Reflection On Chanukah (audio)

Reflections on the most misunderstood Jewish festival. A great chag to be sure, but one which most Jews have tragically distorted. Meet the real Maccabees.


MP3 File

A Pop Quiz For The RCA

Disclaimer: The following post should not be taken as an attack against individual rabbis within the RCA. My problem is with the organization itself, which purports to represent  a segment of the "orthodox Rabbinate", and then releases a statement that is contrary to Halachah. A rabbinical organization has an obligation to formulate a statement from a Torah framework, without resorting to the kind of politically correct nonsense that one expects to hear from the Anti-Defamation League. Naturally, I have zero confidence in the RCA, which leads me to my next point. If there are individual rabbis within the RCA who disagree with the official position, I believe they have an obligation to publicly state their opposition and then rescind their membership. In this manner, they will be able to distance themselves from an egregious desecration of The Almighty's name. As a general rule, in the interest of maintaining respect for the Torah, one should accord respect to the individual rabbis within the RCA (Most of them anyway. Some have gone off the deep end.), despite the collective chillul Hashem of the organization's statement, which cannot go unanswered. Yahadut maintains that whenever there is a desecration of G-d's name, one cannot remain silent.


As Ricky Ricardo would say, the RCA has some "splainin to do." I'm still waiting for a comprehensive Halachic statement from the RCA which addresses the issue of renting and selling property to non-Jews in the land of Israel. After all, they were the ones who interfered when several Tzfat Rabbis stated the Halachic prohibition of selling or renting property to Arabs  in Israel. According to the RCA, the issue is more "complex", yet in their entire statement they neglected to mention even one Torah source. Somehow, I don't think that Rav Soloveitchik (of blessed memory) would have authored such a statement (whatever his position would have been). So much for their commitment to "Halachic Man." So I'm waiting for something more substantial from the RCA. Something with meat in it. Perhaps there are sources that the Tzfat Rabbis are unaware of. I want to see these sources. Don't lecture us, without giving us a proper shiur. 

No. There were no Torah sources, but there were a lot of tired cliches from the PC obsessed RCA. Instead of Halachah, we were lectured on the need to show "special sensitivity to societal realities, widely-held ethical principles, and historical injustices." The RCA noted that, " it is wrong and unacceptable to advocate blanket exclusionary policies directed against minorities of other faiths or ethnic groups. Of all people, Jews should know that such practices are beyond the pale, having ourselves suffered from them in the past." Very moving of course, but what about the Halachah? 

I'm not finished with the RCA. I've got a pop quiz for them. Open book, in fact. It shouldn't be difficult for anyone who underwent the rigors of semicha (rabbinical ordination). The questions may seem a bit disjointed, but I assure you they were chosen with great deliberation. I wrote them because I am concerned with the theoretical mindset behind this recent RCA statement. The purpose of the quiz is to get a sense where they are coming from. Obviously, the "7 Nations" are not around anymore (see question 1) but a response to the question will tell us a lot about the hashkafah of the individual members. To ascertain if they are more modern than orthodox. To gauge their perception of yahadut. (I'm considering emailing this quiz to the RCA, with a request to take my test. I don't expect that any of them will oblige me. Of course, my readers can also print up this post and hand it to their local RCA affiliated Rabbi. With respect of course. Always with respect.) 

The Jewish Fist Pop Quiz: Answer the questions as detailed as possible, citing any and all classical Torah sources that are available. Feel free to bring in the Acharonim.

1. What was the Halachic mandate regarding the "7 Nations", when the Jews first entered Israel? 
2. What were the Jews required to do with the rampant idolatry (temples, altars) ?
3. What is a ger toshav? What are the criteria for becoming a ger toshav?
4. What is the Halachah regarding selling or renting property to non-Jews in Israel? (What did you expect, that I wouldn't ask this?)
5. What is Judaism's classical approach to individuals who want to convert Jews to another faith? 
6. May Jews date or marry non-Jews? 
7. What is a milchemet mitzvah? How does the Halachah instruct us to treat the enemy, during a milchemet mitzvah?
8. In your opinion, was Matityahu, the Hasmonean priest, correct in slaughtering the idolatrous Jew in Modiin? If yes, what halachic justification can be cited for killing a man without following the standard halachic procedure of justice?
9. The Torah speaks of an ongoing war "from generation to generation" against the nation of Amalek, including an eventual final showdown where Amalek is obliterated. How do you rationalize the original mandate (as well as any implications for the future) which calls for collective annihilation against seemingly innocent members of society? In your understanding of the issue, will the future war with Amalek require us to slaughter men, woman, and children? 
10. Is Israel's current democracy consistent with the Halachah? Theoretically, would it be proper for an Arab to become Prime Minister if Israeli demographics were to change? What should a religious Jew do when the secular state of Israel engages in actions that contradict or violate the Torah? May one evict Jews and tear down Jewish homes?

