Homage to festival of my Jewish friends
Hanukkah is on the horizon. When I was a kid in Northeast Philadelphia most of the houses in my neighborhood had a candelabra in the front window. It had nine candles, four on either side of a central one that was a teeny bit taller than the others. This candelabra is called a menorah, which is Hebrew for, well, candelabra. The middle candle is called the shamash, which means “the helper,” because it is the one from which all the others are lit. A special blessing is said as each candle is lit in succession at the evening meal. The festival goes on for eight days. It’s a home festival, not one with elaborate services at the synagogue or temple.
You may know the story. Among the successive invaders who stomped over the land of Israel, the Syrian Greeks (known as Seleucids) were in charge under a ruler known as Antiochus Epiphanes IV (215-164 BCE), who desecrated the Temple in Jerusalem. The Jewish people were fed up. Most of them had enough with oppression and insult and rose up in rebellion against the regime. The leader of this civil war was Judah Maccabee, after whom the rebels were called Maccabees, a word that may mean “hammer,” but it has accrued numerous other meanings as well. The story is recorded in the Second Book of Maccabees, which is part of the Greek Bible. The Hebrew Bible does not contain the Books of the Maccabees, thus it’s rather ironic that Christians preserved these books in their Bibles.
The story is told in spartan manner, unlike the stories that surround Passover or even Purim. There is no lengthy biblical text to read as at these festivals. Only a few prayers are read at the table and then the family moves on to the evening.
The Maccabean Revolt succeeded when none other had. The Jewish people entered a period of almost a century during which they were solely in charge of their own country, lasting until the Romans overpowered the regime and once again, they were under foreign rule.
This festival is based not only on the Maccabean final defeat of the Seleucid Empire in 134 BCE, but upon the eight days. When the Temple was recovered, there was only enough oil for the chief lamp that indicated God’s Presence to burn for one day. Alas! Miraculously, however, it lasted for eight days, hence the significance of the menorah. Each lit candle reminds you of this momentary victory in a long history of oppression, suffering, rule by foreigners, and wandering the earth in search of a home.
My closest friend died almost a decade ago and he had a collection of beautiful menoroth (plural) as an admiring Christian. Like me, he recognized the power of this festival for people other than Jews because it’s about freedom. It’s about being a symbol of light to the world in times of oppression. It’s about the hopes of prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah for a time of peace, prosperity, and freedom in one’s native land.
This Hanukkah, Israel is at war with Hamas. It’s not the usual happy time. Many people have lost their lives on both sides of this war. Israel finally said no to constant bombardment of its homeland from Hamas’s centers in Gaza. As I write, a shaky cease-fire may soon expire. I hope for a long-term solution, as I’m sure we all do, but the agony will continue, since it’s a middle eastern conflict that extends back to 1948 and beyond. We can only live in hope for a new season of peace.
Fr. Gabriel Rochelle is serving as interim pastor at St. Anthony of the Desert Orthodox parish, Las Cruces. Contact him at gabrielcroch@aol.com.
This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Homage to festival of my Jewish friends
