by Debra Rubin
NJJN Bureau Chief/Middlesex

January 6, 2009

Hanukka — with its traditions of giving gifts, singing songs, and spinning dreidels — is often thought of as a child-centered holiday. But, as a local rabbi told a gathering in Highland Park, the themes of religious freedom, hope, possibility, and standing up to assimilation make it a festival very much for adults.

“The more you look into it the more interesting it is,” said Rabbi Stephanie Dickstein. “The more you look into it, the more layers, the more complex it is.”

Dickstein spoke Dec. 23 at the Highland Park Conservative Temple-Congregation Anshe Emeth.

The best-known aspect of Hanukka — the oil that miraculously burned for eight days — was not even part of the original Hanukka story.

“The story is really about a civil war — the Greek Assyrians came in later — between those who wanted to be assimilated into Greek culture and those who didn’t,” said Dickstein, a Highland Park resident, in a phone interview before the program. “It’s really more complicated than a fight between the good guys and bad guys.”

The complexities and meanings of the holiday are revealed in the ways it is celebrated. The blessing recited over the candles praise God for performing miracles for our ancestors.

“At this season, Jewish tradition is actually unsure of what miracles we mark on Hanukka,” said Dickstein. “To what extent is Hanukka the result of human actions that led to the miraculous results and to what extent is all of the action on the part of God? Jews have inherited a belief in the possibility of miracles, not only in the distant past, but in our time as well.”

Each additional candle lit on succeeding nights offers the “powerful challenge” of increasing light in our lives and in the world.

Dickstein is spiritual care coordinator of the Shira Ruskay Center of the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services of the UJA/Federation of New York, which offers bereavement and spiritual support for families and individuals facing life-threatening illnesses.

In her position, she said, she has found that this belief in miracles is a source of strength as people cling to the hope of more time, a cure, or even complete recovery.

“When such things happen, as they sometimes do, even the most secular among us use the language of miracle,” she explained.

The Hanukka story and its message developed over centuries as the rabbis sought to downplay the celebration of a military victory, having just lived through the crushing Bar Kochba revolt of 132 CE against the Romans, according to Dickstein. The revolt resulted in massive death, the banning of Jewish religious practice, and Jews being sold into slavery.

The first book of Maccabees is believed to be an eyewitness account, while the second book was tailored for a Jewish audience, said Dickstein. There is no mishna, or oral law, about Hanukka and the rabbis may have thought that by ignoring the story, it would be forgotten.

“But, it didn’t go away,” said Dickstein. “A major discussion of Hanukka is found in the Talmud, in the Shabbat section, stuck in with the laws of candle lighting.”

The holiday’s central themes also continued to borrow from surrounding cultures.

“There was a preexisting holiday of lights,” added Dickstein. “Many cultures have a light holiday in winter. There were also themes Jews picked up in the Middle Ages of martyrdom that come in, themes of persecuted Jews attempting to fight back.”

The Hanukka story also has a feminist theme to which modern Jewish women can relate, thanks to its two heroines.

As the Jewish forces stood on the verge of defeat, the beautiful, young widow Judith plied the Assyrian general Holofernes with salty cheese, leading him to drink so much wine he fell into a drunken stupor. Judith then took his sword and decapitated him. Returning with his head, she encouraged the dispirited Israelite troops to take on the Assyrians, who had been thrown into disarray by Holofernes’ death, in a battle in which the Jews emerged victorious.

And it was Hannah who stood up to the Greek king Antiochus and witnessed the murder of her seven sons rather than bow down to Hellenistic idols.

“While the Hanukka candles burn, it is traditional that women refrain from doing any work,” said Dickstein, in part to honor them for their roles in the holiday miracles.

The holiday themes continued to evolve and resonate for Jews in succeeding generations. During the American Revolution, it was a fight for freedom against a great empire. Today, Hanukka’s message of living as loyal and contributing members of society without losing one’s religious identity is particularly meaningful for American Jews.

In the 20th century, the Hanukka story became a model for Israel, said Dickstein, proving “Jews can win militarily and establish their own country.”

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