Here are three ancient explanations of the origins of Hanukkah:
The Maccabees waged a successful war against the Syrian-Greeks:
…the people who were with Judah sounded their trumpets. They went to battle, and their vanquished enemies fled into the plain. Howbeit all the rearmost of them were slain with the sword… (I Maccabees 4)
God waged this war successfully on behalf of the Jewish people:
…You, in Your abounding mercies, stood by them in the time of their distress. You waged their battles, defended their rights, and avenged the wrong done to them. You delivered the mighty into the hands of the weak, the many into the hands of the few… (The Hanukkah Prayer, Al-Hanissim)
A great post-war miracle happened when one cruse of oil provided eight days’ light:
What is the reason for Hanukkah? When the Greeks entered the Temple sanctuary, they defiled all the oils… When the Hasmonean monarchy overcame them and emerged victorious over them, they searched and found only one cruse of oil that was placed with the seal of the High Priest, undisturbed by the Greeks. And there was sufficient oil there to light the Menorah for only one day. A miracle occurred and they lit the Menorah from it for eight days. (Talmud, Tractate Shabbat 21b)
Which explanation is the “correct” one? All of them are. Hanukkah recalls an actual military campaign waged by the Jews under the leadership of Judah Maccabee against the Syrian-Greek empire between 167-165 BCE. That’s a matter of history. Hanukkah also recalls how, behind the scenes, God gave Judah the strength and good fortune to vanquish the repressive Greek occupiers. That’s a matter of faith. Finally, Hanukkah recalls the miracle of the tiny bit of Menorah oil that burned for eight days, not just one, after the Maccabees won their battle. That’s a matter of legend and symbolism.
These explanations for Hanukkah’s origins form a continuum from the historical to the religious and the legendary/symbolic. As Jews, it’s important for us to remember our ancestors’ acts of courage in fighting for Jewish independence and security, especially now when Jewish security worldwide is under siege. As religious Jews, it’s important for us to see the “hand of the divine” behind the seemingly prosaic efforts of our people to survive and thrive. As Jewish global citizens, it’s important for us to nurture the human hope that we can bring more light into the world when the darkness feels impenetrable.
These three explanations for Hanukkah also reflect a tension between what I call “fight or light?” During Hanukkah, do we emphasize the particularistic celebration of our partnership with God to fight our enemies, or the universalistic celebration of humans’ ability to light up the world with peace and goodness? The TalmudReferring to one of two collections, the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds, edited in the 6th century, that contains hundreds of years of commentary, discussion, and exploration of the ideas in the Mishnah. One could describe it as Mishnah + Gemara = Talmud Read more and First Maccabees seem to take clear sides in this argument.
Living about thirty-five years after the Maccabean revolt in 100 BCE, the author of First Maccabees emphasized Judah’s military conquest, a matter of great pride for Jews living under an independent Jewish government with a functioning Holy Temple in the land of Israel.
Living in the second to fifth centuries CE after the Temple’s destruction and under non-Jewish rule in Israel and Babylonia, the sages of the Talmud de-emphasized the Maccabean military conquest, as well as the ritual rededication of the Temple. They were probably uncomfortable with the narratives about the Maccabees’ exploits, given their later history of bloodshed and political machinations. They likely also were careful not to emphasize Jewish military rebellion to avoid the ire of the governments under which they lived. Finally, they had little reason to focus too much on the Temple rededication aspects of the holiday’s origins, since they had no Temple to which to turn in their day.
Now let’s jump forward in time to the Geonic period (7th-10th centuries) in Babylonia when the Al Ha-Nissim prayer was likely written. Its full version expands upon an earlier prayer recited on Hanukkah during the Amidah and Birkat Ha-Mazon, the prayer after meals. Rabbi Reuven Kimelman points out that Al-Hanissim used First Maccabees—a book never quoted by the Talmud—to emphasize God’s miraculous deliverance of our people from the Greeks. Though it surprisingly ignored the Talmud’s cruse of oil legend, it still emphasized re-lighting of the Temple Menorah as one of the main goals of our military campaign. In a modified fashion, the author of Al Ha-Nissim wanted to focus on both Hanukkah miracles: our ability to fight for ourselves and to put light into the world, especially with God’s help.
Given these three explanations of Hanukkah’s origins, what should we emphasize: the fight or the light? I suggest that both matter. There are times when the world’s ugly reality requires us to use force to protect ourselves and others. We can certainly thank God for giving us the strength to do so, but violence is never the ideal, bringing the light of peace and justice into the world is. Hanukkah challenges us to sense God’s presence in all these aspects of our past, even as we continue to work for a future when fighting will be unnecessary because God’s light will reign supreme.
