The Channakah story

The story of Hanukah holds universal political and religious significance. This is a story of political and religious freedom, a story that is particularly relevant today. Hanukah celebrates the military victory of the Jewish Hasmonean leader Mattasyahu and his five sons, led by Judah, who is known as the Maccabee which is translated to mean the Hammer, against the vastly superior forces of the Syrian Greek Emperor Antiochus IV Epiphanes, 165 BC.

The devoutly Jewish Hasmoneans fought a war of independence against Antiochus for two reasons. Firstly, the Greek emperor has banned Jewish practice, including Temple worship, which was replaced by Idol worship before a statue of Zeus that was propped up on the Temple Mount. The Greeks were supported by traitorous anti-religious Hellenized Jews in Judaea who shared Antiochus agenda to destroy Judaism. Besides the outright ban of Jewish worship, including a ban on observing Sabbath, which was punishable by death, Antiochus promoted practices that would undermine Jewish morality such as nude sporting events. Many of the Hellenized Jews were so anxious to assimilate into secularized Greek culture that they created false foreskins to hide their circumcisions in order to get by in the homoerotic gymnasium.

Against all odds Judah successfully defeated the Syrian forces and established a sovereign Jewish State in the vicinity of Jerusalem. That state would subsequently be strengthened and, in the process, this Jewish commonwealth saved and advanced the Jewish faith. The small cruise of oil that burned eight days, oil that was required to purify the Temple in the days after the Hasmonean victory and after years of defilement, represents a rare event by which a divine sign was manifested, one that essentially blessed Judah and his struggling government.

Thus we commemorate that event, by lighting the Menorah candles for eight days, in order to reflect on its meaning.  Hanukah stands for national sovereignty and Hanukah honors those who have sacrificed in its defense. The Hasmoneans established Jewish sovereignty for the same reasons that peoples establish sovereignty and those are the establishment of freedom and right of self and national determination.  By creating a sovereign nation, the Hasmoneans were a light unto the nations of the world.

Hanukah stands for religious freedom and self-determination, the right of a people to worship in freedom as this was the motivating factor behind the Hasmonean revolt. By re-establishing the Jewish State, the Hasmoneans re-established the covenant between God and the Jewish people, the moral and ethical code of Sinai and the faith and mission of Judaism. This inspires all people of faith who seek freedom and to live in peace and co-exist with others of different faiths.