JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – Rabbi Irvin Brandwein sees Hanukkah as a time when the Jewish people reaffirm “a stubborn refusal to assimilate or vanish” from the world.
The rabbinically ordained festival commemorates resistance by the Maccabees, a small group of Jewish rebels in the second century B.C., against the Seleucid Greek state that wanted them to disavow their religion and adopt Hellenistic ways.
After a military victory, the Jews returned to their desecrated temple in Jerusalem and planned a rededication.
They believed there was only enough ritually pure oil to keep the menorah candles burning for one day. But it instead stayed lit for eight days.
That is why the lighting of menorah candles – in what is now the darkest time of the year – is central to the festival, which will take place from Wednesday through Jan. 2.
“The miracle of the oil lasting for so long, a tiny bit of oil, we see that legend as a mirror of Jewish life,” said Brandwein, the leader of Beth Sholom Congregation in Westmont. “It should have been exhausted. It should have become extinct more than 15, 20 times in our long history because of powerful forces threatening our disappearance, our extinction. We overcame.
“All of those empires are gone. I refer of course to all the ancient empires – the Egyptians, Hittites, and Persians, Greeks, Romans, all the way straight through modern history with the Second World War, Soviet Union, and other forces of the world that continue to threaten Jewish life and Jewish tradition and their religion. We have overcome them all. We have survived, and flourished and thrived in spite of it.
“So that’s the miracle of Hanukkah. That’s how it speaks to us, to our congregation.”
Brandwein also discussed Hanukkah as a time of personal religious reflection.
“We add a light each night to teach the truth that we’re either growing or shrinking. We’re getting better or we’re getting worse,” he said. “There’s no such thing as standing still. Especially in matters of the spirit, we’re either progressing and getting better or we’re doing the opposite, but we don’t stand still.
“And we express this truth by adding a light each night, until on the eighth night we have nine blazing lights to light up the darkness of winter and the new season and to reinforce our commitments and our loyalty to our tradition.”
Beth Sholom, 700 Indiana St., plans to hold a Hanukkah service at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
Earlier this month, Brandwein participated in another event, Merry Chrismahanukwanzakah, during which he and representatives of different faiths came together to discuss the significance of Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa.
“It’s so important to raise our consciousness, to raise awareness of the need for different religious traditions, to share values and communicate in ways that are accessible to all so that we build a stronger religious community of faith,” Brandwein said.
“It can only be good for us and for America for different communities of faith to communicate and share their revered traditions and together build a society of believers of different traditions, who will join together and make sure there’s no room for hatred and make sure that we will have a religious culture that will not tolerate hatred.”