Category Archives: Jewish History

“Truth Conquers”

Posted on May 25, 2012 | Comments Off

The reality of warfare is such that numbers usually prevail. The Powell Doctrine in force for 20 years in the US military calls for, among other things, the use of overwhelming force to force the enemy to capitulate quickly. In truth, that same doctrine has governed for millennia.

Yet, the Torah generally posits the opposite approach. If we are worthy, then we are attacked by our enemies, then “five of us will pursue 100 of them (a ratio of 20-1), whereas 100 of us can pursue 10,000 of them (a ratio of 100-1)” (Vayikra 26:8), five times as much. Conversely, if we are unworthy, wretched sinners, then later in the Torah (Devarim 32:30) we are told to look with astonishment “how can one of them chase 1000 of us, and two of them chase a myriad of us,” ratios of 1000-1 and 5000-1, respectively? Why does it change? Why do the numbers change so dramatically from what we can do to our enemies and what they can do to us?

As the period of the omer draws to an end, what haven’t we heard about the sin of the disciples of Rabbi Akiva, “who did not accord each mutual respect” and perished during this season. They didn’t have mutual respect, they demeaned each other, and they saw themselves as separate and apart – despite all the commonalities and despite their joint interests. And this has been a hardy perennial in Jewish life, usually with devastating consequences.

In February, I attended a book launch at the Begin Center in Jerusalem for a new book (published by Geffen) written by Israel’s former Defense and Foreign Affairs Minister Moshe Arens entitled “Flags over the Warsaw Ghetto: The Untold Story of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.” Arens is still very spry and sharp at almost 87 years of age, and he wrote the book to correct what he saw as an historical injustice. The famous story of the revolt has always been told from the perspective of the ZOB (the Jewish Fighting Organization) under the leadership of Mordechai Anielewicz – but there was another group – the ZZB (Jewish Military Organization), led by Pavel Frenkel, that fought equally bravely but whose exploits have been suppressed. Most people have heard of Mordechai Anielewicz, after whom the kibbutz, Yad Mordechai, was named. Few have heard of Pavel Frenkel. Why not ?

The sad truth is that the ZOB were Socialist Zionists who refused to cooperate with the ZZB, who were Revisionists, followers of Ze’ev Jabotinsky. The Zionists fought with the Bundists (anti-Zionist Socialists) and the Jewish Communists – but they refused to fight together with the Betarniks. Each group fought alone, and almost none of the Revisionists survived, so their story was almost unknown. How sad is that? Even the Nazi enemy could not bring the ZOB leadership to set aside their political differences and join forces or even coordinate with the ZZW. (Anielewicz, who came relatively late to the ZOB leadership, is not blamed for this. In fact, Arens dedicated the book to both Mordechai Anielewicz and Pavel Frenkel, both of whom “fought for the honor of the Jewish people.”)

It’s even worse than that, as before the war, the Jews of Warsaw elected a Community Council that was split equally into three factions – the Socialists, the Bundists and Agudat Yisrael. But because they were split evenly, they could not agree on a coalition or even a policy – and Warsaw Jews were left without any leadership, hopelessly divided, as war came to them in 1939. And even worse – almost all of the leadership of the six or seven Jewish organizations in Warsaw fled the city in the first week of September 1939, leaving the remaining Jews to be guided by second and third tier officials who were largely unknown to the community.

This had devastating results, as the political “leadership,” such as it was, could not formulate a coherent response to the Nazi demand in the summer of 1942 that they surrender 60,000 “unproductive” Jews for resettlement. Calls for a rebellion were silenced, as the leadership maintained they would save more lives through cooperation. The Judenrat cooperated, forcibly gathered the requested number of Jews, but the Nazis kept upping the ante. The aktion began on Tish’a B’Av and ended on Yom Kippur in 1942. By that time, not 60,000 but approximately 270,000 Warsaw Jews had been deported to their deaths at Treblinka. The Jewish police who had carried out the orders, and their families, were last group deported. The nominal “leader,” Adam Czerniakow, who had been an engineer, committed suicide in July when it became clear the Nazis had lied to him and he had been played for a fool. Less than 60,000 Jews remained in the Warsaw Ghetto by the time the uprising began. More than 80% had already been murdered – and even then, the Revisionists were rebuffed and forced to fight alone.

