The following letter
will discuss the deeper
meaning of Chanukah, and
it is an expanded
version of a previous
Chanukah letter. This
letter will also review
some teachings and
insights which remind us
of the deeper meaning of
Zion.
Is Chanukah a “Zionist”
Festival?
Dear Friends,
The question of whether
Chanukah is a “Zionist”
festival cannot be
discussed without
explaining the term
“Zionism” – a new term
which began to be used
by the World Zionist
Organization which was
founded in 1897. This
term was coined by Dr.
Nathan Birnbaum, who
became the “Secretary
General of the World
Zionist Organization.
The new term “Zionism”
which was used by this
organization does not
just mean love of Zion,
as many of the Jewish
opponents of the W.Z.O.
were Torah-committed men
and women with an
intense love of Zion,
and as we discussed in
this series, they were
involved in the renewal
of Jewish life in Zion
even before the W.Z.O.
was founded.
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
shall discuss in this
letter, the
resolution used the term
“religion” to refer to
Judaism – the path and
outlook of the Torah.
This resolution was a
public rejection of the
following message of
Moshe and other Prophets
of Israel: The Land of
Zion was given to us for
the fulfillment of the
Torah, the Divine
Teaching. For example,
Moshe proclaimed to our
people: “See, I have
taught you statutes and
social laws which Hashem,
my God, has commanded
me, so that you may act
accordingly in the midst
of the Land”
(Deuteronomy 4:5).
As we discussed in
previous letters, most
of the leaders of the
W.Z.O. sought to have
nationalism replace the
Torah as the guiding
spirit of our people.
These leaders stressed
that our national
homeland was Zion; thus,
they felt that our
nation has no purpose
without regaining a
national home in Zion.
They therefore used the
term “Zionism” to refer
to the secular and
nationalistic ideology
of their organization;
moreover, they
established schools and
educational programs to
promote this ideology.
An example of their view
can be found in the
writings of Jacob
Klatzkin, a leading
thinker and activist
within the World Zionist
Organization who also
served as the editor of
its official organ,
Die Welt. Regarding
the goal of the modern
Zionist movement,
Klatzkin wrote:
“In longing for our
land we do not desire to
create there a base for
the spiritual values of
Judaism. To regain our
land is for us an end in
itself – the attaining
of a free national
life.” (Cited in “The
Zionist Idea” by Arthur
Hertzberg)
Regarding the Zionist
ideology, Klatzkin
added, “Its real
beginning is The
Jewish State (a
pamphlet written by
Theodor Herzl), and its
basic intention, whether
consciously or
unconsciously, is to
deny any conception of
Jewish identity based on
spiritual criteria
(ibid).”
When this secular
ideology began to
dominate the World
Zionist Organization,
many Torah-committed men
and women among our
people began to oppose
this organization. They
refused to join the
W.Z.O.; in fact, there
were some
Torah-committed members
of the W.Z.O. who
resigned from this
organization. These
religious opponents felt
that the ideology of the
W.Z.O. was negating the
spiritual meaning of
Zion, for Zion is to
serve as the center of
Torah. In this spirit,
the Prophet Isaiah
proclaimed in his
messianic vision, “For
from Zion will go forth
Torah” (Isaiah 2:3).
The Torah-committed
opponents of the W.Z.O.
became known as
“Chareidim” – a biblical
term for those who are
fervently loyal to the
Word of Hashem (Isaiah
66:5). Many Chareidim
joined a new
international
organization, Agudath
Israel, which was led by
the Chofetz Chaim and
other leading sages.
This Chareidi
organization stressed
that the Torah is the
guiding spirit of our
people; thus, the
founding conference of
Agudath Israel
proclaimed that its goal
is “the solution of all
problems facing the
Jewish people in the
spirit of the Torah.”
(The Struggle and the
Splendor)
According to the way the
W.Z.O. defined Zionism,
is Chanukah a “Zionist”
festival? An answer can
be found in the
following summary of the
Chanukah story:
A major stream of
ancient Greek thought
glorified the
gratification of the
human being’s physical
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.
The dominant Greek
culture venerated
physical beauty; thus,
Greek art and the Greek
gymnasiums glorified the
youthful human body.
The Torah-based culture
of our people, however,
focused on holiness –
the consecration 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 members of
our people who were
attracted to the pagan
Greek culture, and they
even encouraged their
new rulers to impose
Greek culture on our
people. The Syrian-Greek
rulers felt that the
continued existence of
the Jewish spiritual
culture was a “threat”
to the growing influence
of Greek culture; thus,
they outlawed the study
of Torah and the
fulfillment of certain
mitzvos, including
Shabbos and the Covenant
of Circumcision. They
also imposed the death
penalty upon those who
violated these edicts.
In addition, the Syrian
Greeks tried to
force our people to give
up our 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 led a rebellion
against this attempt to
destroy the Jewish
spiritual 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
which was inscribed on
the banner of the
Chashmonai family: “Who
is like You among the
powers, Hashem!” (Exodus
15:11)
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
our people to resist the
Greeks with force, and a
new Jewish army was
formed. 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)
“The soul of the human
being is the lamp of
Hashem” (Proverbs
20:27).
The Maccabees and their
followers 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
and their Jewish allies.
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, our 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
their Jewish allies. The
leading Torah sages,
however, decided to
establish a festival, in
order to celebrate the
liberation of the Holy
Temple.
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 this
light.
The Festival established
by the sages became
known as “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 Divine light.
We now can begin to
answer the question as
to whether Chanukah is a
“Zionist” Festival. As
we discussed, the W.Z.O.
developed an ideology
which proclaimed that
Zionism has nothing to
do with Judaism.
According to this
secular view, Chanukah
is not a “Zionist”
festival, for Chanukah
celebrates the renewal
of Judaism. What makes
this festival even more
distant from the
dominant ideology of the
W.Z.O. 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
following spiritual
understanding of Zion
which we discussed in
this series:
“Torah is light”
(Proverbs 6:23), and
Zion is the place where
we are to develop a
Torah society which can
serve as a “light to the
nations” (Isaiah 42:6).
If we understand
“Zionism” according to
this spiritual
perspective, then
Chanukah can be called a
“Zionist” festival.
Shalom and a Happy
Chanukah,
Yosef Ben Shlomo Hakohen
(See below)
Related Teachings and
Comments:
1. On Chanukah, we want
to publicize the miracle
of the light. The
Chanukah lights are
therefore lit outside
the door of the home, at
the entrance of the
building, or by a window
facing the street. This
custom can serve as a
reminder that the Divine
light is to go out the
world.
This year, we light the
first light of Chanukah
on Wednesday evening,
December 1st.
2. Rabbi Moshe Chaim
Luzzato was a leading
sage and kabbalist of
the 17th century. In his
great work, Derech
Hashem – the Way of God,
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 Rabbi
Aryeh Kaplan’s English
translation of this
work. 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 there should be a
greater emphasis on the
cultural strengths of
our 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 our
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 men and
women to renew their
commitment to the
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.
4. As we discussed, the
Festival of Chanukah
reminds us of the
spiritual purpose of
Zion; moreover, it is
the only Jewish holiday
which celebrates a
miracle which took place
in the Land of Zion.
5. Much of the
information in the above
letter is from the book,
“Chanukah – Its History,
Observance, and
Significance” (Mesorah
Publications:
www.artscroll.com
). This book has
historical information
from early sources, such
as the books of
Maccabees I and II, and
“Megilas Taanis” – an
ancient work written by
the Chananiah ben
Chizkiah.