Hanukah in Song and Story:
Longfellow to Herzl, Festival
Of Lights Inspired Great Writers
(American JeWlsh Press Feature)
The Hanukah Festival makes
a vivid appeal to the imagina-
tion-charged mind of the child,
and perhaps essentially it is for
the same reason it has made
such an impact in song and
story. The writer and compos-
er's mind is kindred to the
child's in being of "imagination
compact." The story of the he-
roic Maccabaean has been de-
picted by a string of writers
ranging all the way from Grace
Aguilar to Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow. In song, the tradi-
tional Rock of Ages and the
great oratorios of Judas Macca-
beus by Handel testify to its
impress.
Emma Lazarus, the young
American poetess, some of whose
lines are inscribed on the Statue
of Liberty in the New York har-
bor, chose the Maccabaean
theme for several of her best ef-
forts. Her poem,
Kindle the taper like a
steadfast star,
And add each night a luster
till afar—
has been set to music.
And there is her famous
poem, "The Banner of the Jew."
Wake, Israel, wake, Recall to
clay
The glorious Maccabean rage.
Could any Jew dreaming of
the restoration of Israel not be
moved by the words:
0 deem not dead the
martial
fire,
Say not the mystic flame is
spent,
With Moses' law and David's
lyre,
Your ancient strength re-
mains unbent,
Let but an Ezra arise anew
•To lift the banner of the Jew!
And the Yiddish "ghetto poet,"
Morris Rosenfeld, contemplating
the twinkling Hanukah candles,
stands agape in admiration: for
a Jewish heroism that seemed
so distant to his own generation.
• .r
Ben Shahar in his poem,
truths. The cleansing of the "Little Hanukah Candle," writes
Temple by the Hasmoneans is humorously and tenderly, seeing
symbolical for man's cleansing the little Hanukah candles as
trying to cheer the disheartened
of the human heart.
Oh thus shall mercy's hand of the world generally.
delight
To cleanse the blemished
heart
As though a tear were in your
eye.
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wrote the Yiddish poet, Philip
M. Raskin. Those dreams were
of the more fundamental story
of Hanukah, th e story of
man's sorrow and his deliver-
ance from it.
In the same way, an earlier
American Jewish poetess, Pe-
nina Moise—whom we may per-
haps describe as the first Ameri-
can Jewish poetess—dating back
to days not far after the found-
Inc, of the United States—saw in
the story of Hanukah a bastion
for deeper faith in the ultimate
28—THE JEWISH NEWS
Friday, December 21, 1951
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Hanukah Greetings
Theodor Herzl drew great in-
spiration from Hanukah. In
"The Menorah," he describes a
Jew, who had thought himself.
completely assimilated to his en-
vironment and minus all Jewish
values, suddenly being chal-
lenged by the rising anti-Semi-
tism of his environment. The
dormant Jewish spark is fanned
by these events and he buys a
Menorah. He contemplates the
Menorah. It is obvious that it
follows the 'design of a tree, the
center being the trunk with the
branches flowing from it. Just
as a broken down tree may by
proper attention be made to
yield again, so the Jewish tree
may be revivified.
•
But while many Jewish writ-
ers and poets saw in Hanukah
hopes for political revival, this
was not true of all. The Hanu-
kah candles spoke of different
things.
Eight little candles
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FORD—Sales & Service
Heartiest Greetings
What is there in you, Little
Is it that you are trying to say
To cheer the weak in the fray,
That as the faint light is
fanned into a flame
The spirit of men is the same!
Is this what you are trying to
say
Little candle with only one
watt
Jew, you also took the field,
Jew, you made the foeman
yield,
God, how strange it all seems.
Their guttering gleams
Speak to my heart
In a language of dreams.
Hanukah candle?
You haven't so many watts
That makes you glow so.
warmly
In a million human hearts.
That as long as the candle
burns
Let us not despair of our lot.
Rekindle virtues waning light
And Peace and truth impart!
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A Happy Hanukah Season
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WE. 3-5178
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