All the groups showed great bravery and courage against impossible odds. The early and intense battles were fought in the areas where the Betar forces were most active – a point confirmed by the daily Nazi battlefield reports (introduced as evidence at the Nuremberg trials) that even mentions Betar by name. But the fighter could only repel the Nazis temporarily. Nazi casualties were remarkably low – perhaps a dozen killed and more than 70 wounded. That was largely due to the limitations of the weaponry of the resistance – rifles were scarce, the larger quantity of pistols they had were almost useless in long range fighting, and the Molotov cocktails and grenades momentarily delayed the German assault until they brought in their heavier weapons, including flamethrowers that burned buildings and destroyed bunkers and water that flooded the sewers where many hid. Most Jews were killed or deported to their deaths; there were few survivors, and even fewer among the Revisionist combatants.

What galled Moshe Arens, and gave the book its title, was that in 1949, when Israel was admitted to the UN, Moshe Sharett unfurled a blue-and-white flag that had flown over the Warsaw Ghetto, a symbol of the uprising. That flag enraged the Nazis and inspired the Jews – and some Poles who saw it at a distance outside the ghetto. But that flag flown from the top of the building at 17 Muranowska was the Betar flag – the ZOB could not fly the Zionist flag because it would antagonize their allies, the Bund – and it was unacknowledged, as if it was the flag of the Zionist Socialists whom Sharett was representing.

After the war, the narrative that gained credence was the Zionist Socialist one that almost completely ignored the presence of another force – and for two “good” reasons: the survivors who first published were all from the ZOB, and the animosity that existed between the Zionist Socialists and the followers of Ze’ev Jabotinsky was just as intense in the late 1940s during the struggle for independence as it was in pre-war Europe, if not more so. Barely 18 months after the Uprising was suppressed, the Hagana in Israel began the Hunting Season against the Revisionists, informing on them and turning them over for arrest to the British. The bad blood continued, even in the face of new enemies.

Thankfully, the dysfunction that existed in Warsaw did not exist everywhere – in Vilna, for example, all Jews worked and fought together. And it would not have made a difference ultimately. So why write such a depressing book ? Arens said “veritas vincit” – truth conquers. But I think there is a broader reason, looking forward, not looking backward. It is about “not demonstrating mutual respect.”

The Torah promises that “five of us will pursue 100 of them and 100 of us can pursue 10,000 of them” – when we are worthy. Why? Because a small group that is united and dedicated can defeat much larger groups that are divided and demoralized. Conversely, when we are at loggerheads, then even one of them can pursue 1000 of us – because there is no “thousand.” Each small segment of the “thousand” has its own agenda, small, little groups that are easily vanquished. Rashi cites the Midrash that says, in reference to the disparate ratios, “there is no comparison to what a united multitude can do to what a united minority can do.” The increased effectiveness is exponential, not proportional.

“Love your neighbor as yourself” means that just like we love ourselves with our flaws, so too we have to love other Jews with their flaws. We can disagree, fight and argue, and try to correct each other’s waywardness – but only from love, love that comes only from the fact that we are fellow Jews.

Recognizing the blemishes of the past illuminates for us the struggles of the future. A united community is its own value; a united community with the right values – united by the Torah – is a catalyst for divine blessings of security, prosperity and speedy redemption.

