Dear Friends,
The question of whether Chanukah is a “Zionist” festival cannot be discussed without defining the term “Zionism” – a term which began to be used by the World Zionist Organization which later founded the State of Israel. The term “Zionism” does not appear in the Torah, and it was coined by Dr. Nathan Birnbaum, who became the Secretary General of the World Zionist Organization. (He later left the organization for reasons which are explained in Note 3 which appears at the end of this letter.) The term “Zionism” as defined by this organization does not just mean love of Zion, as many of the opponents of the W.Z.O. were Torah-committed Jews with an intense love of Zion; moreover, some of these opponents were involved in the renewal of Jewish life in Zion even before the W.Z.O. was founded. In future letters, I hope to discuss their pioneering efforts and in what ways their ideology and goals differed from the ideology and goals of the World Zionist Organization.
To understand the definition of “Zionism” according to the W.Z.O., we will begin with the following resolution which this organization adopted in 1911: “Zionism has nothing to do with religion.” As we discussed in previous letters, the majority of the leaders of the W.Z.O. sought to have nationalism replace the Torah as the raison d’etre of our people. They felt that “land” and “language” are what makes us into a nation, as they rejected the traditional Jewish view that our nation is to be defined by the spiritual ideal and mission of the Torah and its path of mitzvos. Since our historic homeland was Zion, the majority of these Zionist leaders felt that our nation has no purpose without regaining a national home in Zion with political sovereignty. They therefore used the term “Zionism” to refer to the ideology and goal of their movement. This definition caused them to refer to their religious opponents, including those living in Zion, as “non-Zionists.”
Their Torah-committed opponents felt that a term called “Zionism” should be based on the traditional definition of Zion as the spiritual center of our people, for Zion is the place where we are to develop an ethical and holy society, so that the Shechinah – Divine Presence – can dwell in our midst (see Note 1); moreover, in this way, our society can serve as a universal model for all peoples. Some of these Torah-committed Jews therefore argued that they were the true Zionists, and that their secular opponents were actually non-Zionists.
According to the definition of the secular Zionists, is Chanukah a “Zionist” festival? Our discussion will begin with their statement, “Zionism has nothing to do with religion.” As the following summary of the Chanukah story reveals, “religion” is the underlying theme of the Chanukah story:
A major stream of
ancient Greek thought
glorified the human
being and the
gratification of the
human being’s desires.
Greek culture therefore
developed a mythology of
various gods and
goddesses that
represented all human
cravings and lusts.
While Judaism stressed
that human beings should
serve Hashem – the
Compassionate and
Life-Giving One – Who
created the human being
in the Divine image,
most Greeks served the
lustful or greedy gods
and goddesses that they
created in their own
image. For example, they
worshiped a promiscuous
goddess named
“Aphrodite” – a goddess
that satisfied the
sexual lusts and
fantasies of male
mortals and gods.
Earlier forms of
paganism stressed the
frailty and the
insignificance of the
human being; however,
the pagan Greeks
stressed the
significance and power
of the human being. The
Jews also stressed the
significance of the
human being, but in
their view, the true
significance of the
human being is found in
the human ability to
emulate the Divine
compassion, love, and
justice.
The Greeks venerated
physical beauty; thus,
Greek art and the Greek
gymnasiums glorified the
youthful human body. The
Jews, however, focused
on holiness – the
consecration and
dedication of the human
body and its drives to
serving the
compassionate and
life-giving Divine
purpose.
After Alexander the
Greek conquered much of
the world, his
successors – who ruled
various parts of his
divided empire – strived
to impose Greek culture
and philosophy upon the
conquered peoples.
Initially, they were
successful in their
mission, and the
conquered peoples
offered little
resistance to the
cultural imperialism of
the Greeks. In fact,
when the Syrian-Greeks
took control of the Land
of Zion, there were a
number of wealthy and
influential Jews who
encouraged the new
rulers to impose Greek
culture on the Jewish
people. These
“Hellenist” Jews wanted
to “modernize” their
people by having them
adopt the prevalent
Greek culture. Both the
Syrian-Greeks rulers and
their Jewish allies felt
that the continued
existence of the Jewish
people’s spiritual
culture was a threat to
the western, Greek
culture which was
“conquering” the Middle
East. These rulers
therefore outlawed the
study of Torah and the
fulfillment of certain
mitzvos including
Shabbos and the Covenant
of Circumcision;
moreover, they imposed
the death penalty upon
those who violated these
edicts.
Many loyal Jews secretly
studied Torah and
fulfilled the outlawed
mitzvos. Our tradition
records that Jewish
women were often the
most courageous in
resisting these attempts
to destroy the spiritual
life of the Jewish
people, and their
courage helped to
inspire the Jewish men.
For example, it was
often the women who had
the courage to
circumcise their sons.
The Syrian Greeks also pressured the Jews to give up their belief in the One Creator of all life and adopt paganism. They therefore turned the Holy Temple in Jerusalem into a pagan center of worship which included orgies, and hogs were offered on the Temple Altar to one of their pagan deities.
The Chashmonai family of
Kohanim (priests) led a
rebellion against this
attempt to destroy the
Jewish heritage, and
Mattisyahu, the
patriarch of the family,
issued the following
proclamation: “Whoever
is zealous for the Torah
and is steadfast in the
Covenant, let him follow
me!” This family of
Kohanim became known as
the “Maccabees.”
According to some
opinions, the Hebrew
letters of “Maccabee”
are composed of the
initial letters of the
following biblical verse
(Exodus 15:11) which was
inscribed on the banner
of the Chashmonai
family: “Who is like You
among the powers, Hashem!”
