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Shabbat Shalom: Parshat Vayeshev Genesis 37:1-40:23
By Shlomo Riskin
EFRAT, Israel: -What is the value of a secular State of
Israel for religious Jews, especially when a largely secular government
seems to take lightly the innate sanctity of the Temple Mount and the
Machpela Cave?
Our present Festival of Chanukah provides the answer. Despite the fact
that Chanukah is “merely” a rabbinically ordained Festival, it has
become one of the most popular and visible holidays on the American scene.
One possible reason may be that its place on the calendar (though not this
year) often coincides with the American Christmas, and the idea of a
Jewish ‘festival of lights’ fits in quite well with the general
American “season’s greetings” culture towards the end of the month
of December.
Chanukah has also emerged as one of the most popular holidays in Israel;
undoubtedly the entire school system –religious as well as secular-
being closed for the entire week of the festival imbues the Israeli
youngster with a boundless love for this mid-winter period when the
country is flush with celebrations and special performances, all geared to
the child’s growing curiosity for the world around him. But there is
also the simple, historic element of the Macabeean victory against the
Greeks which is so reminiscent of the early struggle for our Jewish State
of Israel, allowing Chanukah to take on, for someone growing up in a
country that is still surrounded by enemies who would destroy us if they
could, a much greater urgency and relevance.
Nevertheless, a case could be made against any Chanu¬kah celebration at
all, from a religious perspective. After all, the first Hasmonean Kings (rela¬tives
of Judah haMaccabee, hero of the revolt) descended from the tribe of Levi,
the tribe of priests, and the Bible insists that kings ought to emerge
from the tribe of Judah: “the scepter of rule shall not depart from (the
tribe of) Judah” (Gen. 49:10), with the Ramban (ad loc), forbidding a
King from any other Tribe, and even Maimonides (Laws of Kings) insisting
that a messianic, eternal dynasty can only emerge from Judah.
The historical fact is that the Hasmoneans, priests of the Holy Temple,
arrogated to themselves – in defiance of Jacob’s tribal blessings and
codified Jewish Law – the Kingship of Israel. Not only does this
circumvent the Torah, but it also brings an end to the separation of
tem¬ple and state, a wall which preserved priesthood and roy¬alty as two
distinct ideas And this separation was seen as crucial for two important
reasons.
A king’s throne may be high, but it dare not be higher than the
commandments of the Divine: the same ritual practices which apply to the
simplest Jew must also apply to King David. It was deemed important that
the King be equal - and not superior to - any other Jew, at least in the
realm of reli¬gious ritual, and that such equality imbue the King with
fundamental humility, enhancing the powerful notion of universal
subjection to the King of all Kings (Deut. 17:18-20).
Priests, however, whose re¬lationship to the Divine sets them apart,
obligates them to more than the average Jew and grants them special
privileges, entry to parts of the Temple wherein the ordi¬nary Israelite
cannot enter, can suggest specialness of persona and higher, Divinely
bestowed authority for the king which could spell disaster in the creation
of a totalitarian monarchy. Secondly, whereas the King might be forced to
make certain ritual compromises in his day-to-day activity with the
international community, the Jewish ritual must stand above the exigencies
of the moment and express eternal relevance and continuity. Moreover, the
ritual authority of the High Priest and the ethical authority of the
Prophet – removed, as the Bible sees these functionaries, from the
possibility of Kingship, provided crucial checks and balances upon the
individual who sat on the executive throne. Hence a King who is also High
Priest provides a script for disaster. Therefore, we shouldn’t be too
surprised that the Hasmonean rule was doomed. True, there were
achievements, territorial ex¬pansion and great building enterprises, but
this couldn’t cover up the strife, civil war and internecine conflicts
between Hyrcanos II and his brother, or prevent the sad fact that the
descendants of the original Hasmoneans ended up on the edge of apostasy,
assimilating into the very Hellenistic world their grandfathers fought
against so zealously. Subsequent Hasmonean rule was the very antithesis of
religious fidelity and commitment.
Given all this, why the eight-day festivities beginning with the Hasmonean
victory on the 25th day of Kislev? What about all the dark spots we’ve
just mentioned, the stains on the Hasmonean legacy? Maimonides says it all
when he explains our rabbinic festival and its concomitant recitations of
the Hallel Psalms of praises to the Almighty “because the Hasmoneans
restored Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel for close to two-hundred
years”! (Mishneh Torahs, beginning Laws of Chanukah.) What we are
celebrating is that the Jews were able to wrest power from the
Greek-Syrians, and re¬store the kingdom of Israel. Yes, absolute power
may corrupt absolutely, but what about absolute powerlessness? Hav¬ing
been the victims of so many foreign powers, the Jews know that the
impo¬tence of powerlessness leads to the brink of destruction even more
readily than corrupt power! Whatever may be the consequences of a corroded
Israeli government, they must pale in comparison to the injustices wrought
upon our people by the likes of an Egyptian Pharoah or a mad-man Hitler..
Apparently, driving the Greek-Syrians out of Jerusa¬lem was of such
tremendous importance that despite the breakdown of the separation between
High Priest and King we nevertheless declared a Festival. All the stains
of the Hasmon¬ean dynasty - and there were many transgressions - could
not darken the successes of the Maccabees, vital to the future of the
Jewish people. The lights of Chanukah had to be lit or the light in the
world would have been extinguished forever, leaving Israel in total
darkness. An Israeli government may be far from perfect, but it
nevertheless portends “the beginning of the sprouting of our redemption”
much more than any foreign ruler can do. And the rest, how we change and
develop that government, is largely up to us, residents of the State of
Israel.
Shabbat Shalom
Shlomo Riskin
Chancellor Ohr Torah Stone
Chief Rabbi - Efrat Israel
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