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Posted in Contemporary Life, Current Events, Israel, Jewish History, Machshava/Jewish Thought

Quick Takes

Posted on February 28, 2012 | Comments Off

Something is pathologically demented about people and a religion that protests the burning of a book by murdering human beings in cold blood. That such should engender “apologies” from Americans is another sign of how far the US has fallen from its perch as moral leader of mankind since the Obama administration took over. These Qur’an were burned because they allegedly contained inscribed, inflammatory messages. But the Qur’an itself – with its explicit calls for the death of Jews, Christians and infidels – is inflammatory. Perhaps those who are so up in arms – literally – about the burning should explain that, and apologize for it, and all the evil perpetrated in its name. Instead, the moral are busy apologizing to the immoral, and thereby ensuring more evil and immorality.

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Word came, again, last week that Mormons were baptizing the dead, including Anne Frank, Simon Wiesenthal’s parents, and even the living like Elie Wiesel, who called upon Mitt Romney to rebuke his church. The latter is certainly misplaced – the Mormon Church has already denounced it – but I have a different reaction: who cares? Does the conversion of the dead mean anything in the real world in which we live? Can a conversion that does not involve the voluntary embrace of a set of ideas, practices and values really mean anything? There are some who are matriculated at the School of Perpetual Outrage. I find it hard to get worked up about something that is inherently meaningless, and reserve my outrage for things that really matter, in the real world, not the fantasy world.

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When gas prices spiked to more than $4.00 per gallon in 2007, the media were rife with accusations that the increases were due to President Bush’s desire to enrich his oil friends. “Bush was to blame!” and it was up to him to rein in his friends and force them to lower their prices. Well. Obama has largely escaped criticism for the recent rise in fuel prices, even though his restrictions on drilling off the coasts, in Alaska, and his rejection of the Keystone pipeline has played havoc with the reliability and pricing of future supplies. Obviously, media bias is apparent, as high oil prices might devastate President Obama’s re-election chances (one reason why he is outspoken in pre-empting any criticism before it even comes). But only two other possibilities present, the latter more plausible: the media has learned that presidents do not control the price of commodities, but the laws of supply and demand do. Or, that somehow, behind the scenes, George W. Bush is still responsible, manipulating oil prices to help enrich his oil friends. That’s about right.

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PA “President” Mahmoud Abbas, whose term expired around the time George Bush’s did, announced that Israel is trying to destroy any evidence of Arab Jerusalem. Rather than expose him as the liar and fraud that he is, and suspend “peace” talks indefinitely, PM Netanyahu castigated him in the strongest terms as … “not how one makes peace,” and not what Israel expects from someone who is supposed to be “pro-peace.” How pathetic, how inadequate to the task! In fact, the exact opposite is true – it is the Arabs who have for a decade erasing Jewish history from the Temple Mount one bulldozer and truck at a time, with a pusillanimous response from Israel. When Netanyahu wastes his breath speaking of a “peace process” with such brazen, shameless liars, he reveals himself to be an unserious man. And when he freezes construction permits in Yerushalayim – as he did again in the last few days to prevent any Obama contrived criticism when the PM arrives in DC this week – he demonstrates again a remarkably thin grasp of history, and undermines Israel’s claim to its own land. Yet, brilliant musings like those will win standing ovations at the AIPAC Policy Conference next week when Netanyahu speaks. It is far better to clarify what is real and true than to pursue facile and fatuous applause lines.

In a related note, the Arab world now wants the UN to investigate the “Judaization” of Jerusalem. This is a typical Arab gesture – accusing their enemies of doing exactly what they wish to do (massacres, genocides, poisoning, etc.) To save time and money, Israel should admit the charge but point out its untimeliness: Jerusalem was “Judaized” 3000 years ago.

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It is hard to remember the last time any Congress passed legislation because it thought it was good for the country, rather than being good for the special interest groups that ply the victors with money or the blocs of voters that furnish them with votes.

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Saw this somewhere, perhaps the great Thomas Sowell: “Always be yourself, because the people that matter don’t mind, and the people that mind don’t matter.”

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Isn’t it uncanny (or something else?) that Parshat Zachor is read again this coming Shabbat, and once again the Jewish people are forced to deal with a diabolical, genocidal dictator bent on our extermination – just like Amalek, Haman, Hitler and all the others. “Remembering Amalek” is real, because it reflects the past and the present – and the future – simultaneously. That is why it is a mitzvah to remember Amalek. That is why dealing with Amalek is a dynamic and substantive part of Jewish life.

