Applying the past toward the future

Generally, when we tell the story of Hanukkah, we recall the Maccabees’ valiant struggle against external enemies. In particular, we remember their great victory over the evil King Antiochus and the Syrian-Greeks. But the truth is that the Hasmonean rebellion was preceded by a struggle of another kind: a struggle within the Jewish community.

Before the Greeks set out to Hellenize the Jews by fiat and force, they tried to Hellenize them through persuasion. They approached the weak-willed, the opportunists, and the ambitious, and appointed them as high priests, officers, judges, and bailiffs. In this way, they created a circle of Jews who owed their allegiance to the Greek authorities, and who were therefore ready to propagandize for them.

These appointees went out among their Jewish brethren presenting Hellenism as the desirable modern alternative to Judaism. And indeed, some fell prey to their enticements. There were Jews who attended Greek Games, wrestled naked in the Greek gymnasia, abandoned the dietary laws, underwent plastic surgery to reverse their circumcisions, and paid tribute to the Olympian gods.

But most Jews met this internal challenge by turning to the Torah and plumbing the depths of their own religious heritage. They discovered that Judaism was neither primitive nor parochial; that in truth, Judaism contained more insight and wisdom than its contemporary pagan rival. Thus, they rose to the occasion and proved victorious over the adversary within, just as they later vanquished the adversary without.

As in Maccabean times, the Jews of today must stand up to the blandishments of secular society which often exalt transitory pleasure over commitment, impulse over discipline. We must turn to the timeless sources of our heritage in order to chart the course for a vigorous future; a future which must be built on the firm foundation of our glorious past.

Rabbi Ginsburg is the spiritual leader of Congregation Sons of Israel in Woodmere.