Happy Chanukah. What is Chanukah?

 

I’ve heard different versions of the Chanukah story, and was dismayed yesterday to read a cynical version in a pop magazine story about God and religion. A young man who admitted to not practicing or much believing in his parents’ Jewish faith claimed it was created as a modern alternative to Christmas to get gifts and have a celebration, using a Scriptural story as its excuse.

What is the story, the real story of Chanukah? Paul Greenberg recounts a sort of history of different versions of the Chanukah story, and you have to get through all the “Well, not exactly”s to get to a clearer idea of why it’s connected to Judas Maccabeus and the ancient Temple.

After all, the holiday isn’t named for any particular battle or campaign or hero. It isn’t the Feast of the Maccabees, who led the revolt. Therefore the real theme of Chanukah is the rededication of the Temple.

Well, not exactly.

Okay, so there was one more to get through…

The essential ritual of the holiday has become the blessing over the Chanukah lights. A Talmudic story tells how the liberators of the Temple found only enough consecrated oil to burn for one day, but it lasted for eight – enough time to prepare a new supply. We’re really celebrating the miracle of the lights.

In the glow of the candles, the heroic feats of the Maccabees have become transmuted into acts of divine intervention. The blessing over the candles recited each night of the holiday goes: “Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who wrought miracles for our fathers in days of old.” Miracles, not victories.

This is a very good explanation.

The central metaphor of all religious belief – revealing light – reduces all the imperial intrigue and internecine warfare of those tumultuous times to mere details. And that may be the greatest miracle of Chanukah: the transformation of the oldest and darkest of human activities, war, into a feast of illumination…

History may say a good deal more about the time in which it is written than the time it describes. The message of Chanukah changes from age to age because the past we choose to remember is the truest reflection of any present. When Chanukah is celebrated with pride, a fall is sure to come. When it inspires humility, hope is kindled.

The Books of Maccabees has always inspired me. Readings from those books have come in the liturgical cycle at Mass lately, and I always appreciate hearing them again. Like when Judas and his army purified the sanctuary and rededicated it. The ceremony was filled with ritual and reverence. They “ornamented the facade of the temple” and “repaired the gates and the priests’ chambers”. They made beautiful music to celebrate the consecration of the altar of sacrifice. This is a good historical reminder of what has never changed to this day….the sanctity of the altar and the reverence due it, in design and liturgical worship.

The First Book of Maccabees says that during the consecration of the altar: “All the people prostrated themselves and adored and praised Heaven, who had given them success.” Greenberg makes the point in his explanation of Chanukah that at the center of this celebration is this recognition not only victory, but from whence it came.

If there is one, unchanging message associated with this minor holiday magnified by time, it can be found in the unchanging portion of the Prophets designated to be read for the sabbath of Chanukah. It is Zechariah 4:1-7, with its penultimate verse: Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts.

That endures time and unites faiths.