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Sunday, December 22, 2019

The Light of Chanukah

A candle is a brief flare of light. A wick dipped in oil burns and then goes out again. The light of Chanukah appears no different. Briefly there is light and warmth and then darkness again.



And so war came between the handfuls of Jewish resistance fighters from a small town in the hinterlands and the Hellenized elites of the big city, between those who wished to be Jews and those who wanted to be pawns in an empire, between the tradition of the priests and the progress of a new order, between the Maccabees and the armies of Antiochus IV’s Selecuid empire. A war that had its echoes in the past and would have it again in the future as lightly armed and untrained armies of Jewish soldiers would go on to fight in those same hills and valleys against the Romans and eventually the armies of six Arab nations.


In the wilderness of Judea a band of brothers vowed that they would bow to no man and let no foreigners rule over their land. Apollonius brought his Samaritan forces against the brothers, and Judah, first among the Maccabees, killed him, took his sword and wore it for his own.






Though, worn from battle, the Maccabees did not flee back into their Judean wilderness, instead they went on to Jerusalem and its Temple, to reclaim their land and their God, only to find the Temple and the capital in ruins.







The fall of the Roman Republic and the civil wars of the new empire, its uncontrollable spending and greed made it hopelessly corrupt. Caesar repaid Jewish loyalty by rewarding the Arab-Edomite murderers of Jewish kings, and his successors saw the Jewish state as a way to bring in some quick money. Out went the Jewish kings, in came the son of Rome's tax collector, Herod.


But no darkness lasts forever.


And now the flame still burns, though it is flickering. Seventy-one years is a long time for oil to burn, especially when the black oil next door seems so much more useful to the empires and republics across the sea. And the children of many of those who first lit the flame no longer see the point in that hoary old light.




  1. Fantastic and inspiring piece Daniel, and well done on the "possibilities" angle (though that may be too sharp a term).

    A very happy Chanuka to you and yours and may the miracles continue for Israel and for ourselves.

  2. Anonymous23/12/19

    Excellent essay Mr. Greenfield, although I'm surprised you didn't mention the Maccabees beheaded Nicanor and brought his severed head back to Yerushalem. Nicanor Day was celebrated in Israel at least through the times of Yeshua, the carpenter from Nazareth. It's also interesting to note that Israel was allies w/the Roman Republic on at least two occasions against the Seleucids.
    Happy Hanukkah Mr. Greenfield!

  3. Anonymous23/12/19

    Thank you, Daniel, for sharing your glorious
    inspiration of benevolent fortitude.
    The Jewish People have maintained a steadfast
    survival and flourishing in spite of all
    We can all learn from and respect you.


  4. Anonymous23/12/19

    Amen ve-amen ve-amen.

  5. ......."I have tried, unsuccessfully, to suppress my inclination to hate the Jews and to see the world as they do, which however for a Roman proves virtually impossible"........
    Lentulus Silanus, Roman legate.
    Howard Fast, My glorious brothers.

  6. I am happy to see someone actually mentioning that Jews fought Jews in the war leading up to Hanukkah. I am also glad that some mentions that the war was against assimilation. But, it was much more than that.... Forgetting the True Story of Hanukkah

  7. What liberty? The hashmonim were fighting for religious freedom...they were not zionists...
    A loyal reader

  8. notice he does not identify the elites and collaborators----why not tell the truth???

  9. The Hashomonoim, whose descendants became kings and fought wars of expansion, weren't Zionists?

  10. Soon after the miricle of chanuka the hashmonim became tsadukim,usurped the kingship and are not our role models...
    What wars of expasion are you referring to?




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