This time of year is incredibly manic. For starters it is the end of the calendar year. So much needs to happen before we take a break and begin afresh in 2018. Then again, it is also a most celebrated time of year. Boxing Day, New Years, the Ashes series, and another festival lots of people celebrate. Suffice it to say that its pilgrims are to be mostly found loitering in the largest and endlessly expanding shopping centre in the Southern Hemisphere. And for we Jews there is of course one of everybody’s favourite festivals, Chanukah.

But what is Chanukah? The rabbis 2000 years ago asked precisely that question. They answered it by explaining that when the Greeks ruled Jerusalem, they defiled the Temple. When they were finally banished and the Jews wanted to rededicate the Temple, no pure oil was found save one flask which should have been enough to light the Menora for one night only. Miraculously the Menora stayed alight for 8 days which is why we celebrate Chanukah.

There are two main difficulties with this passage. First and foremost, we know that Chanukah involved a truly staggering military victory over the superpower of its day, the Greeks, by a few Jewish guerrilla fighters. The victory was so profound that the Greeks never recovered and were shortly superseded by the Romans. We know this from books that are called Maccabees 1 and 2 as well as from other contemporary writers. In fact, the one and only of the Jewish festivals that is corroborated by sources outside of Jewish ones is Chanukah and yet the rabbis didn’t think it worthwhile to mention it when they got around to explaining what Chanukah was about!

There are many explanations that attempt to make sense of this. One explanation is that the rabbis were upset at the Maccabees for making themselves kings as well as High Priests which traditionally were very distinct. Another reason given was the fact that the later Maccabean kings were thoroughly Hellenised and corrupt therefore the rabbis preferred to refocus the celebration.

And of course there is the observation that the rabbis writing these words, describing the miracle of Chanukah, were living in one of the most depressing periods of Jewish history. It was after the destruction of the Temple by the Romans and the decimation of almost the entire Jewish population and its leadership in its aftermath. It is very difficult to celebrate political and military success of the past when one is living through a much more recent devastation.

This historical detective work, interesting as it is, is not the point I would like to address here. The question many ask is why a miracle of oil lasting longer than it should have be celebrated 2300 years later? We don’t, after all, celebrate the day Moshe discovered the Burning Bush that just burnt and burnt and as far as we know may still be burning! This is despite the fact that this experience was the catalyst for Jewish emancipation from slavery.

We also don’t celebrate the myriad of miracles in the Torah that happened to the Jewish people. We don’t celebrate the day we received food from the sky, water from a rock or meat that self-delivered. Why should we all of a sudden care so much about this little flask that beats all the odds?

The truth is that miracles in and of themselves are simply not that interesting. One person’s miracle is another’s accident. For Jews, the fact of Jewish survival is a miracle like no other. For Christians the fact that a few of their own in the first century ended up ruling the world for the next 2000 years amassing a following of billions along the way is conclusive proof that they have the latest truth. Same of course goes for the Muslims. The point is that miracles are in the eyes of their beholders.

The same is true for miracles that are more immediate, like magic tricks. There are in fact laws in the Torah governing a false prophet. Even if the prophet produces incredible miracles to support his standing, those miracles are to be entirely disregarded if he behaves in a way that is contrary to what the Torah commands. Clearly then, miracles are meaningless because they can be attributed to a whole host of alternative explanations ranging from illusionary to extraordinary physical phenomena.

After all there are many instances in the Torah where the Lords of Darkness produced miracles too. Pharaoh’s henchmen were able to compete with Moshe’s bag of tricks even if they ultimately lost. They still managed to turn sticks into snakes, just that their snake got devoured by Moshe’s snake. Similarly, Balak who went to curse the Jewish people had no problem conversing with his donkey.

Why then do we celebrate 8 days of Chanukah for some obscure miracle? The explanation must surely be a deeper lesson for which the miracle of the lights was merely a symbol.

The Greeks, under Antiochus Epiphanes, sought to quash the religious, cultural, and spiritual traditions, of the people they had conquered. One tiny group of people stood up to them and put their lives on the line for their religious and spiritual freedom. And they succeeded! Why? Because they had a fire in their belly and a just cause that motivated them.

Historically there are many instances in which the underdog takes on the might of a far superior force and wins. Ironically, arguably the greatest instance of this is with the ancient Greeks and the Persians, this time the Greeks being the oppressed. If we think in more recent times, America with all its military prowess and unlimited funds lost the war in Vietnam to people who saw themselves as fighting for their independence.

What is unique about the story of Chanukah is that the fight was for spiritual freedom. The Greeks were not planning to kill the Jews or enslave them. They merely wanted them to become Hellenised; give up their religion, culture, and spiritual heritage. This for the Jews was akin to death and something absolutely worth fighting for.

But rather than framing it in military terms the rabbis made this point in much more spiritual terms. How should we celebrate this idea of religious freedom and spiritual life? By lighting candles. Just as a little candle can dispel much darkness, so too the way to win the spiritual war, is by spreading light, one candle at a time.

Shabbat Shalom and Chanukah Sameach,
Rabbi Shneur