Printer Friendly

Email to A Friend

Friday November 30, 2007

Chanukah, Annapolis and miracles

Think a shtickle of lamp oil lasting eight days is a miracle? How about candle-wax drippings lasting 12 months?

Gouging of the wax is just one of the many pleasures in store for us as we welcome Chanukah once again. Lately it’s been brisk and bracing around the bay. Perfect weather for dreidel-spinning and candle lighting.

The first night of Chanukah comes Tuesday, Dec. 4.

We appreciate the dual nature of the holiday. On one hand the Festival of Lights is a wonderful time for family, its kid-friendly traditions a natural fit for this time of year.

On the other hand, Chanukah commemorates a major event in Jewish history, something we should ponder while spooning applesauce on our latkes.

On this holiday we celebrate the ancient Maccabees’ guerrilla war to free Jews from Hellenistic oppression. It’s worth remembering that many Jews had assimilated under Greek rule at that time. But as we have seen so often, cozying up to the dominant culture never guaranteed protection for Jews.

With the rise of Antiochus IV during the second century BCE, Jews were savagely oppressed, the Temple in Jerusalem foully desecrated. Mattathias, Judah and their brilliant Maccabee revolution took care of that. The rededicated Temple then served up our most enduring miracle story, that of the oil lasting eight days.

Miracles seem harder to come by these days.

This week the Annapolis summit presented an image of progress, with Israel, the Palestinians and Arab nations meeting together, ostensibly to wage peace. So far, it’s impossible to tell what may come of it.

The key players did pledge to resolve all outstanding issues –– including so-called final status topics such as permanent borders and sharing Jerusalem as a capital –– and by the end of 2008, we are supposed to see the inauguration of a Palestinian state.

Sounds promising. Yet in a ridiculous snub, the Saudi foreign minister at Annapolis refused even to shake hands with his Israeli counterparts. Looks like we might have to wait a long time, perhaps next Chanukah, to see if Annapolis produces any miraculous outcomes.

Perhaps we need to look elsewhere for miracles: To our children, struggling to grow strong and independent in scary times. Or to our Jewish community, working day in and day out to repair the world.

To those who seek peace and pursue it, to those who practice random acts of kindness, to those who gather their families close and together light Chanukah candles, we say: You are our modern miracle-makers.

We wish all our readers a joyous Chanukah.

Did you find this article interesting? Subscribe to our FREE newsletter and you'll be notified each week when "J." goes online. We'll tell you about the most important stories of the week and give you a link to each one.

This page contains a BETA version of Amazon contextual links. They are marked by the dashed underline.  Your purchases support our site. At times they point to items which are not related to the actual link. Please alert us by email if you discover objectionable links.