INSPIRED BY FAITH, WE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD

Throughout their history, the Jewish people have faced both physical and spiritual threats. The Purim story represents a physical existential attack on the Jewish people, and the Ḥanukka story portrays a spiritual existential threat. These are two parallel paths to achieve the same goal: the destruction of Judaism and the Jewish people. We can never be sure about the motivation for these attacks, but we can speculate that there were those in Greek society who perceived the values of the Torah as a threat, as they were often diametrically opposed to the values of Greek culture.

Size and power are not what is important in life to achieve our goals. Might does not make right. Even a single individual can change the world. We have to put our faith in God that there is a plan for us as individuals and for the Jewish people.

Jewish history is brimming with examples of the Jewish spirit triumphing over adversity, inspired by faith in God. Examples include the survival of Jews and Judaism after the expulsion from Spain; the influx of millions of Russian and Eastern European Jews to the United States of America in the late nineteenth/early twentieth century, and how they established themselves there; and the significant contributions that Jews have made to wider society in areas such as science, culture, and economics. But perhaps the most powerful example is the return of Jewish sovereignty to the land of Israel just three years after the Holocaust, despite the devastating destruction of the majority of European Jewry.

FROM THE THOUGHT OF RABBI SACKS

Our very history as a people is a testament to the existence of God, who has protected us and ensured our survival against all the odds through thousands of years of persecution and wandering. The very existence and survival of the Jewish people transmits core Jewish messages to the world, among them: might does not make right, the dignity of difference, and faith in God.

The quote refers to the size of the Jewish people in relation to the importance of their task and national mission, and Ḥanukka is an example of a small people achieving great things, demonstrating core Jewish values and the Jewish destiny.

IT ONCE HAPPENED…

God can perform miracles through supernatural means, and through nature. The military victory represents a natural miracle, as the Maccabees fought hard, but they achieved an unlikely triumph that must have benefitted from God’s help. This is no less impressive than the supernatural miracle of the oil that burned for eight days, when it should only have burned for one day. Both types of miracles come from God, but they are achieved by different means.

AMUSING ANAGRAMS

Latke

Olive oil

Dreidel

Maccabees

Yehuda

Shamash

Mattityahu

Miracles