Chanukkah 2023 Modern Day Maccabees

The world is in chaos. The battle between the forces of good and evil are raging in a war that began with creation and has been since triggered by the October 7th massacre. For every heartwarming social media post, there are dozens to counteract it; hordes of content pieces that call for genocide of Jews around the world. Others validate and support the October 7th massacres, ignorant celebrities, public figures, humanitarian groups who call for a cease-fire, and most shamefully from factions of Jewish groups, such as “Jewish voices for Peace” and the Neturei Karta who continue to dehumanize Jewish lives in Israel and around the world. ‘Doom scrolling’ has become one of my most prevalent hobbies.

And now, two months following the atrocities, we celebrated the holiday of Hanukkah. On Hanukkah, the Jews did not merely fight against the great Greek Assyrian Kingdom, led by King Antiochus IV in ~167 B.C.E., but against Hellenists, Jews who were influenced by Greek culture, and whose culture they assimilated towards.

The Greeks wanted to eliminate Judaism’s Torah values and have us abandon our wisdom and culture and subscribe to theirs. Thankfully, though many Jews had been seduced by the virtues of Hellenism, the extreme measures adopted by Antiochus helped unite the Jewish people; Jewish worship and specifically keeping the laws of Shabbat were forbidden, Torah scrolls were confiscated and burned, the practices of brit-milah, circumcision & kosher observance were prohibited under penalty of death. Rabbi Eliezer, a 90-year-old respected sage, was ordered by the servants of Antiochus to eat pork so that others would do the same. When he refused, they suggested to him that he pick up the meat to his lips to appear to be eating. But Rabbi Eliezer wouldn’t even acquiesce to do that and was put to death.

Thankfully, the Hashmonaim, a family of priests, did not fall to public pressure from Hellenists or the Greek army. Whether it be Yochanan, who refused to steal from the temple to fund the Greek debt to the Romans, and who was murdered due to his refusal to spread Hellenists’ influences in the beit hamikdash. Mattisyahu who would not make a sacrifice to Greek gods, but instead shouted “Mi lashem elai” “Who is for the Lord, join me.” Or Judah, who staged a revolt with his brothers to defeat 40,000 soldiers which saved the land from invasion and enabled the Jews to re-sanctify the temple.

Our nation has always had heroes to fight for us. Judah was given the name ‘Maccabee’, a word composed of the initial letters of the four Hebrew words Mi Kamocha Ba’eilim Hashem, "Who is like You, O G‑d”.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, zichrono levracha, may his memory be a blessing, shared that Hanukkah represents one of the first big clashes of civilizations, between the ancient Greek empire vs. the Jewish people. The Greeks gave the world the concept of tragedy, where we strive for greatness, but life has no ultimate purpose, the universe neither knows nor cares that humans exist.

The Jews on the other hand, founded the principle of hope. We believe that G-d created humans with love, and love developed into the purpose of life. Tragic cultures eventually die, because they lose the moral beliefs that continuity depends on, they sell the future for the sake of the present; they lose the passion and happiness that originally caused them to be great. Judaism and its culture of hope on the other hand survived. Hanukkah is a symbol of survival, of our refusal to discard our innate values for social currency.

During this heart-wrenching time when over 130 Jews are held hostage, college campuses are cesspools of antisemitism, and where we see obituary reports from the Israeli Defense Forces of fallen soldiers, we must remember to turn on the light. Scream from the rooftops - “Mi lashem elai- who is for the Lord, join me”. It does not matter if prior to October 7th you did not consider yourself a ‘religious’ person or you did not truly value the sacrifice our soldiers make for us every day, and even after their tenured army service. Ask yourself, are you a Jew? Then you are part of our people. Hamas wants to destroy you. Our woke, western values, of morality and justice do not apply to the safety of Jewish individuals.

have a lot of people to fight against, Hamas, Iran & its terror proxies in the Middle East, their supporters in America and the rest of the Western world, but we also have a lot to be thankful for. We are a people that have survived hatred generation after generation. We rebuilt following the wars with Ancient Greece and we will do so again following our victory against Hamas. We are united; our national anthem is “Hatikvah,” “The Hope,” and our history shows that miracles happen spiritually - oil that was supposed to last for one day, lasts for seven, as well as physically, destroying a larger and more equipped enemy.

As Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Darkness does not drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Remember, when you light your chanukiahs - we Jews, are people on the same spectrum, Israeli Jews, American Jews, Ethiopian Jews, Middle Eastern Jews, Western Jews, Orthodox, Conservative, & Reform; we are all Jews. Be a person that adds light - that dances following destruction. Do your part to bring light, bring hope, and we will all prevail.

Rebekah Khakshoor is a proud Zionist who lives in New York. She currently works as an Associate Media Director for one of the largest media agencies in the world, 4EssenceMediacom.

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