1ldown in a pat formula: children in multicultural families would be raisedin the more oppressedculture, lest they adopt the more dominant heritageand look down upon the parent with the less- favoredbackground. That theseapproaches are frought with their own dangersis clearlystated by a memberof an interculturalfamily from whom I have leameda greatdeal aboui this issue: "l haveseen...(amorg)...many members of my own and succeedinggener- ations,"she writes, "...that the child becomesconfused because s/he is beingtold in a not-so-subtleway that only part of him/herself is good and acceptable... (while)...theother part is bad and inferior.Such people have fascinating mid-life crises,let me tellyou..." There is, ioo, the attempt by some familiesto seekrefuge ft-o- possible 1_t confusionand alienationby divestingboth Hanukaand Christmasof any sig_nifi- cant content."lt'S just a time to be joyful and happy,"goes the argument."lsn't that enough?"The irony at work here,of course,is that children end up with only the comriercial orgy bf Xmas, thereby being abandonedto...confusion and alienation.

Joint observancesof Christmasand Hanukain interculturalfamilies-and in communitysettings-can be wholesomeand warm when basedupon: .an understandingof both holidays'common roots in the human observanceof the wintef solsticeand the variedways in which different culturesadapted those primitive rites; .honbring the sharedhumanitarian goals articulated by the minority voiceswithin both Jewishand non-Jewishtraditions; .celebrationof family love and onenessas the major focus...not necessarilyto the exclusionbf gift-exchangesbut certainlyahead of them in emphasisand attention. Are such celebrationseasy to devise?According to some intercultural familiesI've known, the effort requiredis not simplebut it is intellectuallyand emotionallystimulating. And it getseasier each year...

Finally-tatkes. Actually, the early Ashkenazitradition called for cheese pancakes(Iatkes) for reasonsthat arelost in the mistsof folk culture.The ostensible ilanuka connectionwas the tale in the ApocryphalBook of Judith of how that heroinelured the enemygeneral Holofernes with saltycheese, causing him to drink so much wine that he fell into a stupor,whereupon Judith beheadedhim. No matter what one may think of the story (Renaissanceartists loved it), the cheese connection is tenu6us,at best. As for potatoes,there cannot possiblybe a connection with the Maccabeesor with anything Middle Eastern:these tubers originated-Then in SouthAmerica. why potato latkes?Mainly, becausethey tastegood. Besides,potatoes wereamong the few foodsavailable in EasternEurope in the deadof winter because they could-bestored. And, sinceboiled potatoeswere daily fare,potato pudding ancipotato latkes were ways of providingfestive variation. Both becamePa{- of -the tradilionalHanuka menu, along with roastgoose, for thosefew who could affordit. Sephardicculture, which developedin moretemperate climates where potatoes- were not significant,produced another Hanuka delicacy,sufganiyof, frled doughnuts.The attempt to link them with latkesbecause both arefried barelyholds water,let aloneoil. Is therea Secularistand Humanisticslant on potatolatkes? Two, actually.First, in our spirit of full disclosure,iet it be known that latkemeans, literally, "little patch." Examinethe raggededges of thin, deep-friedlatkes to see the obvious derivation.More important, however,is our conviction that latke-makingis not an exclusivelyfeminine undertaking, but that only latkesmade with the participation of male f-amilymembers and friends-in grating or food processing,frying or baking and certainlyin cleanup-are truly, secularly,humanistically kosher. And one last word: which is the traditional accompanimentIo latkes,sour creamor applesauce?We raisethis questionpartly becauseit is often askedand, paftly,because it allowsus to underlinethe important point that hasbeen alluded to fr6quently-but not explicitly-in this manuscript.There is not iust one Jewish tradition, thereare many. When peopletalk about"The Tradition" they areusualiy referringto the traditionsof RabbinicJudaism with the implicationthat rejectionof that paiticularbody of beliefsand practicesimplies rejection of Jewishidentity. That is nonsense.Rabbinic Judaism is no more "authentic"than Zionism,which it opposedfor decades,or SecularHumanistic Jewishness, which it still opposes. So it is with sour Greamand applesauce.Lithuanian Jews, litvakes, prefer sour cream(even salt!) on their latkes.Jews from Galicia,galitzyaner, opt for applesauce (and/or sugar!).In the polyglot New World, where these disparatestrains of t'z Jewishnessmet and even(gasp!) intermarried, a new traditionarose: Iatkes with both applesauceand sourcream! One Hanuka(or khanike).One dish of latkes.A plateof sufganiyotMany, many, differenttraditions.

Gut yontif! Khag sameyakh!Happy holiday!

Sourcescited: Caster,Theodor H., Festivalsof theJewish Year, WilliamSloan Associates, New York, 1964.

Schauss,Hayyim, The lewish Festivols, SchockenBooks, New York, 1938,1 988.

Waskow,Arthur, Seosons of Our !oy, BantamBooks, New York, 1982.

Wine,Sherwin T., Judaism Beyond Cod, Society for HumanisticJudaism, Farmington Hills, Ml, 1985.

Portionsof this manuscriptappeared in typescriptform, Honukoh,A Holidoy Hondbook,1967, etc., Sholem Educational Institute, and in HumonisticJudaism, Spring, 1988.Published in bookletform,24pp. $3.00

All RightsReserved APPENDIX i3 Thefollowing DEDICATION OF THE HANUKA CANDLES has been used for many yearsin secularJewish schools, including the SholemEducational Institute, Los Angeles, whichthe authorhas served as Principaland EducationalDirector. The originalYiddish and Englishtranslation (adapted by the presentauthor) are by Martin Birnbaum, Yiddishpoet and teacher.

Shammes: Recallingour ancient du zayder ershter - Struggletonight - fsindes un vider; You be the first dosondenk likht To kindle the light. far heldishebreeder.

Candle1: To the Maccabees, dosershte likht To their gloriousfight; mit shtoltstsind ikh on To the heroesof old tsudee heldn fun folk, I kindle this light. tsuder makabeyisher fon. Shammes: (Repeateach time: du zayder... tsveyter You be the second... driter...ferter...finfrer... third...etc." zekster...zibeter...akhter

Candle2: For the right to be different far dosrekht tsu zayn And to speakwithout fear- zikh To the spirit of freedom veenor ikh aleynken; This candleburns clear. far frayhayt un glaykh-hayt o,likhtele,bren.

Candle3: I light this candle mit shtoltsun mit freyd With love in my heart tsindikh on ot-demflam; For my people'sculture far dershprakh un kultur Our writers, our art. fun maynyidishn shtam. Candle4: To all the children, far alekinder Wherever they live- umetumaf der velt; To my friends in all lands far zeyerfrayntshafr This candle I give. zol doslikht zawt tsehelt.

Candle5: I light the fifth candle far mayneygn land On this Hanukanight unterhimlishe shtem; For the land of my birth: veefrayhayt tseloykhtn May its freedomstay bright. zol doslikhtele vem.

Candle6: And now, to Israel far medinasyisroyl And toJews everywhere: un vu eslebn nor yeedn: May peacebe their lot zul oyfgeyndos likhtl And freedom, their share. far glik un far freedn. Candle7: To all those who live tsuyedn vos arbet, By the work of their hands tsummentshn fun mee, This light to the toilers zol oyfgeyndos likht Of all the world's lands. in shtraliknglee.

Candle8: To joy everywhere, fam mentshfun dervelt, To justice and right, far demfrayen gedank; To life and to peace far lebnun sholem This candle burns bright. o, likhtl, brenlang