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From the Bimah
January 2005

The following piece appeared in the Los Angeles Daily News Tuesday, December 7th 2004. A segment of a letter sent to the paper, in response to the article, appeared several days later, concluded by my response listed below.

Hanukkah is popularized by a rabbinic myth: a myth that embodies a story told of a container of oil miraculously lasting seven days beyond its expected use. The story appears in the Talmud, a human-authored document, filled with law and lore. But the primary message of Hanukkah has nothing to do with the myth of oil. If anything, the eight-day celebration serves to remind us all that religious identity is assured, and assimilation is halted, only when religion develops out of an environment based on open, intelligent discussion and conviction.

During the brief rule of Alexander the Great, many Jews and non-Jews were sympathetic to Greek thought. In fact, within the Jewish community at the time, Alexander was a common name given to newly born Jewish children as a way of showing affection and support. What differentiated Alexander the Great from his later Syrian successor was he did not use religious coercion. His agenda was clear and unmanipulative. Alexander the Great was open to other forms of religious expression and debate.

Had Alexanderās noncoercive religious method continued gradually and peacefully, it very well might have overcome the Jewish people. The brightest and most influential Jews were increasingly more attracted to Hellenisim.

The Greek Syrian successor to Alexander the Great, Antiochus IV proved to be his opposite. Religious coercion, strong-arm tactics and violence were Antiochus methodology. Antiochus IV or god incarnate extended Greek political, philosophical and cultural influence throughout the region by way of violence, corruption, bullying and threats.

Under Antiochus IV, the religious nerve center for the Jewish people, the Holy Temple in Jerusalem was ransacked and defiled. Jewish religious expression was outlawed; comparative religious discussion was banned. It was the emperorās religious way, or death. The threats, the punishments, the religion-based cruelty reached their zenith. Using guerilla warfare as its military strategy, a group calling itself the Maccabees waged a revolt that would push back the strong-arm tactics of the demagogic Greek Syrian leader. More than a battle for religious freedom, as is popularly referred to when explaining the story of Hanukkah, the Maccabees waged a revolt for the reinstitution of religious discussion and debate. They essentially fought a war that allowed for interaction and yes, ironically even the possibility of assimilation and conversion to other religious expressions.

That is the age-old message of Hanukkah.

In a sentence, it teaches all of us who take religion seriously to continually offer rational and open, levelheaded explanations for the beliefs we hold in the face of outside, cultural and theological challenges and diversity. I think if we cannot provide sufficient, noncoercive reasons for Jews to actively identify with our tradition, then it is we who are at fault, certainly not countervailing ideas or lifestyles.

For all religious people, threats of assimilation are more challenging because they make us look within. It is much easier to live cloistered away in an insular community, or nation, far from temptation and deep spiritual challenge and interaction. It is far more difficult and infinitely more problematic and painful when we must address our own internal flaws and inadequacies. Far more difficult when we must compare, defend and debate our own religious principles with our coreligionists.

Hanukkah which is celebrated by lighting an eight-branched candelabrum when examined openly and honestly, putting the myths that surround the holiday on hold, teaches that we need not surrender to darkness. That we need not surrender to darkness provided that we express ourselves and debate our varied religious principles with persuasion and balance, not coercion and threats be they human or divine.

In response to my article, one person wrote, "Dec. 7th article. There seems to be a growing trend among local rabbis outside the Orthodox tradition claiming that the holy festivals Jews have celebrated for millennia are "myths." Michael Gotlieb joins their ranks. Ironically, after contending that these traditions are not true, these same rabbis then preach what the "real" message of these holidays is in a manner far different from the original sources describing these events and relevant Jewish legal principles. . . ."

Naturally, you can draw your own conclusion, but understand one thing, myth in its intended usage does not mean falsehood. It is what a people, or religion believes in order to help better define its guiding principles. Yes, the story of the eight days is a myth -- Hanukkah and its historical significance is not. So much so, had the events of Hanukkah not turned out as they did, dare I say we Jews would not exist as a people, let alone a religion.

Rabbi Michael Gotlieb