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Posted in Contemporary Life, Current Events, Israel, Jewish History

Unhinged

Posted on February 14, 2012 | Comments Off

“It is not an exaggeration to say that the position an individual takes on the conflict between Israel and the Arabs is a near-infallible guide to their general view of the world. Those who believe that Israel is the historic victim of the Arabs – and that its behavior, while not perfect, is generally as good as could be expected given that it is fighting for its existence against an enemy using the weapons of religious war – typically have a rational, non-ideological approach to the world, arriving at conclusions on the basis of evidence. Those who believe that Israel is the regional bully hell-bent on oppressing the Palestinians, and who equate it with Nazism or apartheid, are generally moral and cultural relativists who invert truth and lies, right and wrong over a wide range of issues, and are incapable of seeing that their beliefs do not accord with reality.” Indeed, such commentary is not only “not an exaggeration,” but it is also one of the precise and pointed conclusions of Melanie Philips, the British journalist, self-described “agnostic although traditionally minded Jew” (only a Jew could possibly concoct such a unique self-description) in her insightful 2010 book “The World Turned Upside Down: the Global Battle over God, Truth and Power.” Taking as her starting point the relentless war against Israel and the Jewish people, she broadens her focus to encompass similar departures from reality inherent in positions of the left on religion, culture, science, morality and values itself. In short, the war against Israel is a major battlefield in a wider war – against traditional conceptions of God, truth and historic moral norms – and all relate to an abandonment of reason and the denigration of truth. That phenomenon is generally perceived by Israelis and other supporters of Israel, who wage a valiant but unsuccessful struggle to “educate” the world on the justice of Israel’s cause. The inversion of reason is patently clear, even most recently. The world community failed (and still fails) to condemn Arab rocket attacks on Israel’s southern towns and cities, which continue as recently as…today. Those attacks prompted Israel to launch Operation Cast Lead in 2006, which resulted in some civilian casualties among Gazans used as human shields by their terrorist hosts. So the world condemned…Israel for attacking civilians, Israel for using Arab civilians as human shields, and Israel for defending itself – while offering no alternative. Most of the Arab dead were terrorists, a few hundred were civilians caught in the crossfire, and the total dead numbered some 1300 – that is, about one-quarter of the number of Syrian civilians who have been murdered by the Syrian government in the last half-year without drawing any condemnation from an international body. This is more than hypocrisy – it is a pathology that perceives Jews, and to some extent the Western world and its value system, as inherently guilty no matter what the charge or the facts. But the examples are legion. The flippancy with which the world embraces accusations of Israeli massacres, or notions such as the “illegality” of an occupation (even though the sovereign from whom Israel captured those territories in a defensive war – Jordan – has long abandoned its rights to that area, and such concepts are not applied anywhere else on the globe) or even the disproved death of the Dura child in 2000 are all evidence of a soaring flight from reality. Reason, truth, justice and morality are today currencies in search of a market that traffics mainly in relativity, emotions, fantasies and feel-good politics and lifestyles. The same departures from the real world are noticeable in other spheres. Science, in some respects, has abandoned its traditional processes in order to promote what some perceive as desirable social goals. This is most manifest in the alarmism of global warming, the ridicule and professional excoriation of dissenters, and the pronouncement that the issue of man-made climate change is “settled.” Really? “If a scientific argument is said to be “over,” settled though a “consensus” of unchallengeable conclusions, it stops being science and turns instead into dogma.” This, despite the fact that hundreds of scientists have dissented from the dogma, and been denounced as heretics in turn. Furthermore, she notes, “scientific triumphalism” has presumed to pronounce on matters beyond its ken, especially metaphysics and religion. Believers in intelligent design are derided, even as evidence of a Designer is far more plausible than the alternative. Worse, the denigration of God is repugnant but also misplaced, as, logically, the Creator of nature stands outside of nature and is therefore not subject to “proof” through nature. We “know” G-d through His deeds. Although it is reasonable to assume based on available evidence that the universe had a Creator or Rational Designer, our acceptance of G-d stems from His reach into history, especially Jewish history. That, indeed, is the famous comment of the Kuzari as to why the Decalogue begins with “I am the Lord your G-d who took you out of Egypt” and not the G-d who created the world. The scientists who are in the forefront of the new atheist movement (too many of them are Jews) have abandoned both reason and humility in their hostility to the idea of G-d. Scientific believers – common throughout history and still prevalent today – need not apply to their club, even though, “at the heart of all science lies the conviction that the universe is orderly…Atheism, by contrast, holds that the world comes from a random and therefore irrational source….” That hostility, and those of others who denigrate and castigate every religion except for one (see below), is born of the