In the initial stage of
their rebellion, the
Maccabees and their
followers fled to the
mountains in the Judean
desert, where they hoped
to be able to study and
fulfill the Torah. When
the Syrian-Greek army
pursued them in the
mountains, the Maccabees
issued a call to the
Jewish people to resist
the Greeks with force,
and a new Jewish army
was formed under their
leadership. The
following biblical
quotes can help us to
understand the spiritual
nature of their
struggle:
“For a mitzvah is a lamp and Torah is light" (Proverbs 6:23), and “The soul of the human being is the lamp of Hashem” (Proverbs 20:27).
These Kohanim were
fighting in order to
protect the Torah, the
Divine light; moreover,
they were fighting to
protect the mitzvos
which serve as lamps for
the Divine light. In
addition, they were
fighting to protect the
soul – the lamp of the
Divine light within the
human being.
The small, but
courageous Jewish army
began to defeat the
large Syrian-Greek army,
which included Hellenist
Jews who were fighting
against their own
people. After a long and
difficult struggle, the
Maccabees and their
followers succeeded in
driving the
Syrian-Greeks from the
Holy Temple in
Jerusalem.
At this stage, the Jewish people had not yet regained political independence in Zion; moreover, parts of Jerusalem and most of the countryside were still under the control of the Syrian Greeks and the Hellenist Jews. The leading Torah sages, however, decided to establish at that stage of the struggle a festival of celebration which become known as Chanukah.
The liberation of the Temple was not the only reason for the declaration of the new festival. After liberating the Temple and removing the idols, the Maccabees wanted to immediately restore the tradition of lighting the Temple Menorah, but all they could find was one small vial of pure olive oil. As the Talmud records (Shabbos 21b), the Syrian-Greeks had contaminated all the flasks of oil that were in the Sanctuary. The Maccabees searched and found only one flask of pure olive oil that had the seal of the “Kohen Gadol” – High Priest. The quantity of oil was only enough for one day, yet, to the amazement of the loyal Jews who had gathered in the Temple, it continued to burn for eight days! This gave the people the opportunity to prepare fresh pure oil.
The sages felt that this was a miracle. And this miracle conveyed the following message for future generations of our people:
No matter how severe the darkness, the Divine light will continue to glow until the whole world will eventually be infused with its light.
The sages therefore established the Festival of “Chanukah” – a term which refers to “dedication” – for the Temple of Zion and the People of Zion could once again be dedicated to the task of illuminating the world with the light of the Compassionate and Life-Giving One.
We now can begin to answer the question: Is Chanukah a “Zionist” festival?” If “Zionism has nothing to do with religion,” then the religious Festival of Chanukah is not a true “Zionist” festival. What makes this festival even more distant from the dominant ideology of the World Zionist Organization is that it is not even a celebration of our national independence in Zion, as the festival was established before we regained our political independence; moreover, when we later regained our political independence in Zion, no festival was declared!
There are, however, Jewish men and women who are loyal to the spiritual definition of Zion:
Zion is the place where we are to develop an ethical and holy society, so that the Shechinah – Divine Presence – can dwell in our midst; moreover, in this way, our society can serve as a universal model for all peoples.
From this perspective, Chanukah is truly a “Zionist” holiday.
Shalom,
Yosef Ben Shlomo Hakohen (See below)
Related Teachings and Comments:
1. The opening verse of the haftorah – portion from the prophets – which we chant on the Shabbos of Chanukah contains the following Divine promise:
“Sing and rejoice O daughter of Zion! For behold, I am coming and I will dwell in your midst, spoke Hashem.” (Zechariah 2:14)
“I will dwell in your midst” – I will place My Shechinah in your midst. (Targum)
2. Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato was a leading sage of the 17th century, and in his classical work, Derech Hashem, he discusses the deeper significance of the holy days of the Torah, as well as the holy days which were later established by the Prophets and/or Sages of Israel, such as Purim and Chanukah. He writes:
“On each of these special days, something happened whereby at this time a great tikun (rectification) was accomplished and a great Light shone. The Highest Wisdom decreed that on every anniversary of this period, a counterpoint of its original Light should shine forth, and the results of its tikun renewed to those who accept it.” ( Derech Hashem – The Way of God, Part 4, Chapter 7).
Feldheim published an English translation by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan. For information, visit: www.feldheim.com .
3. As we mentioned, the term “Zionism” was coined by Dr. Nathan Birnbaum, who became the Secretary General of the World Zionist Organization. He later began to question the movement’s stress on political goals, and he felt that there needed to be greater emphasis on the cultural strengths of the Jewish people.
In 1898, he left the Zionist movement in order to become involved with secular activists who focused on strengthening Jewish communities in the Diaspora and who viewed the Yiddish language as the basis of Ashkenazic Jewish culture. He then developed an inner awareness of the spiritual goal of the Jewish people, and he returned to the path of the Torah. He began to challenge the modern paganism of his era, but he also challenged Torah-observant Jews to renew their commitment to the messianic and revolutionary vision of the Torah through developing holy and holistic communities. His activism became inspired by Torah, and he became the Secretary General of Agudath Israel. This gifted leader had previously dedicated his life to strengthening organizations that sought to secularize our people, and he now began to dedicate his life to strengthening an organization that sought to spiritually renew our people.
3. Some of the information in the above letter is from “Chanukah – Its History, Observance, and Significance” (Mesorah Publications). For information, visit: www.artscroll.com .