Hanukkah, the eight-night Jewish “Festival of Lights”, begins on Sunday evening, Dec. 18, and continues through Dec. 26. But while most people know part of the meaning of the holiday, we all need to take a lesson from Hanukkah that is more applicable now than ever before in my lifetime: the willingness and obligation to actively fight for our values, ethics, and religious practices.
The holiday commemorates the victory of the Jewish Maccabees over the Seleucid Greeks in the second century B.C. Upon their victory, they rededicated the holy Temple in Jerusalem (“hanukkah” means “dedication”) and lit the Temple’s eternal lamp, which had been desecrated by the soldiers of Antiochus IV. Although there was only enough oil to last one day, a miracle occurred and a single day’s oil lasted for eight days until new purified oil could be brought to the Temple. And so, we light candles for eight nights to commemorate both the miracle of the oil and to remember how a small band of Jewish warriors defeated the mighty Greek army with God’s help.
But this holiday has a much deeper and more important significance, especially in the troubling times in which we live today.
The Maccabees (also called the Hasmoneans) were a family of Jewish priests who refused to adopt the Greek gods and ways of worship. They actually started the war, not the Greeks. While normally it would not be admirable to start a conflict, our Sages and historians admire them for this — and here is where the lesson for our current times takes hold.
The Seleucids were not threatening the Jews’ physical lives; they were committed to assimilating the Jews and making them bow down to the Greek gods. They wanted to destroy the Jews’ spiritual lives and values, and it was for this reason that our ancestors went to war. Although we always try to avoid conflict, this holiday reminds us that we need to initiate conflict if it is required to preserve our values and spiritual identity.
The Talmud makes clear the differences between the holidays of Purim and Hanukkah. On Purim (described in the Book of Esther), we went to war to protect our physical survival from the attacks of Haman and the Persian Achaemenid Empire, which wanted to kill us. On Hanukkah, the Seleucids wanted to destroy our values and spirituality, not our bodies. And here, too, we went to war, but this time for the spiritual cause of religious freedom.
The Talmud is clear: Threats to either our physical survival or our spiritual survival are causes for war.
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Every religiously observant person I know recognizes that there is a secular war on religion going on. We see it all around us, through the closing of churches during the pandemic, the acceptance of the secular hate of Antifa and BLM, the mandates that destroyed communities for the last two years, and especially the grooming and sexualizing of our children. As rappers Jimmy Levy and Hi-Rez have sung, this truly is a war on religion.
For too long we have allowed those who want the destruction of religion, spirituality, and ethics to act uncontested. Hanukkah reminds us that we need to stand up and fight against assimilation into secularism. As much as it was in the times of the Maccabees over 2,000 years ago, our core beliefs and values are being attacked today, and it is time to act back.
We need to speak out and passionately stand up against the grooming and sexualizing of our children, the secularization of churches and synagogues, and every attack on religious beliefs. But how?
Today’s “field of battle” is different than in the times of the Hasmoneans. Then, it was on the plains and hills of ancient Israel. The battle today takes place in the media, schools, and ballot boxes. And it is here that we need to take the fight.
We all need to be proactive and share all articles and videos that demonstrate the evils of these modern-day Seleucids with everyone we can, across all media. Share all the information you can on all the horrors of the grooming of children by schools and corporations. Let people know about the sexual grooming that is taking place at Disney and on Carnival Cruises. Encourage everyone you know not to vacation with either of those companies. Sell your stock in those companies and any company that is committed to secularism over religious values, and ask your friends and colleagues to do the same. Disney has lost almost half its value over the last year and fired its CEO because of the effect that “going woke” had on the company. Now, in the same way that secularists “canceled” individuals and companies for not being woke, we need to cancel and reject those who seek to destroy traditional values.
If you have the time, run for a local school board or city council position, or at least help another campaign that seeks to eliminate sexual grooming and other secular goals from our schools and public forum. And when election time comes about in your area, make sure to vote, and get all other like-minded people who want to return to a society based on ethics and values to vote as well.
Also, make sure to support organizations that are committed to this holy fight for the soul of our society. If you are a Christian, stop donating to organizations that promote secular assimilation and give your money to a local church that is standing up against this craziness, like Godspeak. If you are Jewish and support the ADL, which is no longer committed to Jewish values and is now a mouthpiece for wokeness, switch your donation to the Zionist Organization of America or another synagogue that is standing up in this fight. Support those on the front line of this fight, such as Michael Savage, Mark Levin, Hugh Hewitt, Ben Shapiro, Tucker Carlson, and Sebastian Gorka, by listening to them, watching them, and purchasing their books and promotions. Consider donating to Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point schools and Hillsdale College, which are dedicated to educating our young people in the values of our faith traditions.
If you’re not already, become a VIP member of PJ Media and support this organization in its exposure of the 21st-century Seleucids and their agenda of secular assimilation.
However you do it in your own personal way, emulate the Maccabees and respond to this war on all religions. Hanukkah is a time to dedicate ourselves to the fight for what is right, and we all need to let the light of our individual souls shine. This is how we triumph over the darkness that is around us, in the same ways our ancestors did over two thousand years ago.
May we all be blessed to have a Hanukkah filled with light, good health, prosperity, and joy. As we approach Christmas, may we all be surrounded by the blessings of the sacred holiday and season. And may we all be privileged to experience a Happy New Year in 2023 that embraces spirituality over secularism, ethics over hedonism, and peace over hate.
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