Hanukkah is a story of many stories. In each of them we see how specific generations of Jews, or those with different spiritual or communal needs addressed the challenges they faced. In honor of those many stories, Windows and Doors will celebrate each day of Hanukkah by sharing a new Hanukkah story.
Some will be old and some will be new. Like the lighting of the Hanukkiah/Menorah, which celebrates the increasing miracle of the oil with the passing of each night, on day eight, we will conclude the holiday with what I believe is the most important Hanukkah story of all. The telling of each story will also invite a question, the answers to which I hope you will share here as part of your celebration of the holiday. But first things first.
The oldest Hanukkah story is the one found in First Maccabees, which is part of the Apocrypha i.e. extra-canonical (for most Christians and all Jews) writings of real religious significance. But the story was retold in Second Maccabees, the Scroll of the Hasmoneans, the Talmud, by medieval poets and modern historians as well. And for each of them, the story was little diffferent.
Sunday night, we remember Hanukkah as the story of the evil Seleucid King, Antiochus Epiphanes, and his imperial war against both the Jews of the Land of Israel and against Jewish faith and practice.
There are no miracles in this story, if be miracle one means supernatural events attributed to God. The author of this work of political history sees great spiritual importance and religious justice in the war against the invading king. Perhaps most important is the “purification” of the Jerusalem Temple and the ability to observe Sukkoth, the Festival of Tabernacles, which had been impossible when the Temple was in Pagan hands. It is a story of political and spiritual liberation accomplished by the hard work of human beings, all of which is sacred, but there is no mention of direct divine intervention.
Where in your life, especially this year, have you experienced or witnessed people creating some kind of political or spiritual liberation?