Guest Column: Hanukah as Celebration Over the Years

 — by David Kobrin —

The experience of every immigrant to this country is unique; and yet, all are the same.

My father, Abe (may his memory be for a blessing), immigrated to the United States from an area in Eastern Europe that was then part of Belarus, and is now Poland. It was 1900, and he was thirteen.   At that time, Hanukah* -–the Jewish Festival of Lights—was considered a minor holiday within the Jewish tradition. Candles were lit on each of the eight nights, the appropriate blessings were recited and, small change was given to the children so that they could sweeten their day.

In the 1940’s and ‘50’s, when I was a child, Hanukah still was a minor event. What I remember is envy of other children who received gifts for Christmas, while we received nothing. Christmas was everywhere.

For almost two thousand years the rabbis who adjudicated disputes and guided the diverse Jewish communities in Europe and the West worked to minimize Hanukah. They saw the Festival of Lights as a holiday that emphasized and celebrated war. Hanukah is the story of the Maccabees, the brave soldiers who overcame the Hellenistic conquerors and reclaimed the Temple in Jerusalem.   In today’s terms, the Maccabean War (169-166 BCE) was a guerrilla uprising against a colonial conqueror who had forbidden Jewish study and Jewish practices. Their story is told in I and II Maccabees –- books that are included in some Christian version of the Old Testament, but not the Jewish Bible (Torah).

What the rabbis wanted to emphasize– miracle of miracles! – was that the one day’s supply of sacred oil found in the newly sanctified Temple kept the eternal light aglow for a week and a day, until more could be found. Tradition suggests that the rabbis wanted the emphasis to be on prayer, study of the Torah (the Old Testament) and the other Holy Writings, and on traditional worship – at home and in the synagogue. They feared the holiday’s focus on war, rebellion, and the question of assimilation. They were concerned that the celebration of Hanukah would lead everyday Jews away from a life that followed God’s will for Jews, as they understood it.

Immigrants to our country usually want to become more American. This longing is almost universal by the second generation – -that is, the children of the immigrants (such as myself). That does not necessarily mean that we have become less religious; rather, that traditions change within Judaism. For Jews in the first half of the twentieth century, baseball became the great instrument for Americanization. My dad had lovely stories about the fabled NY Yankees of the 1920’s who were regulars in his store.

Changes in the celebration of Hanukah began in western Europe at about the time my father arrived in America. As European Jews began to obtain rights of citizenship in the various countries in which they lived, the desire for assimilation became more pronounced. By emphasizing Hanukah, these Jews could celebrate the fighting courage of their ancestors – and reclaim a Festival of Lights during the darkest time of the year, the winter solstice and the Christmas season.

By the second half of the last century, a growing number of Jewish families in America wanted more than baseball as a sign that they belonged. One result was that, now with the resources to make this possible, Hanukah slowly but surely became more important to American Jews. Presents could be exchanged every night. Parties – and pride—became more common. Hanukah now is not only a traditional Jewish holiday whose celebration goes back 2000 years. For many Jews, it has become a way of saying, and feeling, that it’s not only Christmas time. We, too, have a holiday worth celebrating.

Today, for Jews, Hanukah is the season of our joys, as Arthur Waskow wrote. It is a meaningful holiday, with a long tradition. It includes traditional prayers, special foods, games, songs, sweets and gifts to delight children and adults. Most of all, it is the lighting of eight special Hanukah candles, one more added to the Menorah each day of the eight days of the holiday, until all burn bravely (and beautifully) against the darkness of the season. According to tradition, each candle is also a beacon of spiritual light against the darkness of the world – including the darkness in ourselves.

In some communities, tradition suggests that the lighted Menorah should be placed in a front window for all to see.

This year Hanukah began Tuesday, December 16^th, at sundown.

Happy Hanukah!

* There is no correct spelling in English of Hebrew words. Hanukah, for example. begins with the Hebrew letter Chet – a more guttural, throaty sound than exists in the English alphabet.