Hanukah in a post-9/11 world

[rhu]

Back in college, I thought I was tremendously clever one year when I sent out hand-calligraphed cards that read: "May the holiday season fill your soul with the spirit of bloody guerrilla warfare against the forces of religious homogenization."

My goal was to emphasize the dual irony that, while Chanukah celebrates a military victory against those who would strip us of our Jewishness, many people lump it in with the Christmas message of "Peace on Earth".

I don't think we can joke about that irony any more. The events of the past decade have reminded us of how easy it is for people to delude themselves into thinking that God wants them to kill.

The Chanukah narrative is different, of course, in that the Hasmoneans fought to repel an invading army. Church and state were one, and the Selucids' defilement of the Temple and banning of Jewish practice was as much a political power play as a violation of conscience. On the other side, the Maccabees were not fighting for religious freedom as a principle, they were fighting for their religious and national identity to be restored as the established faith. When they regained power, idolatry was once again a crime in Israel. The rebellion began, after all, with Matityahu the priest killing not a Selucid soldier, but a fellow Jew who was sacrificing a pig on the altar at the Selucid soldier's command.

Just as most American colonists in the 1770s really didn't care about the British injustices (at first), and even many of those who did weren't interested in a war to throw off the British yoke, most Jews of the second century BCE were happy to Hellenize because of the opportunities for economic and social advancement that it offered. Even those who opposed it were disinclined to a militant uprising. What, aside from a belief that it was God's will, gave Matityahu and his sons the justification for starting a rebellion? It certainly wasn't popular support; not at first, anyway.

I often think of that anonymous Jew. If I were in that situation, where a soldier would kill me unless I commit one of the "big three" sins (which one is not supposed to transgress even on pain of death), would I have the courage of my convictions to allow myself to be killed? I don't think I could. What does that say about me? (And in the end, that poor fellow would have died either way.)

And I think about Matityahu. If I can't bring myself to face my own death in the name of what I believe, I certainly couldn't kill another human being for that. Yet Matityahu could, and did, and the tradition lauds him for it.

It's not the multi-year war against the Selucid army that gives me pause, it's the act that started it. Like Pinchas, Matityahu was "jealous for the Lord" and took vigilante justice. Pinchas was rewarded by God with a "brit shalom", a covenant of peace --- but his was a "shalom" written with a broken vav, a peace that is somehow deficient. Matityahu didn't even get the reward of peace; he did not survive the rebellion, and several of his sons were killed.

In our day, can we look upon Matityahu as a hero? That troubles me. I believe in God; I believe that Judaism is true; yet I cannot reconcile myself to the idea that Matityahu's action was defensible. How many steps is it between stabbing that anonymous Jew to stop him from defiling a bamah altar, and flying an airplane into the World Trade Center? More than one, but perhaps not too many more.

And so we walk a tightrope. On the one hand, Chanukah is essentially about maintaining our distinct religious identity, and not being "like everyone else" --- not by force, and not by persuasion. But there are dangers in letting that strong religious identity turn into such certainty in our faith that we would sacrifice others for it.

Comments

[sethg]

The rebellion began, after all, with Matityahu the priest killing not a Selucid soldier, but a fellow Jew who was sacrificing a pig on the altar at the Selucid soldier's command.

Recommended reading: Violent Politics: A History of Insurgency, Terrorism, and Guerrilla War, from the American Revolution to Iraq, by William R. Polk. One of Polk's observations is that it's S.O.P. for insurgents to use terrorism to intimidate their fellow-natives to discourage them from collaborating with the occupiers. Hence the tar-and-feather-ing of Tories in America.

[jadelennox]

Even more recently than that. When I was growing up, I learned that the Haganah were heroic freemdom fighters, and the Irgun were ... icky, but necessary. But when I put their actions in modern context, they don't read so heroic to me anymore.

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

Indeed. Not to mention the Stern Gang.

'Sis schwer zu sein a Yid.

[hatam-soferet.livejournal.com]

I sent out cards one year that said "Praise ye the god of gold"... :)

[sethg]

I once came across an interview with an Israeli historian who remarked, "There's no such thing as a vegetarian war of national liberation."

Of course, the comfort one can feel saying that may depend on exactly which nation's liberation you have in mind. :-/

[autotruezone.livejournal.com]

re. conflation of hanuka & xmas, you should read Lemony Snicket's The Latke That Couldn't Stop Screaming.

[lucretia-borgia.livejournal.com]

Eh, it wasn't quite as good as I had been led to believe.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

I remember those cards! :-)

[shimshonit.livejournal.com]

Deep thoughts. One distinction I try to use in these cases is that of whether the fighters are fighting to protect their own way of life, or fighting to destroy someone else's and impose their own in its place. Biblically speaking, avodah zara practiced in Israel leads to horrible things for the nation (e.g. destruction of First Temple). On the other hand, things really go to the dogs when Jews see each other as the enemy and allow in-fighting to take over. Yahadut should be something everyone embraces, not has forced on them. Not sure what the answer is.

It was the Haganah that sank the ship Altalena, on which the Irgun was importing arms for the War of Independence, and Haganah soldiers who shot their fellow Jews swimming for their lives from the burning wreck. Politics, politics. Interesting, too, that Begin (Irgun grad) and Shamir (former Lechi, aka Stern Gang) were more honest and conscientious PMs than Rabin (Haganah).

I've heard it said that civil disobedience only works when the oppressor has some sympathy for the oppressees. Doesn't seem to have been the case in Mandatory Palestine. Given that, and the shocking perfidy of the British at that time, I'm not sure what alternative the Jews had other than violence to achieve their ends.

[autotruezone.livejournal.com]

Really? I laughed out loud at "Let me tell you a funny story about pagan rituals". I found it refreshing after a steady diet of "let's all be ecumenical about our December holidays".

[cellio]

Thank you for posting this. I'm uncomfortable with both Pinchas and Matityahu for just this reason -- vigilantes are dangerous, scary folks.

[gingicat]

I cannot tell you how happy I am that this post was written by someone Orthodox.

On the one hand, Chanukah is essentially about maintaining our distinct religious identity, and not being "like everyone else" --- not by force, and not by persuasion. But there are dangers in letting that strong religious identity turn into such certainty in our faith that we would sacrifice others for it.

Yes, yes, and again, YES.

Shabbat shalom!

sigh

[esseragaroth.blogspot.com (from livejournal.com)]

B"H

When will you people {moderns, epikoursim, and other western culture indoctrinees} ever get it?

The Torah is not politically correct. Just because something doesn't jive with your adopted western {Read: "Edomite/Roman"} culture or your "feelings" does not make it incompatible with Torah. In fact, the opposite is often true these days.

I will compliment you on one thing though. You didn't hide the fact of what the Maccabees did. They killed Jews.

I don't agree with your point of view in the least. But at least you bother to provide the reasons behind your opinion.

I wish my pseudo right-wing acquaintances would have guts enough to do that.