What We're Fighting For - December 11, 2009

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Chanukah!
When I saw that President Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech was going to be aired yesterday during the time that I normally watch a network morning show, I decided to tune in to CNN, the only network airing the ceremony. President Obama’s words, in many ways, spoke to the roots and development of our celebration of Chanukah, which first marked a military victory and, eventually, became a festival whose lights, which increase every night, would signify hope for generations to come.
As I perused a text of the speech, this passage caught my eye: “I believe that peace is unstable where citizens are denied the right to speak freely or worship as they please; choose their own leaders or assemble without fear.”
This theme is central to the Chanukah story. King Antiochus IV, at first, tried to unite his empire under the banner of Greek customs, culture and religion through what we could call “peer pressure,” and, due to the fascination of many Jews in ancient Judea with the Greek way of life, it nearly worked. Some Jews resisted because they had a feeling that pressure would turn into coercion or even oppression. That view was proven to be correct once King Antiochus made the Temple in Jerusalem a Greek house of worship and forbade the practice of Judaism, under penalty of death. Even Jews who had become enamored with Greek customs realized that their fascination was misplaced if their Syrian Greek ruler could so easily turn to tyranny to impose his will. The peace and unity Antiochus sought was unstable and, furthermore, an illusion. The Jews who fought back against the Syrian Greeks, led by the priest Mattathias and his sons, knew what they were fighting for: “the right to speak freely or worship as they please, to choose their own leaders or assemble without fear.”
The Jews of Judea did have to fight a war to win back their religious freedom. Still, the words of Peter Yarrow’s song, “Light One Candle,” offer us a dose wisdom regarding war and peace: “Light one candle for the wisdom to know when the peacemaker’s time is at hand.”
It is important that, as we gaze at the lights of Chanukah, we remember what we are fighting for – freedom, hope, and peace – and that we allow these goals, shared by Jews around the world and all humankind – to unite us as we gather today on Chanukah and throughout the year!
L’shalom,
Rabbi Larry