Hannukah 5784
<p>t’s the fourth night of Hannukah. Hannukah. The festival of lights. Not, by any means, the most important or sacred of Jewish holidays, but one which has more meaning than it is usually given. It has grown in perceived importance with its proximity to Christmas and winter holidays, but it is more than an excuse to get presents when those around us are getting theirs. It is, like many Jewish holidays, a celebration of our continued existence as a Jewish people. They tried to kill us, we survived, let’s celebrate. The story of Hannukah is not only a story of survival, but a story of fighting back against a repressive empire. In 164 BCE, guerrilla fighters, led by Judah Maccabee, pushed back against the Seleucid Empire which controlled Judea at the time. They were fighting back against a campaign of assimilation, <strong>land confiscation</strong>, and <strong>murder</strong>.[1] The familiarity should make you start to feel sick. The Maccabees would not stand for such treatment in their home and fought back. Their rebellion was characterised by guerrilla-style skirmishes against Seleucid forces and by the killing of Hellenised Jews, whom they saw as betraying their community through complicity with the tyrant.[2] They rescued a temple which had been overrun by the forces of tyrant overlords, a feat which was blessed by the famous miracle of the oil lasting eight days.</p>
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