ISOINIMMINIIIMM11111
I
046
tellk
SO 14
2.00
Family Run Pharmacy
1
Major Expansion
WALDRAKE I
PHARMACY I
on your next
prescription or
refill from any
pharmacy
KEN JACOBS, R.Ph.
I
Increased
Product Selection
I
Extended Hours
I
• FREE DELIVERY
• SENIOR CITIZEN DISCOUNT
5548 Drake Rd.
West Bloomfield
Deer & Wine
nt
ot* Sem" 1
I
COP
!,
•
1 WALDRAKE PHARMACY
1
. Five 22c STAMPS
for $
(corner of Walnut Lake &
1 mile north of J.C.C.)
I t
FOCUS
OFF
1.00
(limit 20 stomps)
I
• 1
661-0774
Mon.-Sat. 9 a.m.-8 p.m.
Sunday 11 a m -5 p m
WALDRAKE PHARMACY
e
I
ef3
ININIERummismiolommII
a
ro
An Israeli soldier lights a makeshift menorah of rifles. Chanukah
is now viewed as a symbol of national revival.
Chanukah Changed
From Maccabees' Time
' YITZCHAK DINUR
Special to The Jewish News
C
Chain reaction
Gorgeous chains of gold. Subtle,
sophisticated, simply beautiful ...
. each one more shining than the last.
Bruce Weiss has found the missing links.
BRUCE WEISS
CUSTOM JEWELRY
40% to 50% off
YOU HAVE IT MADE
26325 TWELVE MILE ROAD
. SOUTHFIELD, MICHIGAN
IN THE MAYFAIR SHOPS AT
NORTHWESTERN HIGHWAY
HOLIDAY HOURS
MONDAY THRU FRIDAY 10:00-9:00
SAT. 10:00-6:00 at SUN. 11:00-6:00
.
0 ®
(313). 353-1424
hanukah is not all it
seems. It is not quite
the festival of libera-
tion that we think it is, at least
not liberation from the Greeks.
Nor is it simply a festival of
lights that commemorates a
miracle that occurred with a
jar of oil. It has become a festi-
val of dedication in a way that
our ancestors never thought of,
because they thought in differ-
ent terms than we do.
Not that this is unusual in
Judaism, which has such a
long and complex history that
almost every instance of belief,
behavior, custom and festival
celebration has several levels
of meaning.
While the Hallel festival
prayer is included in the
synagogue service, no absten-
tion from work is associated
• with Chanukah, and there are
no traditional public obser-
vances, nor is there a special
prayer book.
The engaging nature of the
. Chanukah lights together with
their placement in a position
where their private light may
be seen publicly, excites all
who have grown up to .the an-
nual lighting of the nine- '
branched Chanukah candelab-
rum. These lights have made
this relatively minor festivals
into one of the most beloved of
all Jewish holidays.
During the past century,
Chanukah has undergone a
revival, because the Zionist
movement seized upon it as a
symbol and historical prece-
dent of national revival for our
generation. The Maccabi
Zionist sports organization
was named after the Mac-
cabees who instituted
Chanukah, as was the Mac-
cabia, the international
Jewish sports meet.
In a story entitled "The
Wheel Makes a Turn," Sholem
46 Friday, December 26, 1986 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
-- ".-77. - . ----n
roururtatagmeasfir
Aleichem depicted Chanukah
warmly and sympathetically.
In the first section, Chanukah
lights are dignifiedly lit by a
well-to-do Jew. In the second
part, the same Jew, now el-
derly, is barely suffered to light
the Chanukah candles by his
assimilated son, while the
grandson is not allowed even to
witness the ceremony. • In the
final section of the story, the
grandson, now a young adult,
and his student friends celeb-
rate Chanukah, to the chagrin
and dismay of the assimilated
parents, who cannot under-
stand how their son could have
become a Zionist. They cannot .
understand that, inspired by
the Maccabean fight for Jewish
freedom, the young son has re-
jected his parents' as-
similationism as shameful.
However, it is not certain
that Sholem Aleichem or his
young hero knew exactly who
the Jews were fighting against
in Maccabean times, nor what
their idea of freedom was.
The division of Alexander
the Great's empire had left the
Land of Israel as a border
region between the Seleucid
empire with its center in Syria
and the Ptolemaic Empire in
Egypt. At the time of the Mac-.
cabean revolt, the Seleucids
had been in control of Judea for
several years. These so-called
Greeks were really Hellenized
Syrians, as different from the
original Greeks as the USA is
from Elizabethan England.
Their culture was a slightly
Hellenized version of Middle
Eastern polytheism.
Antiochus, the Syrian king
who had just been forced to
withdraw from Egypt by an ul-
timatum from the Romans,
was endeavoring to strengthen
his empire ideologically , ,by
standardizing the religion
throughout his dominions. He
was not particularly anti-
Jewish, but would stand no op-
position. '
But a segment of the Jews,
under the Maccabees, refused
1-!4r1*) rovozAczsdkiat