Chanuka and Christmas

We, along with many of our Happy Warriors and friends are getting ready for the holiday of Chanuka. Many other of our Happy Warriors and friends are preparing to celebrate Christmas. Each holiday is an expression of deeply held religious beliefs and a beautiful expression of those beliefs.

Diminishing Chanuka and Christmas by turning them into secular occasions was the vision of secularism since the 1960s. Less committed and less knowledgeable Jews began to view Chanuka as a secular holiday competing with Christmas – heaven forbid their children should be jealous of their neighbors’ gifts and lights. Less committed and less knowledgeable Christians began to view Christmas as a sentimental and nostalgic fun day – no need to bring God into the picture. In the end, diluting a religious holiday leaves a skeleton without any inner structure. Not surprisingly, many of the descendants of those who moved away from a serious attachment to religion see less reason to observe these days at all.

The miracles of Chanuka speak to the triumph of those faithful to God over those who wanted to water down His message and assimilate into the reigning power’s multi-theistic comfort zone. The Syrian-Greek pagans were a side show; the Jewish Hellenists who raced to cozy up to them were the real problem.

I know much less history than journalist Haviv Rettig-Gur, and I frequently turn to him to understand conflict in the Middle East. As such, when I heard him interviewed on the Honestly podcast, I appreciated his analysis of what is going on in Israel, Syria, and Iran. However, I do have insights into Judaism and its unbreakable ties to God and the Torah that Rettig-Gur may be missing and so I strongly disagreed with the last eight or so minutes of the show. The host asked a perfectly reasonable question: why is the world obsessed with Israel and the Jews?

That fact is undeniable. No matter how many torture chambers and mass graves are uncovered in Syria, no matter how many executions take place in Iran or North Korea, no matter how incredibly moral the behavior of the Israeli Defense Force is, campus protests focus their hate on only one group. If you look at United Nations resolutions and countries’ pronouncements going back decades, this remains true. Rettig-Gur responded by explaining it as the world’s response to the Jewish refusal to accept Jesus as a savior, going back almost 2,000 years.

That can’t be the correct explanation for anti-Semitism because it doesn’t go back far enough. Pharaoh, who enslaved the Jewish people, predates Christianity.

Haman, the enemy who wished to annihilate the Jews in the story of Esther, predates Christianity.

The Syrian-Greeks of the Chanuka story predate Christianity.

In our book, America’s Real War, my husband and I give a different answer than Haviv Rettig-Gur. We wrote very comprehensive explanations that cannot be condensed into this short column, but the bottom line is that anti-Semitism is God’s response to His people’s misbehavior. No one, not the Crusaders nor Torquemada nor Hitler nor individuals who join Hezbollah, needs to volunteer to enforce His punishment – that is why they are responsible for their crimes and are punished. But straying from God’s path makes the Jewish people vulnerable to their enemies.

So, as these two holidays coincide, I delight in my Christian friends’ celebration. I thrill at my own holiday. And I encourage no watering down of the religious aspects of both in order to promote multiculturalism and tolerance. The more we each respect each other’s path and reverence our own ways, the more peace and safety we will know.

---

What do you think? We’d love to hear your thoughts on this Susan’s Musings post.
We Happy Warrior members can both read and write comments HERE.

Not a member yet? Susan’s Musings is a reader-supported publication.
We truly appreciate those of you who sign up for a Basic membership. This lets us know we are providing value to you.

---