Oh, and one last thing, before I forget. I expect Torah answers to these Torah questions.

The Authentic Chanukah

If the Maccabees were around today, Netanyahu would stand up on national television and declare them to be public enemy #1. Forget about Hamas, Hezbollah,  Syria, or even Iran for that matter. Certainly not Fatah. Netanyahu and Ehud Barak would declare total war and send an army of Yassamnikim capos and border police to destroy them. No tactic would be considered too dirty in the war against the Maccabees. The Shabak would have an entire division devoted to infiltrating the movement. 


The leftists would scream hysterically for Maccabee blood, and applaud the most brutal crackdowns. The media and academia would soak the minds of the masses in rabid anti-Maccabee propaganda. Across th world secular Jewish organizations and their self-appointed leaders would revile the Maccabees. The Anti- Defamation League would jump into the fray and volunteer their assistance to various U.S. and Israeli government agencies, in the war against the Maccabees.


Mainstream religious Jewish organizations would condemn them. Respected Rabbis would declare that their actions were a chillul Hashem and contrary to Halachah. Respectable "modern-orthodoxy" would unanimously blacklist them. Representatives of the Maccabee movement would be banned from speaking in most religious institutions. In Israel, the state worshiping mamlachtim would similarly condemn them with the harshest terminology.The chareidim would have no part of them. "This is the way of the goyim", they would declare. "Draft deferments and child allowances are the only to defeat the chilonim." 


Only a small group of Jews would openly join the Maccabees. But in private, a great many more would sympathize with them. Some things never change. 


Why do I write these things? Isn't Chanukah universally enjoyed by Jews across the religious divide? It is. But Jews celebrate a false Chanukah that has nothing in common with the historical reality. Here's a reminder to those who haven't absorbed the lesson of Chanukah. Chanukah isn't a universal "festival of lights" for Jews to share with the gentile world. The Maccabees weren't multiculturalists fighting for religious freedom. They were Jewish zealots who waged a brutal war against the Greek swine who tried to destroy the Jewish soul.


And it wasn't just the Greeks. Let's be honest for a moment. The Maccabees fought violently against Jewish hellenists, who were trying to contaminate the Torah. When Matityahu saw a Jew publicly defiling The Almighty's name in the town of Modiin, he didn't respect the man's ability "to worship as he saw fit." He slaughtered the gentilized Jew with his sword and started a revolutionary inferno. And Yahadut lionizes him and his sons for sanctifying the Almighty's name and saving Judaism from extinction. Of course history is for the victors. So we celebrate Chanukah because Judaism survived. The irony is that Hellenists revised history, and Chanukah is considered parve today.


Is Chanukah for you?

• If you support the concept of interfaith-dialogue with x-tians and taking money from evangelicals, then Chanukah really isn't the chag for you.

•  If you proudly declare that Israel grants equal rights to its citizens and allows all faiths to worship, you should boycott Chanukah. Were he alive, Matityahu would burn down every mosque, church, and Bahai temple that defiles the Holy Land. Forget about spitting at "messianic Jews". He would've slaughtered them. If the image of burning mosques and churches upsets you, then yours is a different Chanukah than the one that was originally celebrated by the Maccabees. 

• If you support a woman's right to abort a fully formed fetus on the altar of free choice, you're a Hellenist, not a Maccabee. Feminists should protest Chanukah.  

• If you believe that homosexuals have the right to prance through the streets of Jerusalem, Chanukah is not your cup of tea. The rampant homosexuality of the Greeks was another virus that the Maccabees warred against. The sanctity of the Jewish family and the holy expression of permitted sexuality is central to Jewish thinking. Be honest about Chanukah instead of perverting it.

Chanukah symbolizes Judaism's complete rejection of the profane influences of the world. It represents the commitment to use the sword in defense of the Jewish body and soul.  This is the Chanukah that leftists want to destroy. Any proud, self-respecting, knowledgeable Jew basks in this reality. Only one who has been contaminated by 2000+ years of exile chooses to deny this, distort it, or reject it.


The legacy of the true Maccabees lives on. And the day will come when Jews embrace it and incorporate the Maccabee model as the solution to destroying the Arab enemy and sanctifying the State of Israel. In the meantime, continue to learn Torah and perform mitzvot. But take care of  your Jewish body. Strengthen it, so that you can be a good Jew. Don't worship it. Sanctify it for Kiddush Hashem. Forge it with iron and stone. Take a walk with an 80 pound sandbag on your back. Practice stick fighting, sword fighting, whatever your game. Go to the range and become a crack shot that would make Matityahu proud. One day soon, a new generation of Maccabees will arise.Good Jews will want to join them. Prepare yourself now.