r

$ 10°° 011

1

WILD BILLS

win the internal battle. But the
cost was high — no independent
government for 1,900 years. No
wonder the rabbis felt so am-
bivalent about the Hasmonean
dynasty. They never incorporat-
ed the accounts of Chanukah into
the canon of the Bible. They in-
terpreted the holiday itself more
as a miracle story of oil discov-
ered than as a celebration of a po-
litical-military triumph and
cultural renewal.
Only in modern times did
Chanukah enter its greatest pe-
riod of importance.
American liberal Jews pro-
claim it as the festival of religious
freedom and the Jewish answer
to Christmas. Orthodox Jews
hold it up as the story of res-
olutely faithful religious Jews re-
sisting the blandishments of any
outside culture. Zionists in the
State of Israel lionize it as the
great military political fight for
independence that provided the
justification and the last living
model for the recreated Jewish
state.
All these accounts simplify
Chanukah and evade its deeper
challenge: Can the Jewish peo-
ple come together in religious un-
derstanding and rule in
accordance with Jewish values?
Or are the Jewish people con-
demned to a unity viable only in
foxholes and war — a unity that
breaks down into cultural war-
fare and empties sovereignty of
its content and coherence once
external threat is removed?
Again, in our time, a coalition
of traditional and modernizing
Jews —both religious and secu-
lar Zionists — has built a Jew-
ish state backed by
assimilating Jews who knew
enough to stand by Israel and
the Jewish people in the face
of destruction, war and exter-
nal threats. Again, the inner
divisions are rampant. The
danger grows that the Jewish
people will split into fervent-
ly Orthodox and Chasidic
types who are not invested in
sovereignty except as it can be
used for security and benefits;
into religious Jews so full of
passion and vision that they
resist moderation in diploma-
cy; into secular Jews so alien-
ated from tradition that they
underestimate the threats —
some even dream of assimilation
and emptying the state and the
people ofJewish content.
The threat grows of a ruinous
polarization between militant po-
litical extremism advocating sup-
pression of Arabs and as-
similating universalism that
would turn Israel into a Middle
Eastern colony of the West.

The Jewish people need new
Maccabees — a movement of
Jews who would assimilate in-
sights and blessings from the
West but absorb them within a
Jewish cultural system.
Jews are needed to take the
tradition into politics and social
action but humanize and uni-
versalize its best values out of en-
counter with modernity and with
the other.
Jews need a rededicated sav-
ing minority that will self-critique
its own positions.
Only a new coalition can break
down the barriers of estrange-
ment, ignorance and differing so-
cial realities that divide religious
and secular Jews worldwide.
When the oil ofJewish unity and
mutual respect seems to be close
to burning out, it is time for a
miracle of rediscovery of the tra-
dition, of the contemporary, of
each other.
Chanukah must become mul-
tidimensional — a celebration of
the new coalition of the Jewish
people. The alternative is dissi-
pation ofJewish sovereignty and
increased assimilation and loss
of Jews everywhere. God forbid
that in our lifetime, we relive
Santayana's dictum that those
who do not learn from history are
condemned to repeat it. ❑

Squirrel-Proof
Bird Feeder

expires 12-31-96

L

J

THE ONLY BIRD FEEDER YOU'LL EVER NEED!

This bird feeder
features a mild, harmless
electronic shock without af-
fecting the birds.

III 3 separate bird seed

compartments
m Holds up to 20 lbs. of
bird seed

31645 Southfield Rd. • BIRMINGHAM
(810) 646-WOOF
(9663)

L

ROCHESTER AREA: Call (810) 969-2600

eo
z

INVISIBLE;

P ET CONTA NME

Tradition Gets
A New Spin

The Rosenthal Collection, mak-
er of handcrafted Judaica, has
come up with a unique gift for the

make Lincoln Center

your holiday headquarters

BASKIN & ROBBINS
BOOK BEAT
BREAD BASKET DELI
CHECKER BAR-B-Q
COATS UNLIMITED
DILLMAN CHIROPRACTIC LIFE
DOLLAR CASTLE

bride and groom — the Wedding
Dreidel. It is inscribed with "Ani
l'dodi v'dodi li — I am my
beloved's and my beloved is
mine." It is crafted in copper,
brass and steel; its four sides are
colorful combinations of art glass.
The Wedding Dreidel is avail a ble
at Tradition! Tradition! Call (810)
557-0109.

■• I

Ceoler

DOTS
EYES RIGHT OPTICAL
FARMER JACK
GLORY JEWELERS
KMART
KING LIM'S GARDEN
LINCOLN BARBER SHOP
MAGIC-TOUCH BEAUTY SHOP
MARIANNE PLUS
METROPOLITAN DRY CLEANERS
NORA'S FASHIONS
PAYLESS SHOESOURCE
RADIO SHACK
RICHARD BOYS & GIRLS WEAR

10 1/2 MILE AT GREENFIELD
OAK PARK

RITE-AID
SECRETARY OF STATE
SHERMAN'S - FOOT CARE
STRICTLY KOSHER MEATS
T. NAILS
TOWNE THEATER
WINKELMAN'S