December 16th, 2015
By: Donny Fuchs
Hanukiyah
created world famous Venetian Glass Blower Maestro Gianni Toso
Photo Credit: Photo: Karyn Toso
Photo Credit: Photo: Karyn Toso
I would like to
share a critical point about Chanukah, now that the chag is over.
It’s not just about Chanukah. The ideas are relevant year-round. We must not confine
discussions relating to the Maccabean Revolt to annual Chanukah celebrations,
since the original noble war to preserve the Torah’s sanctity continued well
beyond the miracle of the oil. Since the battle against Hellenism will surely
continue until the arrival of Moshiach, we must wage war against
Hellenism in every generation, in a manner that recalls our unrelenting war
with Amalek.
Since the time
when the Greeks first polluted our waters, the greatest dangers from Hellenism
were not from those who first infected us, but from those “mityavnim” within
the Jewish camp who nurtured and propagated these ideas. And so it remains
today in the modern State of Israel. We have Hellenists in high positions who
pay homage to Jewish history, while replicating the sins of our internal
enemies of yore.
We find modern
day Jewish Hellenism on an individual level and on a national level. It
is both pagan and secular. Classically idolatrous and secularly idolatrous. Pagan
idolatry manifests itself with the overt and covert efforts of classical
missionary activities in Israel and abroad, as well is the more prominent and
forms of superstition and segulos, forbidden beliefs, “New Age”
kabbalah, fraudulent wonder-workers, and the tragic affinity that many secular
Israeli’s have for the goyish concepts of India and the Far East.
In Israel, we
find secular idolatry within the perverted strains of thought of “Peace Now”
and “Yesh Gvul”, both the card-carrying version, and the more
common everyman version, courtesy of The Ministry of Education’s unrelenting
war on Israel’s Jewish youth. The “Peace Culture” has never gone away. Too many
young Israelis relate more to Hindu notions of veganism than to anything found
in Torah. Pacifism and the Dalai Lama are more appealing to them than Moshe
Rabbeinu, or Heaven forbid, King David.
We find
Hellenism in a leftwing Israeli Supreme Court that attacks Jews and torah and
among the “Princes of Peace” who never seem to go away, and our weak-kneed
leaders who readily apply the most oppressive punishments of administrative
detention and torture (in the absence of proof )to punish good Jews. We find
Hellenism within the breast of a Prime Minister who rewards Arab terror and
punishes Jewish justice, who appeases and releases murderous Arabs, and who
responds to Arab terror by installing road blockades to protect Jews from
becoming roadkill.
Moreover, all
parties are guilty of sin. The Likud shnorrers from
evangelical xtians who offer exorbitant sums of money for the price of a
foothold in the door and prime real estate. Labor prefers the coffers of
leftists and European socialism. Yet neither party is averse to dipping into
the funds of the other group.
Tragically, we
find Hellenism in the Torah camp of those peculiar orthodox Rabbis who grabbed
the missionaries hand in the name of goodwill, and gave them a new and
historically unprecedented vehicle to proselytize, infiltrate, and destroy the
sanctity of Am Israel. Rabbinical approval, even if offered by a handful of
“religious” Rabbis is the kind of haskamah they never had.
Other versions of “religious Hellenism” are found in the camps of the “open
orthodox” who want to abrogate mesorah and Halacha to
satisfy modern liberal agendas, and among simpletons who drink from strains of
biblical criticism as if these pseudo-academic assertions were themselves
divinely revealed.
Remember the
Maccabees! The original Maccabees and not those who later debased the sanctity
of their righteous Zaidy’s war. The true Maccabees fought valiantly against
gentile and Hellenized Jew despite the odds against them, and that is what we
celebrate. Not a victory per say since the battle still rages. Ironically, many
of those who once fought for Torah and still purport to do so, are now aligning
with the modern day equivalent of our ancient enemies. We must continue the
spiritual battle to retain and preserve Jewish concepts and to keep them
pristine from treif oil.
The Maccabees
were not progressives. Matityahu made that very clear, when the aging High
Priest cut down a Jew who publicly defiled G-d’s name with a desire to engage
in idolatry. As such, we can easily surmise that Matityahu would have a big
problem with missionaries in Israel, or foreign houses of worship in general.
If we are to be truthful.
The Maccabees
were not feminists (classical or the JOFA variety), pluralists, humanists,
Woman of the Wall militants, advocates for gay rights, or for murdering babies
in utero. The Maccabees were not defending indigenous rights to the land. The
Maccabees were zealots preserving Torah. They were extremists. They were
fundamentalists. They were correct but their expression would not be palpable
to the modern ear and eye of the Jewish liberal. History sanitizes the actions
of such men. Like the zealots of Masada, and the warriors of the Bar Kochba,
modern day Jews would not celebrate the Maccabees. Nor would the authorities
place them in Administrative Detention, unjust as the punishment so often is.
There would be a new “hunting season”.
The only way to
redeem Chanukah and resurrect its message is to first destroy the false
narrative of Chanukah, and then study and apply the authentic ideas and
concepts of Chanukah. To be cognizant that the Hellenist knife is still at our
throats and that Hellenism endangers the soul and the body. Today, some of the
enemy swords come from the camps of paganism and others from the world of
secular “humanism”. Yet the most formidable of all, are those who identify as
religious Jews even as they attempt to besmirch everything Jewish and denigrate
Halacha. All in the name of Halacha of course. As such, the alliance of those
who celebrate a virgin birth and those who are scrupulous when it comes to only
using virgin olive oil for their candles is perhaps the most obscene of all.
From the
coarse, aggressive, street missionary, to the smiling bearded “Harvester,” to
the well-dressed CUFI representative, the spiritual assault comes from many
fronts, some obvious, some denied and ignored by Jews for a litany of reasons.
The physical equivalent would be a war with all the major Arab countries, ISIS,
Fatah, Hamas, Hezbollah and all the various offshoots, coupled with a nuclear
Iran fixing Israel in her crosshairs. Unfortunately, matters of the soul are
much less apparent. Or deemed to be less important among small minds who view
power, profit, and political pragmatism to be superior to spiritual survival.
In an
atmosphere of spiritual depravity and endless assaults on the Jewish soul and
body, Matityahu would surely be fuming with righteous zeal were he around
today. He would see the need for a revitalized Judean Hammer, because sometimes
a war hammer is necessary.
Metaphorically
speaking of course.
About the
Author: Donny
Fuchs made aliyah in 2006 from Long Island to the Negev, where he resides with
his family. He has a keen passion for the flora and fauna of Israel and enjoys
hiking the Negev desert. His religious perspective is deeply grounded in the
Rambam's rational approach to Judaism.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario