Happy Chanukah, and some reflections
[NOTE: This is a slightly edited version of a previous post.]
This is the second night of Chanukah, and I wish everyone a happy one. Chanukah is about a successful revolt and a miracle of light:
The miracle of the one-day supply of oil miraculously lasting eight days is first described in the Talmud, committed to writing about 600 years after the events described in the books of Maccabees. The Talmud says that after the forces of Antiochus IV had been driven from the Temple, the Maccabees discovered that almost all of the ritual olive oil had been profaned. They found only a single container that was still sealed by the High Priest, with enough oil to keep the menorah in the Temple lit for a single day. They used this, yet it burned for eight days (the time it took to have new oil pressed and made ready).
The words of this Chanukah song are in Yiddish—written by Morris Rosenfeld in 1924 before the Holocaust and before the establishment of Israel—and they are not happy. But I didn’t know that when I first heard it, and I post it anyway because I think it’s a very beautiful song:
Here are the lyrics, loosely translated by Theodore Bikel:
O little lights of mystery
You recall our history
And all that went before
The battles and the bravery
And our release from slavery
Miracles galore.As my eyes behold your flames
I recall our heroes’ names
And our ancient dream:
“Jews were learning how to fight
To defeat an awesome might
They could reign supreme”“They would rule their own domain
When the enemy was slain,
The Temple cleansed and whole.
Once there was a Jewish land
And a mighty Jewish hand.”
Oh, how it moves my soul!O little lights of mystery
You retell our history
Your tales are tales of pain.
My heart is filled with fears
My eyes are filled with tears
“What now?” says the haunting refrain.
Written in 1924, and it seems prescient.
Bikel translated the song that way in order to make the rhymes come out in the English version. But a more literal translation of that last verse might be this [NOTE: that link isn’t working anymore, but here’s the translation I had found there]:
Oh little candles,
your old stories
awaken my anguish;
deep in my heart there
stirs
a tearful question:
What will be next?
You can find another translation here.
Last year the words of the song had an extremely ominous quality. Chanukah that year came only two months after 10/7, and Israel was struggling to recover from the terrible blow as well as to fight back on many fronts and against rising worldwide anti-Semitism. The anti-Semitism is still there, but Israel has experienced not only “battles and bravery” but “miracles galore.” The future remains uncertain, but things have certainly been looking up, particularly since this past September.
I just read this in The Free Press:
“The Miracle of Light” by Rabbi Meir Soloveichik
https://www.thefp.com/p/the-miracle-of-the-light
The subhead reads: Winston Churchill wasn’t Jewish. But he understood, from the burning bush to the Maccabees to the modern state of Israel, the meaning of the flame.
The piece opens with the story of a photograph taken in Germany by Rachel Posner in 1931, showing a menorah in the foreground and, through the window, a nazi banner hanging against a building across the street. The photo, with Ms. Posner’s short poem on the back, has become well known in the world-wide Jewish community. I was pleased to learn about it this morning.
It’s a beautiful essay, profoundly meaningful today.
Its funny that they still celebrate this for several reasons and its obvious it was only brought back in modern times as a Christmas substitute.
(1) They reject the book of Macabees where it originates. 1st Macabees in the Catholic Deuterocanon or Protestant Apocrypha.
(2) Judas Maccabeus is a bad guy in the Talmud and not to be looked up to because the rabbis view it as his fault the temple was destroyed in 70 AD and the nation further destroyed in 120 AD. Because the rebels in that first war of 63-73 AD and Bar-Chochba in the 120s were both rebelling against Rome in an attempt to follow the example of Macabeus and how he whooped the Greeks, but both of these attempts ended in disaster.
I don’t think “obvious it was only brought back in modern times as a Christmas substitute” is a correct assessment of Chanukah. Certainly commercialization is not improving either Christmas or Chanukah.
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/hanukkah-history/
The holiday served as a symbol of Jewish resistance and hope in the Zionist era. That is poignant this year, with the very recent memory of the Oct. 7 massacres.
I can’t find a connection, but the beginning of the song — words and melody — reminds me of “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”
“…some reflections”
(Note: More than slightly O/T…)
Speaking of reflections—and MIRACLES—here’s the absolute craziest, most insane, most over-the-top work of neo-gonzo journalism one might ever have hoped not having to encounter let alone read….
“American Vulcan:
“From Virtual Reality to Remaking Our Bloated Defense Industry, Palmer Luckey is Trying to Forge a New America. Will it Let Him?”
https://www.tabletmag.com/feature/american-vulcan-palmer-luckey-anduril
Opening graf:
Read the whole thing…if you can.
P.S. Wishes for a very happy Chanukah—and Christmas—and New Year!