Back to Question of the Week Back to Archives Q: The Taliban: A group of bearded rural religious fanatics who helped to defeat a superior armed occupier from the North who were opposed to their religion. Very patriarchal (we don't know the names of any of their women). Against Western culture. Poorly educated in all matters not related to religion but very dedicated to their religion. Very good warriors. Fought against even their own people who were not as strict in their religious practices The Maccabees. Exactly the same. Therefore the question: Shouldn't reform Jews stop celebrating Chanukah and look for another holiday to celebrate in December? Perhaps a holiday more focused on a poor, oppressed homeless woman and her partner who had difficulty finding a place to give birth. Dave
		A: The ancient rabbis had almost exactly your same question. They were no fans of the Hasmoneans, the dynasty that was established by the maccabees. The rabbis thought they were usurpers (they weren't descended from David), ignoramuses, and most ironically, helenizers. And they were right. The rabbis, at least those who lived after the failure of the Bar Kochva rebellion in the 135 C.E., also were very hesitant about promoting the kind of guerilla and civil warfare that the maccabees practiced. On the other hand, they had inherited the tradition of this holiday. Since the holiday wasn't biblical, one of their options was to try to get rid of it. In fact, they did get rid of all the other holidays that had been instituted by the maccabees and their descendents. But they opted for a different response in the case of Hannukah: they changed its meaning. Here's what the Talmud says: What's Hanukkah? What our rabbis taught: On the 25th of Kislev, there begin eight days of Hanukkah, on which you don't mourn or fast. When the Greeks entered the sanctuary, they defiled all the [olive] oil in the sanctuary. And when the Hasmonean dynasty overwhelmed them and vanquished them, they searched and found only one flask of oil which retained the seal of the high priest, and it contained only enough [oil] to light for one day. A miracle was performed with it, and they lit with it for eight days. The next year, they ordained that they be holidays of praise and thanksgiving. (Bavli Shabbat 21b) This is the first reference that we have to the famous story of the jar of oil. Several centuries after the events themselves. The rabbis kept the holiday and changed its meaning. Hanukkah (which wasn't always called Hanukkah) went from being a celebration of military victory and a celebration of the dedication of the Temple to a celebration of God's miraculous provision of light in the dark days of winter. They almost completely spiritualized the holiday. Of course that wasn't the first time or the last time that the symbols of a holiday were re-interpreted to fit the needs and ideas of the age. With the coming of Zionism in the past century, and the establishment of the State of Israel, many Jews again saw in Hanukkah a celebration of Jewish political independence and the military victory of the "few against the many." As for the holiday that celebrates a "poor, oppressed, homeless woman," our Christian neighbours seem to be changing the meaning of that holiday into a celebration of the centrality of material possessions. And we seem to be having a hard time not adopting the same meaning for our holiday. Every generation of Jews inherits a rich and beautiful set of rituals and traditions. I think Hanukkah can still be one of them. But each generation of Jews also has the responsibility to be invest the rituals with its own meaning. written by Rabbi Jeremy Schwartz
		last update: August 1999 Got a question for Reb on the Web? Visit our Archived Questions SHOOT*! ("SHOOT" is the Hebrew acronym for SHe'elot OOTeshuvot (Questions and Answers), the centuries-old dialogue between Jews and their rabbis.)

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