The Relevance of Chanukah for All of US

It is disappointing that the winner of this year's prestigious Mann Booker Prize joins the seasonal chorus  - made up mostly of Jewish smartypants- who trivialize Chanukah as a weak imitator of Christmas (New York Times). Which is unfortunate since the Chanukah story, if we are to study it closely, has the deepest resonance for critical issues of today.

The main action in the Chanukah story is not between the Jews and their Syrian/Greek oppressors;  it is the internal struggle between the Traditionalists (the Maccabees and their allies) and the Assimilationists (the Hellenizing Jews.)  This is the archetypal tension that develops whenever the "other" exists within the dominant culture. It is the tension between the forces to Preserve and Protect the "other" culture or Allow and Adapt to the Dominant culture. Which serves my survival best? Do I struggle to maintain all that I value in my culture, or do I attempt to blend into the dominant culture? And, although less is made of it in the Chanukah story, I assume that a parallel tension existed among the dominant Syrian/Greek culture. Do we preserve and protect the purity of our culture by marginalizing (or worse) the "other," or do we allow and adapt, ignore their difference and treat them just like us?

Is this not an ongoing tension - at times murderous - especially with the worldwide waves of immigration, millions of "others" entering various dominant cultures. The tension between preserve/protect and allow/adapt both among the entering "others" and the dominants who are being entered. And is this not an ongoing tension as previously suppressed "others" make themselves more visible in the dominant culture - women in male-dominant cultures, muslims in christian-dominant cultures, homosexuals in straight-dominant cultures?

What can be more current than today's congressional debate over Don't Ask/ Don't Tell in the US military? Hide otherness or make it visible? It's a question for both the "others" and the dominants.

The Chanukah story is archetypal because it confronts us with a problem we are still living with, and it's a problem you don't have to be Jewish to think about. It's a tension all of us - Muslims and Hindus and Jews and Christians and aetheists and straights and gays and all varieties within - would do well to ponder during the eight days of Chanukah.

While pondering, consider the following hypothesis: Neither preserve/protect nor allow/adapt is the "correct" solution.

Your pondering will proceed more pleasantly with healthy helpings of potato latkes.

Have a thoughtful Chanukah.

 

Comments

[TZiPi Radonsky]

thank you, got a laugh and an ally in one reading!

Would love to talk with you, exchange some experiences and gather some wisdom.

I am an adjunct and associate at the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, NC for about 20 years and then about 5 years ago became ordained as a rabbi. When asked what kind of rabbi do I want to be I responded intuitively, 'one that takes the fence down around Hebrew wisdom and shares it with the world'.

I see you doing this. CCL recently began using OW and I love it, i just dropped you a note on your web site about how I am using it in the coaching and training work I am doing. Your work inspires me.

So, if you are interested in a conversation.