secular inquisition that has elevated the “privatization of morality” (Philips has a gift for phraseology) into a sacrament. All moral norms are repudiated, in effect reproducing a 14th-century heretical Christian sect of libertines known as the “Free Spirits.” Its modern incarnation has warred against the very concept of sin, seeking to de-stigmatize promiscuity, illegitimacy, and homosexuality. Again, dissenters from liberal Orthodoxy are figuratively burned at the stake, either shunned by society or mocked by the mass media. For some it is professional suicide, like the Italian politician whose nomination as EU Justice Minister was rejected in 2004 because he had once called homosexuality a “sin.” Dissenters are demonized, not engaged in dialogue. The assertions are considered self-justifying and self-explanatory, and all critics are denounced as “–phobics” of one variety or another (xenophobes, homophobes, Islamophobes, etc.). The favored religion is, ironically, Islam, for which no criticism is tolerated. Free speech codes in many countries have been amended to criminalize criticisms of Islam; such forbearance is not afforded any other religion. One is not allowed to point out the violent tendencies of the modern Muslim, who is then justified in becoming violent against the utterers. Truth is turned on its head. One must robotically repeat the mantra of “Islam, the religion of peace,” even if all evidence points to the contrary. Yale University, publishing a scholarly work on the Danish cartoon controversy, refused to allow the book to re-print the very cartoons in question – deference that is not shown to any other religion or ideology. The left – the home of feminists, homosexual activists and the similarly situated – finds itself, without any sense of its own preposterousness, wildly antagonistic to Israel and sympathetic to its Islamic foes – societies where women seeking liberation and homosexuals are routinely stoned, male supremacy reigns and modernity is repudiated. Modern journalism has been corrupted in that truth and objectivity are disdained in pursuit of a “greater truth” that prefers advocacy to reportage. Religious authority has been undermined, with alternative lifestyles becoming mainstream and the basic family unit torn apart and demeaned. Taboos have become taboo. Anything goes. “Feelings” matter more than responsibility, morality, education or accomplishment. Barack Obama was propelled to the presidency by cultish worshippers who ignored traditional modes of analysis and were swept away by fantasy, charisma and a contrived articulacy. “He made them (Americans) feel good about themselves; he stood for hope, love, reconciliation, youthfulness and fairies at the bottom of the garden.” His radical associations and incoherent political musings did not matter; he was the American Princess Diana. And his Cairo speech – in embracing the Arab narrative of Israel’s creation and fantastic notions of the Arab contributions to civilization – was “a startling example of this genuflection to the forces of irrationality and antimodernity.” These movements, taken together, represent an attack on Western civilization and a denial of reason, even as they claim to be fostering reason and saving civilization. Indeed, the left in all its forms is utopian, “warriors in the most noble causes. The greens believe they will save the planet. The leftists believe they will create the brotherhood of man… And the Islamists believe they will create the Kingdom of God on earth.” They are totalitarians who brook no deviation, and who seek to attain their ends through manipulation and/or coercion. They advocate the “totalitarianism of virtue.” Unusual for a self-described agnostic, Philips extols the “marriage of religion and reason in Judaism,” lauding the Bible as the fount of all truth and morality – and reason. Those who perceive a conflict between religion and science understand neither very well. Those who dismiss the Bible’s account of creation forfeit the clearest understanding of man’s origins and purposes. And she rightly identifies “learning” as the “very highest calling” in Judaism – learning, with all its questions, arguments, challenges, resolutions – and reason. It is unsurprising that many of Israel’s enemies – from radical Islam, to the progressive Christian churches, to atheists and leftists of all stripes – often inhabit the same moral and intellectual universe. And make no mistake about it: the old cliché about being anti-Zionist and not a simple old Jew-hater (once known as the anti-Semite) is dead and buried. Those who hate Israel – the modern incarnation of the Jewish people, the center of the Jewish national idea – hate Jews. That some of them are also Jews should not be surprising to anyone who recalls the torment caused to medieval Jews by Jewish apostates. Anyone who claims to love Jews but hates Israel – just hates Jews. “Israel” is a fig leaf, much as the euphemism “anti-Semite” was once utilized to prettify Jew hatred as well. Rare is the analysis of modern politics and culture that will be as meaningful and pointed a century from now. Melanie Philips has succeeded remarkably in identifying the ideology that links all of Israel’s enemies – and in defining our era and its perils. And our challenge: “In repudiating Jewish teaching and its moral codes, the West has turned upon the modern world itself. In turning upon the State of Israel, the West is undermining its defense against the enemies of modernity and the Western civilization that produced it. The great question is whether it actually wants to defend reason and modernity anymore, or whether Western civilization has now reached a point where it has stopped trying to survive.” If the battle is to be fought and won on conventional terms, “The World Turned Upside Down” will have been the clarion call that awakened modern man from his political slumber and moral obtuseness.

