Friday, November 25, 1983 67
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Hanuka: Lessons for Israel and Judaism
(Continued from Page 66)
because they believed it was
wrong worship and a bet-
rayal of Israel's covenant
with God.
When after decades of
fighting they liberated
Jerusalem and purified
the Temple, they purged
the opposition priests
and others, including
executing and driving
out those whose religious
practices violated the
traditional commitments
and service. They fought
for and established a
state in which Jews could
worship God in the right
way — and not in any
way. Hanuka is not a
model for total separa-
tion of church and state.
Indeed, when modern
Jews went back to Israel,
they did not totally separate
Judaism and the state. They
followed European process
and were closer to the Mac-
cabee precedent in estab-
lishing Judaism as a relig-
ion. To insure that Israel
would be a democracy, they
recognized the other relig-
ions and their rights as well,
but did not deal with the
pluralism issue within
Judaism.
Yet, from a deeper histor-
ical perspective, Hanuka
did make possible religious
freedom in one way. The
Jewish insistence on re-
maining distinctive and
pursuing their exclusive
worship of God was en-
dangered by the univer-
salizing and assimilating
power, especially as it was
backed by government con-
trol. Had the Jews disap-
peared, Hellenism, religi-
ous homogenization would
probably have triumphed
worldwide.
The Maccabee victory
saved particularist
Judaism. It preserved the
stubborn Jewish insistence
on "doing their own thing"
religiously; never mind the
claims of universalism that
only if we are all citizens of
one world and one faith will
we truly be one humanity.
By not disappearing,
Jews have continued to
force the world — down
to this day — to accept the
limits of centralization.
Jewish existence has
been a continued stumbl-
ing block to whatever
political philosophy-
religion-economic sys-
tem has claimed the right
to abolish all distinctions
for "the higher good of
humanity."
Since the centralizing
forces often turned oppres-
sive, or obliterated local cul-
tures and dignity, this
Jewish resistance to
homogenization has been a
blessing to humanity and a
continuing source of religi-
ous pluralism for everybody
— not just the Jews.
Is there then no lesson
from Hanuka on the issue of
separation of church and
state and internal Jewish
pluralism? Is the
traditionalist Orthodox pos-
ition of close state-religion
ties, and an enforced religi-
ous monopoly, backed by
the Maccabee precedent? I
think not.
After the Maccabees
came to power, the ultra-
traditionalist Hasmoneans
dropped out of the coalition.
They felt that any govern-
ment would have to live
with Hellenism, make polit-
ical deals, allow cultural in-
fluence. They were right
but the committed Jewish
majority — including the
rabbis — saw that without a
state and some accultura-
tion the Jews could not sur-
vive. Without a state, the
Jewish people and eventu-
ally Judaism, too, would be
suppressed.
However, the Hasmo-
neans, who were priests,
insisted on taking over
the kingship as well as
the Temple priesthood.
The rabbis opposed this
unification of political
and religious power in
one group. With a deep
historical wisdom, they
realized that some moral
and religious compromis-
ing was inescapable in
the process of govern-
ment and struggle for
survival. They also
wanted state help to
strengthen religion. But
when religion and state
are totally identified,
compromises turn into
corruption, because
there is no independent
channel of criticism and
renewal.
The rabbis saw that relig-
ion would inevitably be con-
fused with the pure political
interests of the ruling group
to the detriment of both re-
ligion and government.
The Maccabees went
ahead and united both pow-
ers.
The rabbis did not drop
out but they soon were in-
Wage Games
TEL AVIV (ZINS) — Al-
though the Israeli public re-
ceived a 20.5 percent cost-
of-living increase for
November, members of the
Knesset, however, were
scheduled to receive a 50
percent boost. MK Geula
Cohen introduced a motion
to cut Knesset salaries six
percent.
At the same time, senior
El Al officials have taken a
10 percent cut in pay.
continual
in
volved
political/religious conflicts
with the government. Even-
tually, the rabbis were so
alienated that they all but
cut the Hasmoneans out of
the Talmud.
The rabbis glorified
Hanuka as the miracle of
the oil, not as a military-
political victory because
they were disillusioned
with the corrupting effects
of the religious-political
monopoly on the quality of
religious life.
The lesson of Hanuka
for Israel today might be
that the religious
monopoly enforced by
political law is bad for the
religious monopoly
group itself. Establish-
ment in Israel has dam-
aged the Israeli Orthodox
rabbinate — cutting it off
from the general experi-
ences and values and
from the need to reach
out to all Jews. The rab-
bis have been prevented
from sharing the life and
culture of Israelis gener-
ally.
The Israeli political in-
fighting has often distorted
religious values or de-
meaned religion. Unfortu-
nately, memory of past sec-
ular suppression of religi-
ous needs in Israel has
blinded Orthodox Jews to
this truth and tempted
them to continue to exclude
non-Orthodox Jewish re-
ligious options by law and
by political means.
Maybe the lesson of
Hanuka for today is not that
Israel should disestablish
Judaism. There is an or-
ganic link between
Judaism, Jewish culture
and the Jewish state.
Maybe the true lesson is
that the link should be ex-
pressed in Jewish pluralist
ways. Let the state recog-
nize and help all Jewish re-
ligious groups.
By helping all Jews (and
HAPPY HANUKA
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all religions) flourish, Israel
can strengthen its Jewish-
ness and the religious vital-
ity of the religious groups in
all their variety. Then Is-
rael — the outcome of a
modern day miracle of
Hanuka — can avoid re-
peating the Hasmonean er-
rors.
The total union of state
and religion which the rab-
bis of those days opposed is
no favor to their descen-
dants today.