It feels wrong in many ways to be celebrating Chanukah with what is happening in the world right now. It is a struggle to still celebrate the Maccabees overthrowing the Greeks for an autonomous Jewish Jerusalem when right now there are fascist Jews committing relentless genocide supposedly in the name of that same endeavor, as though our Arab cousins are somehow in any way comparable to the powerful empires whose leaders built statues of Zeus in our temple. People compare the dome of the rock to the statue of Zeus, but the dome of the rock was built to protect and keep holy the same foundation stone our temple had been built on. They are not desecrating our history they are revering it just as we do.
Besides, I do not feel like we became the Jews we are until that temple had been destroyed. It was the destruction of that temple and its priestly hierarchy that led us to revere scholarship and debate over hierarchy and tribute of blood. It was a blessing in disguise that taught us a better way to be. Through diaspora we came to learn so much about the world and became so diverse. I wish that my distant cousins in Israel could appreciate the beauty in that how we do here in Philadelphia
Instead, they build their own statues to Zeus. They worship Herzl, Ben-Gurion, and the violent monopoly on violence they have created. They serve a fascist dictator who was born in Philadelphia. How could he have lived in this amazing diverse city and not have seen how beautiful it is when we live alongside other peoples.
It feels wrong to celebrate Chanukah this year. But the Festival of Lights is about creating light even in the darkest moments of each year. Even when it is dark and cold and lonely and food is sparse and the world hates us—perhaps this year, for once, for good reason. Even in the deepest darkest, we light a couple tiny thin candles, and let there be a little bit of light. Even when we think surely we don’t have enough oil to last us much longer, the night continues to grow, and the miracle of Chanukah is that even in the deepest darkest that light keeps growing just a little, and it keeps persevering even when we feel burnt out.
I watched a video today of an Israeli hostage screaming with all she had that Netanyahu is a bastard and that she fears Israel more than she fears Hamas. Today on the trolley I saw three different people wearing kufiyahs, and at least one of them was definitely Jewish. Even as the US congress passes Orwellian laws redefining antisemitism to mean anti-war. I wonder if at last the tides might change. Perhaps the first, small, quiet light has been lit in the hearts of many who might finally begin to see that solidarity with Palestinians is the road to peace. The rebels who insisted on following the rules were slaughtered by the Greeks. The rebels who broke the rules were the ones who made change. More people are starting to break the rules and speak out. May the light keep growing, drawing from a miraculous fuel we cannot see.
Forgive me for my use of Manischewitz brand candles. I have had some nasty health issues this year and was not able to procure BDS compliant Chanukah candles in time for first night. The Vietnamese-Italian delicatessen bodega has had this box of Chanukah candles sitting on the shelf since August and it was all I could find in the time I had. They had been marked down to $1.90 for the box because nobody was buying them and the box was getting grody.
Since I began thinking politically about Judaism, I've always thought of Chanukah first and foremost as a holiday about resisting oppression and colonization. The fact that it's specifically about Jewish resistance is important as well because it ties it into our traditions and history, but the primary lesson I take from it is that when the destruction of culture and identity is violent enough it can only be resisted with violence. When I celebrate the story of the Maccabean victory of Antiochus (itself somewhat mythologized relative to historical events), I am celebrating everyone who has taken up arms to defend their land from invasion and their culture from colonial obliteration. And I am specifically celebrating the Palestinians who take up arms against Jewish fascists, who fight to defend the same land the Maccabees did from the same drive to exterminate everything other.
Chag Chanukah sameach.
