What is Hanukkah about?

Since Temple B’nai Abraham has invited the public to participate in lighting the candles of Hanukkah, I thought the public might benefit from knowing a bit more about one of the Jewish most beloved holidays.

The story of Hanukkah is not a mystery to most of us. What is still a mystery is why the book of Hasmoneans, which tells the story of Hanukkah and records the events, did not make it into the bible. Why was this one precious and very wonderful book, originally written in Hebrew, left on the shelf in its Greek language and then retranslated back into Hebrew? There are many reasons and explanations, some theological, some historical, some psychological and some political.

Of those many reasons one seems most plausible. The sages who gathered and canonized the books of the bible did not feel that it was fitting and proper because it celebrated physical might more than spiritual strength. That spiritual strength is what kept the Jewish faith alive and helped the Jewish people thrive despite the mighty forces that threatened their survival. So the sages sanctified the spirit and shunted the might.

It is true that Hanukkah commemorates the physical valor of the weak against the strong, the few against the many, the vanquished against their vanquishers. But military might and tactical victories, revolutions and rebellions are nearly always temporary events in history, whereas Hanukkah is forever, and that is the real miracle of this favorite holiday. In the struggle of the Hasmoneans against the Hellenism that sought to destroy the Jewish people and their faith, the lights of Hannukah proved brighter than the glow of Dionysus.

But even if the book of the Hasmoneans was not included in the bible, the Hebrew people remembered and still keep the memory of the Hasmoneans very much alive. They made history in their armed struggle, but remained in memory for their fight against evil.

There is a trend in Jewish history to find in every event a connection to a particular holiday. Thus Passover is linked to the deliverance from Egypt, Purim to the redemption from Haman, the chief Antisemite of Persia, and Hanukah to the triumph of the Jewish spirit over the vanity of Hellenism. And this triumph is what the lights of Hanukkah eternalize, the triumph of those who seek to build over those who seek to destroy.

Hanukkah reminds us that this triumph, unfortunately, has to continue because it is not yet over, not yet complete. Every year, and year after year, we need to remember that the powers of destruction are still strong, that the light of goodness is not yet brighter than the darkness of evil. That is why we light the candles in public on Hanukkah, to illuminate not only the miracle of the oil in the Temple and the Hasmonean victory, but also to shed light on a better, more peaceful future for everyone, for all of us.

The book of Hasmoneans did not make it into the bible, but its legacy to the Jewish people and its message to the world have not vanished. We light the candles on Hanukkah, we look at them and we remember. May we not forget.