Lights of Unity
By Rabbi Dov Begon, Head of Yeshivat Machon Meir in Jerusalem.
On Hanukkah, we publicize the miracle of the victory over “the kingdom of Greece, which stood against Your people Israel to make them forget Your Torah and to have them transgress the laws of Your will.”
There are those who seek to project the struggle of the Maccabees from those days onto our time – viewing the conflict between the conservative approach and the new liberal approach, which rejects religion and tradition, as a direct continuation of the Maccabees’ wars against the Greeks. This perspective carries a tremendous danger of division and hatred, and could, G-d forbid, lead to a cultural war that could bring the worst of all – a civil war, Heaven forbid. Many ask themselves whether it is even possible to prevent a cultural war between religious and secular people. The answer is unequivocal – yes! Not only is it possible to prevent a war between Jews, but moreover, we can bring them to love one another. Therefore, a great responsibility rests upon us to prevent the stirring of the fires of division.
We must dispel the darkness by increasing the light, as Rabbi Kook, of blessed memory, said. Let us contemplate the Hanukkah candles, which hint at lights of love and faith, lights of unity.
Currently, the forces acting today to make us forget the Torah and oppose the “laws of Your will” come, so to speak, in the name of progress and freedom, in the name of a developing and changing modern world. This destructive trend must be abolished by understanding that progress and freedom in no way contradict Judaism. On the contrary, our holy Torah views human freedom, as well as technological and scientific progress, as values that must be nurtured and encouraged, while simultaneously instilling in this world eternal spiritual and moral values that are unchanging. A human society cannot exist without the eternal Jewish values of justice and truth, of striving for peace and unity. The world would be pitch dark without the eternal values of Sinai, as recorded in the Divine scriptures of the Bible and the Oral Torah.
Let us walk in the path of Rabbi Kook who said: “The purely righteous do not complain about wickedness, but add justice. They do not complain about heresy, but add faith. They do not complain about ignorance, but add wisdom.”
In this way it is possible and necessary to prevent a cultural war, and through this true enlightenment, we will all merit together to embrace a new light upon Zion, speedily in our days, Amen.
