Saturday, December 19, 2009

Power and the Maccabbees

Power and how to use it. The Jewish people’s relationship to power is ambivalent. We see that clearly from the sacred texts we access during the holiday of Hanukah: the last day of which we celebrate today.

We light candles, exchange some presents; we have parties during Hanukah, seeing this time of year as focused mainly on children. As the sun goes down early in December, we use the Hanukiah to light our homes and bring a bit of holiday cheer to our lives.

Interesting to note, however, that this holiday is based on a deadly serious historical event and since this event, the Jewish people, particularly the Rabbis in the Talmud, have not known what to make of it.

What was the event? It happened in the second century BCE. The Syrian Greeks, led by Antiochus Epiphanes IV, trying to shore up control over his kingdom which included the Land of Israel, sacked the Temple in Jerusalem, desecrated it with pagan idols and outlawed Jewish practices. He thought by doing so, he would break the will of the Jews, pacifying them. Just the opposite happened. The Jews of that time were furious and led by a rebel of the Hasmonean household, named Judah Maccabbee, a small band of soldiers, took on the Greek army and by virtue of their prowess, and a lot of luck, beat the army of Antiochus and regained control of the Temple. Many died in this battle and most of the Hasmonean household including Judah Maccabbee would die in subsequent battles. As for the Temple, the Maccabbees cleaned it up and rededicated it on the 25th of Kislev in the year 165 BCE. The Hasmoneans would have sovereign control over the land of Israel for the next 100 years.

The first book of Maccabbees, written more than likely by a court reporter of the Hasmonean household, focuses almost entirely on the military successes of the family. If there was a miracle that happened there, it was that a small group of soldiers beat a large foreign regular army. No mention of oil. No miracle with the Temple Menorah.

So then came the Rabbis of the Talmud writing more than 200 years later, during a time of an iron-fisted occupation by the Roman Empire. They looked at the military victory of the Maccabbees and it caused them anxiety. They had seen the results of Jewish rebellion in their era, the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE and the disastrous Bar Kochba revolt of 132 CE. The last thing the Rabbis wanted to see were more Jewish rebellions, leading to more slaughter, so they played down, even ignored the Maccabbean battles. In the Talmudic tractate Shabbat we read a passage about the meaning of Hanukah which discusses the of oil that should have lasted one day but ended up miraculously lasting eight. The miracle wasn’t military, it was ritual. And in the Haftorah of Shabbat Hanukah, again, selected by the Rabbis, we read the verse “Not by might and not by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord.” Military might is not necessary, implies the Talmud. God will fight for us and send us the messiah and perfect the world and our job is to believe and wait.

And this has been the Jewish way up until the 20th century. Jews lived in other countries, Jews kept to themselves, Jews did not rebel but followed the laws and the will of their host countries. There was almost 2000 years of Jews keeping a low profile and hoping for the best.

Of course, the best rarely happened in the Diaspora. Crusades, Inquisition, isolation, persecutions, massacres, expulsions and genocide. But the Jews waited none the less, as directed by the Talmud. It was just too dangerous, they thought, to fight back.

The last time, before 1948, that the Jews were in sovereign control of the Land of Israel was in the second century BCE, during the time of the Maccabbees. The last time before Zionism, with just a few exceptions, that Jews fought back to defend themselves to save their own lives, was in antiquity. How long would it be before Jews took their own fate into their own hands?

In 1980, I spent a year in Israel, taking classes at Hebrew University. Interestingly enough, our history teachers would cancel classes around Hanukah as they were all called up for reserve duty in the army. Why were they called up during Hanukah? Because during Hanukah, they would lecture to the Israeli army troops about the Maccabbees and what happened when Jews fought back. In Israel, there is a different ethic regarding the military which has influenced Jews around the world. Since 1948 and especially since the Six Day War in 1967, Jews have felt differently about themselves. We still wait for the messiah, but when necessary, we deploy an army to protect ourselves. Jews in this country become political activists to protect the interests of our people. Jews act in the world now, like the Macabbees did in their time. We are no longer passive in the face of our enemies. It is a different world now for the Jewish people.

President Obama gave what I believe to be the most important speech of his presidency thus far. When he received the Nobel Peace Prize, he did not hesitate to mention the irony of a war time president receiving a prize for peace. And he said the following, “we must begin by acknowledging the hard truth that we will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes. There will be times when nations –acting individually or in concert –will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified.” He said, “make no mistake, evil does exist in the world.”
I believe this speech is so important because it goes to the anxiety felt by the Rabbis in the Talmud and by Israel and the world Jewish community today. There is evil in this world and our people and all people must protect themselves from it consuming them. It has happened before and we must never let it happen again. Israel, as do all Democratic nations, wishes to be able to lay down their arms, dismantle their missiles, and send their soldiers home to their families. But to do so today would be an act of unforgivable naiveté and national suicide. As the President implied in his speech, this dream of world peace will probably not come true in our lifetimes.

The Rabbis in the Talmud knew that Jewish rebellion during the times of Roman occupation and repression was a lost cause. But Jews had no power then and remaining passive was good policy. That is not the case today nor must it ever be the case again. The world is very harsh on the State of Israel when it seeks to defend itself from its enemies. Perhaps the world is more comfortable with the idea that Jews are victims; they were victims for two millennia and so it should remain today.

And to that, we say no. The Maccabbees, not the rabbis, should be our model in modern times. Sometimes the careful, moral use of power is necessary and indeed, according to Jewish law, obligatory to defend one’s life. I think that is clear to our President and it is certainly clear to the State of Israel and the Jewish people. As it should be.

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Hanukah

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