The Festival of Contradictions
A great miracle happend there?!
A Thought for Hanukkah
Preparing for Hanukkah, I found myself reading a fascinating lecture by the scholar Yehoyada Amir, titled The Contradictory Sides of Hanukkah. It struck me how we often take the story of the Maccabees for granted, yet Amir reminds us that this festival has constantly shifted shape to suit the needs of the Jewish people.
What I found most thought-provoking was the realisation that for centuries, Hanukkah was actually a rather "shy" and minor domestic moment in our calendar. Amir points out a deafening silence in our early texts; the Mishnah, which is the foundation of Jewish law, has no specific tractate for Hanukkah. It seems the ancient Rabbis were quite uncomfortable with the Hasmonean dynasty and their military history. They hesitated to glorify human warriors or a rebellion that eventually led to corruption.
Instead, the tradition shifted the focus entirely. The Rabbis introduced the legend of the oil—a story of divine intervention where God saves the helpless. This turned the focus away from the battlefield and towards the miracle of the spirit.
However, Amir argues that the modern era flipped this narrative once again. The early Zionists sought to reclaim the Maccabees not as religious figures, but as symbols of human agency, national strength, and the "new Jew" who takes history into their own hands. Suddenly, the "shy" festival became a public celebration of sovereignty.
So, where does that leave us today in Wimbledon? We stand at the intersection of these "contradictory sides". We have the Rabbinic need for God’s miraculous light in the darkness, and the modern human need to take active responsibility for our destiny.
Amir also notes that for those of us in the Diaspora, Hanukkah took on yet another role. It became a way to assert our identity and bring our own "light and joy" into the public sphere during a season dominated by Christmas.
Perhaps the beauty of Hanukkah lies precisely in these tensions. It challenges us to ask whether we are relying on a miracle or relying on ourselves. As we light our hanukkiot this week, may we find space for both the quiet, spiritual gratitude for the oil that lasted, and the active, courageous spirit of the Maccabees who refused to let their light be extinguished.
Happy Hanukkah
Rabbi Adrian
P.S.: Download a your How-To-Hanukkah-Guide here: https://tinyurl.com/WS-Hanukkah
Amir, Y. (2024) Die widersprüchlichen Seiten von Chanukka: Die Entstehung eines modernen zionistischen Fests und seine Nachwirkungen. Franz-Delitzsch-Vorlesung, Heft 23. Münster: Institutum Judaicum Delitzschianum.