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Chanukah: Be politically incorrect --- and be proud doing so
By Rabbi Berel Wein
http://www.jewishworldreview.com |
The Torah reading of Miketz traditionally marches in lock step with the
holiday of Chanukahh so that it is almost always read on the Sabbath of
Chanukahh. Since Jews know that there are no coincidences in Jewish tradition
and life, it must therefore follow that there is a deep and lasting
connection between the Torah reading of Miketz and the holiday of Chanukah. I
have always felt that one of the connections between Miketz and Chanukah lies
in the willingness to be unpopular in the present in order to be judged
correct in the future.
In the Torah reading of Miketz, Joseph interprets Pharaoh's dream in an
accurate, truthful, and prophetic but basically critical and unflattering
fashion. He tells Pharaoh that there will be a horrid famine and that the
Egyptian authorities are unprepared for it. Pharaoh's own rule will be
threatened unless he changes his governmental policies, prepares adequately
for the future, and does not squander the prosperity of the present and
immediate future.
It is in the nature of all governments to sacrifice the
tomorrow for the today, to turn a blind eye to the future and bask in the
glory of the apparent successes of the here and now.
Pharaoh had many advisers that attempted to interpret his troubling dreams.
But unlike Joseph, they were sycophants, who only fawned on the monarch's
vanity and told him nothing that would affect his governmental policies.
They told him that all the disasters were not because of him, they said they
were not preventable and weren't his fault. But Pharaoh himself is untouched
by his advisers' interpretations. Only Joseph, imprisoned and alien, dares
tell him the unpopular truth, the politically incorrect but accurate
interpretation of the dreams that so haunt the Pharaoh and give him no rest,
neither in the day or in the night. But it is that truth, unpleasant and
unwelcome, that will save Pharaoh's throne and Egypt itself.
Chanukah essentially repeats the same message --- of telling and facing the
unpopular truth in Jewish life and history. The Syrian Greeks possessed an
attractive and civilized culture. The Jews, with their old-fashioned rituals
and strait-laced Torah morality, appeared primitive and backward in
comparison with the Syrian Greeks and their life- style. Tens of thousands
of Jews defected to the side of the Syrian Greeks and became Hellenists. And
they demanded that the Jews who remained loyal to the Torah and values of
their ancestors not only accept them as Hellenists, but also agree that they
were the ones to lead the Jewish people into that brave, new Greek world.
They were not willing to face the awful truth that Hellenizing Jews would
eventually mean the destruction of the Jewish people and Torah Judaism.
A small band of Jews, the family of the Chashmonaim - Hasmoneans -- not only fought the
Syrian Greeks, liberated the Holy Temple and rekindled its menorah -- the
symbol of Torah purity but perhaps, even more importantly, they told the
truth to the Jewish people -- the unpleasant, politically incorrect, jarring,
divisive, intolerant Truth.
Judaism without a Sabbath or true Jewish ritual and one that
refuses to make the hard and necessary Jewish demands on its constituency
will not contribute to Jewish growth. A Jewish community that does not give
its young an intensive Jewish education, but willingly, almost desperately,
spends its talent and wealth pursuing general social projects that change
with the constantly varying popular perceptions of society will not ensure
Jewish survival.
The difficulties of the Jewish future, which are now already apparent to all
thinking Jews, are foolishly and irresponsibly ignored and their solutions
sacrificed to the comfort and false unity of the present. That was not the
way of Joseph or of the Hasmoneans.
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JWR contributor Rabbi Berel Wein is one of Jewry's foremost historians and
founder of the Destiny Foundation.
He has authored over 650 tapes, books and videos which you can purchase at RabbiWein.com.
Comment by clicking here or calling 1-800-499-WEIN (9346).
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