Just Chanukah?

Just Chanukah !

by Rabbi Mordechai Z. Hecht

Anshe SholomChabad JCC

Kew Gardens, NY

Observed

If you are reading this, you are alive, and presumably have heard that this year Chanukah and Thanksgiving fall out on the same day. You have also probably heard terms like Chanugivikah, Thanksukkah, Turkenora-menurkey and lots more.

At first I thought all right, Thanksgiving is no pagan holiday, nothing really wrong with all of that. In fact, it is a holiday of thanks for coming to America – thanks to G-d for helping the ancient Pilgrims find the Americas as a new place for humanity to explore and expand their horizons – seems cool. As a seventh generation American, we do have to be thankful and grateful for that after all.

I Ponder

People have started to ask me, “Are Jews even allowed to celebrate Thanksgiving?” And eventually, they began proposing all sorts of ideas of how to bring these two holidays.

That is when I realized, perhaps we are losing our identity here, getting lost in the hullabaloo of our key to survival and pedestal for posterity and continuity.

Approach

At first, I tried to address it from a Halachic perspective and I came across a very well written article by a law man, Michael Broyde[1], an excellent summary of the Jewish Halachic perspective on the matter, all based on the teachings and responses of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein OB”M, the greatest American Jewish law authority of the last 50 Years.

As a law man myself, I was quite satisfied with his rendition and view, give or take a few minor conclusions. And then I decided to review Reb Moshe’s response and came across something most interesting, something which M.B. fails to quote, another one of the responses of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein.

In Iggros Moshe Vol.1 Sec. 46, 2., a question is asked to him by Rabbi Yissachar Dov Halperin, the Rebbe of Reisha-Beitch, concerning the placement of American and Israel flags in the synagogue. Reb Moshe writes as follows, and read this carefully: “Clearly those who place flags of America or Israel in the sanctuaries are doing so not out right as a sign of religion, but rather as a secular sign, and as a sign of endearment to the government, for all to see. Even though it is inappropriate to bring it into a synagogue, a place of holiness, and surely not to build it into the structure, and surely not in proximity to the Holy Ark… as it is a concept of vanity and futility. To remove it from the synagogue peacefully would be ‘good’, to create a fight over it would be prohibited…”

So, all hands on deck, we will not prohibit Thanksgiving, let the endearment reign. But to call it holy and place it side by side with the holy Menorah – the ark of Chanukah – may be considered an act of futility and vanity.

The Rarity of this Occasion

I then came across a historical essay[2] on the coinciding holidays and some real calendar facts. I thought wow, this is just wild stuff – who calculates these things?! – who has the brains and oversight to assure that this happens?

They not only align in time, but thematically both celebrate religious liberty.[3] The Pilgrims sought religious freedom in the New World, and the ancient Jews triumphed over Greek oppressors who had banned the practice of Judaism. But then again, people, religions and denominations have had and will always have their celebrations – equating them is where the challenge arises.

Withstanding our ability to thank G-d and be grateful for all that we have is indeed for all mankind. In fact, men the world over should recognize G-d’s omnipresence in the world in general and the divine hand in finding and coming to America[4] long before the pilgrims.

What makes the Jewish people great is not the similarity and common denominators with the nations of the world or other religions; not because we have a land or a government or even an army. What makes the nation of Israel, the Jewish people, the Am Echad is our choseness by Hashem, our uniqueness and our special identity within the world, withstanding all that is around us, in the past, present and future.

Do we give away what we have and are blessed with for relationships or fun? Do we throw away sweat and tears and blood for integration? We survived practically everything imaginable in history not because we blended in or gave in or teamed up, but because we maintained our very own unique identity and held it special and precious in our hearts.

True freedom of religion and true freedom of life means I am and remain exactly what I am, in all aspects of my heritage.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a holiday celebrated in the United States on the fourth Thursday in November. It has been an annual tradition since 1863 when, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwells in the Heavens,” to be celebrated on Thursday, November 26.

The event that Americans commonly call the "First Thanksgiving" was celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World in 1621.

Think about it from an historical perspective;[5] When the pilgrims came to this new land they were not exactly the nicest bunch. In fact, we are still paying remunerations to the Indians on this main land.

We wiped them out, or at least we tried to. We ran them over. Instead of learning from them, learning with them and learning to live side by side, we were colonialists overriding our fellow man. Where is the holiday in that? As a matter of fact, research shows that this holiday has taken on many cloaks of reasoning for its enactment and existence. Besides, we are thanking G-d and that is what our ancestors were doing, so let’s just go with the flow here, great citizens of the free world…

Chanukah

Chanukah on the other hand is about survival. The Hellenist Greek armies tried to wipe us out by invading our homeland and the greatest miracle of all happened – we won. The few over the many, the weak over the mighty – we therefore celebrate, and of course, Thank G-d.

The entire celebration is about the minority winning, and not vice versa. About morals and ethics and spirituality, not just bodily beauty and Hellenism, as it were back in the day.

Sure, hundreds of years later we are grateful for what America has graciously turned into. Sure, the Indians eventually conceded, we now have peace and there is no civil war between the US Army and Indian tribes. But can we ultimately compare and equate Chanukah to Thanksgiving? Are we to mix ourselves up with secularism because it looks and sounds cool, or because it is fun and interestingly coincidental?

The only coincidence is the reminder to thank G-d. That we all understand! But the equation is the concern, so I respectfully ask, at what cost? Will more people light Menorahs this year or will more people eat Turkey and stuffing? Will more mitzvahs be done to make the world a better place this season, or will more Thanksgivika t-shirts be sold on the Internet for some huge conglomerate to profit?

As a proud American, proud of the American flag, proud of the Washington Apple and Florida Orange, the Mississippi River and the Brooklyn Bridge, the Statue of Liberty and Central Cascades Mountains, the Adirondacks and Yosemite Park, I am the last one to bash the connection here. I simply ask, at what cost? At what ultimate effect? Does it strengthen our Jewish identity? Does it help us grow and prosper as a nation? Does it make Hashem happy? What would Moses and Ezekiel and Mordechai from the story of Purim and Yehudah Hamacabee and the High Priest in the Temple have to say about it? 

The Miracle of Oil

Speaking of the High Priest in the Temple, how can we forget that the entire miracle of Chanukah with the oil, which had lost seal of the High Priest and deemed unfit for use? We somehow find this minute detail to be the ground and platform for the whole miracle. Can we miss this fact? Can we drive over the little detail that is Chanukah?

Chanukah is all about the little details; the fine line between purity and impurity, between what is Holy and G-dly and what is not. To enter the Temple Mount you could not even bring your knapsack or wear shoes, can u imagine? What could be so bad or wrong in that? Yet that was the case.

I strongly propose you keep your shoes on, BUT, keep your Chanukah while you’re at it.

Sure, we can eat turkey and enjoy cranberry sauce and stuffing, but mish nisht – do not mix things up – that is all I ask. Chanukah is the greatest Thanksgiving in the Jewish calendar; Thanksgiving for the miracles, for our survival and for our holiness.

Afterthought

Remember when you were little and your mom and or dad would say to you, “why can’t you just behave like your brother? Why can’t you just be smart and talented like your sister?!” Remember how aggravated that would make you – why couldn’t mom or dad just accept me for who I am? I turn to you and say, G-d says the same. We have so much individuality, so much to offer the world – here is your chance to be yourself and not have to be like the proverbial brother or sister of the world. Be authentic, be genuine, be yourself, express your true colors and lights of the menorah. Play Dreidel the way you know how, eat latkes and give out Chanukah gelt and for eight days, be Jewish the yiddishe way.