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Posted in Contemporary Life, Current Events, Israel, Jewish History

“Embarrassed” by Chanuka

Posted on December 28, 2011 | 9 comments

A rabbi, on the leftist fringe of Orthodoxy, is embarrassed by Chanuka without actually saying so explicitly. In a denunciation of religious extremism and arrogance, he cites, of all people, Matityahu, not the newly-shorn reggae star but the patriarch of the Chashmonaim. The rebellion of Chanuka began in Modiin when Matityahu killed a Jew who was about to bring an idolatrous offering to the Greek gods, an act compounded by Matityahu’s declaration: “Whoever is for G-d, to me!” That statement was clearly meant to evoke Moshe’s identical statement when he rallied the faithful Jews after the sin of the golden calf, certainly an action supported by the Torah.

Concludes our writer: “There is only one small difference. The Levites were acting under God’s direct command, whereas Matityahu was acting on his own religious zeal and certitude. While we see God’s hand working through the Maccabees, and while were it not for Matityahu’s rebellion the miracle of Chanukah never would have happened, we do not have to endorse this initial act of killing another Jew who was violating the Law. We do not have to endorse an approach that turns a tzaddik into a kanai, a zealot.”

At least he doesn’t go so far as to turn Matityahu into a rasha, an evildoer, but merely, a zealot. But he was a zealot, as were his sons, and that is why they were successful, and why we celebrate Chanuka until today.

The linguistic acrobatics performed here are worthy of a circus act. “Were it not for Matityahu’s rebellion, the miracle of Chanuka never would have happened,” so the rebellion ostensibly was a good thing. But “we do not have to endorse this initial act of killing,” because apparently it was a bad thing. But if it was a bad thing, he shouldn’t have done it; but if he didn’t do it, there might not have been a rebellion – after all, “the initial act of killing” was the rebellion. Hmmm…quite a predicament: how can we make Chanuka palatable to the religious left, since it seems to be rooted in many doctrines that are anathema to the religious left: objective truth, moral certitude, justified violence, fierce nationalism and religious zeal. That is quite a predicament.

