December 2005 - חֶשְׁוָן .. כִּסְלֵו תשס״ו Cheshvan..Kislev 5766

As most of you know, I have opposed the war in Iraq since its ill-conceived beginning. Even the best intentions and assumptions have felt wrong to me. As we approach Hanukkah, I am beginning to understand why the Jewish tradition has prompted me to this position.

In 166 BCE, the known world had a single superpower, the Seleucids. They spread their dominant culture, Hellenism, throughout the realm. In 2005 CE, there is a single superpower, the United States, and the American culture (both good and bad) has been spread around the globe. In 166 BCE, the Seleucid king Antiochus felt that the realm would best be united if everyone worshiped the same gods that the Syrians worshiped. In 2005 CE, the American President G. W. Bush, believed that the world would be better if every nation were a democracy like the United States, or perhaps he believed that every nation should worship his God, Jesus Christ. (Perhaps, as has been suggested, the president did not really understand the tenets of Islam, and he did not know that the Muslims were monotheists like Christians and Jews.)

So in 165 BCE and in 2003 CE, the local population conducted a nationalistic uprising against the occupying world power. The guerilla wars that were orchestrated against the world powers broke all of the rules of “civilized” warfare. The Macabbees attacked at night and in mountain passes instead of in open battle on the field. The Iraqis attack with hidden roadside mines and suicide bombing. Neither the Macabees nor the Iraqi insurgents wore military uniforms. Both the Macabbees and the Iraqi insurgents would attack and then melt back into the surrounding local population. Both the Macabbees and the Iraqi insurgents used religion to justify their nationalistic war. Both the Macabbean revolt and the Iraqi insurgency were messianic/jihad, religious wars.

The similarities go on and on. Please do not misunderstand me. I am not glorifying the Iraqi insurgency, nor am I denigrating the Macabbean revolt. I am trying to put both historical periods into a sharper perspective by which to understand them and judge them. One is not good and the other evil. But history is on the side of the insurgency. Just as the Seleucids eventually tired of their losses and withdrew, many other, if not most, occupiers throughout history eventually tire of their losses and withdraw. Think of Great Britain and the American colonies. Or think of the United States in Viet Nam. Or think of the Russians in Afghanistan. Or think of the Israelis in Lebanon. Time is on the side of the guerilla insurgency.

For centuries the rabbis did not want to glorify the military victory of the Macabbees. They substituted the story of the miracle of the oil for the details of the battles and cult of the leader, Judah “The Hammer” Macabbee. Are we now able to refocus our society onto a greater good than military victory? Are we now ready to advocate for peace, security and dignity for all peoples throughout the world. Hanukkah today is about religious freedom instead of the nationalist independence. What will we make the story of the second Gulf War?

[I hope that I am writing this sufficiently before the holiday of Hanukkah, so as not to disrupt your joyous celebration of our holiday. Chag Hanukkah samayach! Have a happy Hanukkah!]

—Rabbi Harry A. Manhoff, Ph.D., D.D.

November

Index

January