We are all Maccabees
By Rabbi Stanley Helinski, Esq. (Exclusive for Shalom Magazine www.ShalomMA.com)
Given the recent events in the Middle East, Chanukah comes at a time in which antisemitism in America has quadrupled, figuratively driving the Jewish population back into hiding as has occurred in so many generations of our history. Chanukah - a holiday that exists because Torah study had been outlawed by the Greeks - holds extra significance in our modern world. The reasons that the Jewish population is made to feel isolated differ between BCE times and the present times, but the decision to isolate is based on the same issue: fear of retribution. The question, which is left to the reader, is whether the modern day hiding and the historic hiding around the time of the Chanukah miracle are comparable. Are we in the same place we were thousands of years ago?
In the ancient times of the Maccabees, the miracle arose because the Jewish people insisted on keeping the Torah and on continuing to practice the Jewish religion that the Greek empire sought to eradicate. Many families faced the possibility of death for breaking a law specifically put in place to prevent Jewish worship as well as to consolidate a pantheon as the foreign power saw fit. What if those Jews so long ago had forfeited their traditions for fear of being murdered? The practice of Judaism, and more specifically the adherence to a Jewish identity (the very concept that the Greeks sought to quash), was more important to that Jewish population than the threat to their lives. Their decision was validated when one such Jewish tradition - that of the lighting of the menorah - was made possible by the help given them by the very God they worshiped. Were it not for their faith, the festival of Chanukah would never exist.
Today, the Jewish population is once again being targeted. Most believe that one has a right to defend themselves in the face of open and violent aggression, so why is Israel targeted for fighting back? Well, why would the Greek government need to control the faith of others? The answer is power and control. Jewish people in America have little to do with the conflict in the Middle East. They hear it on the news like everyone else. Some have friends or family in Israel who have been horribly affected by October 7. Why then has antisemitism increased more than fourfold since that date? Surely, American Jewish people have nothing to do with Israel’s response in Gaza. The answer may be found in the circumstances in this country that are similar to those during the Greek reign: swastikas in high school bathrooms and far right terrorists spewing Jew hate. Just as with the Greeks, they have found an opportunity to silence the Jewish population and to send us back into hiding.
I suggest that we, the Jewish population in the United States, follow the Maccabees’ lead: light those candles in a window of your house and let the world know that we will not go into hiding. Increase your Torah study and spread Judaism among those who are not practicing. This year is again our time - as it has been in so many past generations. We are again under attack. It is time to come out of hiding and to have faith that HaShem will be there for us as He has always been in the past. Happy Chanukah and keep the faith. We will pull through this too, B”H (with G-d's help).
Rabbi Stanley Helinski, Esq. is a family law attorney in Massachusetts who practices in most courts of the Commonwealth and also practices law in Framingham.