Perhaps the rabbi has in mind that Matityahu should have led non-violent rallies against the enemy, written some nasty letters to the editor, negotiated peace with the Syrian conquerors, or – perhaps even better – allowed himself to be killed while not-resisting, so that 2250 years later liberal Jews would not have to be embarrassed by his actions which only serve to ruin their celebrations of Chanuka. How short-sighted of Matityahu…

Matityahu and his sons did not believe in religious freedom, or in pluralism, or in peace with the invader, or in sharing the land of Israel with foreigners. They believed in the absolute truth of Torah, in the sanctity of mitzvot, and in an uncompromising loyalty to the Creator, and they were willing to die for their beliefs. And almost all of them did die for their beliefs, including the most famous son of Matityahu, Yehuda HaMaccabee, who was killed in battle not long after the Menora miracle of Chanuka took place.

It must be painful to celebrate a festival that is repeatedly mentioned in our prayers with a passage that begins “in the days of Matityahu,” and then to have to read approvingly how they “stood against the evil Greek kingdom that attempted to cause them to forget the Torah and to cause them to stray from the statutes of Your will.” It must be even more painful to be forced to recall three times a day that “You, in Your abundant compassion, stood with them in their time of travail,” and with His help they prevailed over their enemies.

How to avoid such pain, or such cognitive dissonance between the real Chanuka and the contrived Chanuka ? Our writer: “We choose what to remember, and we choose how to see God in the world.” That is to say, since we are troubled (sometimes rightfully so) by religious certitude, arrogance and zealotry, we will eliminate those postures from our celebration of Chanuka, notwithstanding that without those, there is no Chanuka. So he chooses to focus on the miracle of the oil (unmentioned in the Chanuka prayer “al hanissim”) rather than on the rebellion and the military victory that the miracle of the Menora only came to ratify – to confirm that all aspects of Chanuka were the handiwork of G-d.

The psychological disconnect of Chanuka from modern, liberal sensibilities results from the Maccabim’s rejection of democracy (they were the “few against the many”), humanism (they were the “pure against the impure”), moral relativism (they were the “righteous against the wicked”), pluralism (they were “the diligent students of Torah against the wanton violators”), and reason (they were the “weak against the strong”). All the pillars of the liberal Jew wobble each time the name Matityahu is mentioned, and each time the miracle of Chanuka is commemorated amid feasting and rejoicing, the lighting of the Menorah and the singing of Hallel.

Of course, there is always a real choice for every Jew – a choice not to try to force the round peg of Torah into the square hole of modern liberalism. There is always a choice – to conform our ideas to those of the Torah, and not try to distort the Torah so they it conforms to our predilections. There is even a choice to re-think cherished assumptions, primarily that good and evil, morality and immorality, and right and wrong, are determined not by the editorial pages of the New York Times but only by the Torah.

The subtle attempt to link Matityahu’s “extremism” with the evildoers of Bet Shemesh fails, except to the extent that any disfavored violence should be attributed to disfavored people. The Ultra-Distorters who spit on little girls are not Matityahu reincarnate because their motivations are impure and repugnant, and their sexual hang-ups both bizarre and un-Jewish. Their lifestyle and values, such as they are, reflect an obscene failure of education, upbringing and Torah knowledge. The simplest solution would be to imprison them where they can be kept apart from decent society. They are too easy a target even to criticize – but not a rightist fringe of Jewish life; there is nothing “right” about them – and they have few defenders of any standing in the Rabbinical or Jewish world.

But Chanuka celebrates certainty. It is why we have survived many cruel and harsh enemies, and even survived many pleasant-sounding notions that are really the death knell of Jewish life. Jewish nationalism is not restricted to jingoistic expressions of greatness but is designed to cultivate a nation that will better the world and be a source of blessing for the entire planet. The celebration of Chanuka internalizes that objective and advances that goal – of pride and accomplishment, of purposeful survival, of righteousness and faith, of self-sacrifice and intense dedication to Torah – and to true Jewish values.

So thank you, Matityahu and family, and happy Chanuka to all.

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Posted in Contemporary Life, Current Events, Holidays, Jewish History