In the early years of the state, Chanukah was one of the most beloved holidays. This holiday also allowed those who tried to disconnect from the faith and path of the Torah to remain connected to the events and traditions of the people. The public, which was busy laying the foundations for the building of a Jewish state after thousands of years of exile, easily identified with the Maccabees' war, which removed foreign rule and led to the renewal of an independent Jewish kingdom.
And indeed, the Rambam, at the beginning of the Laws of Chanukah, when describing the historical events that led to the establishment of this holiday, states that the renewal of national life was the blessed fruit of the Maccabean War: "... And the sons of the Chasmonaim kohanim prevailed and killed them (the oppressing Greeks) and saved Israel from their hands, and they appointed a king from among the kohanim, and the kingdom returned to Israel for more than two hundred years, until the Second Beis Hamikdash was destroyed."
However, despite all this, the attempt to portray the Maccabean Wars as a purely national liberation struggle is a futile endeavor.
From the sources we have, it is absolutely clear that the immediate cause of the rebellion's outbreak was the religious factor. This is how the Rambam phrases it: "In the time of the Second Beis Hamikdash, when the Greek kings issued decrees against Israel, abolished their religion, and did not allow them to engage in Torah and mitzvos, and extended their hands over their property and daughters, and entered the Beis Hamikdash and made breaches in it and defiled all the pure things, and Israel was greatly distressed by them and under great pressure, until the God of our fathers had mercy on them and saved them from their hands and delivered them and the sons of the Chashmonaim prevailed...". Furthermore, the date chosen to celebrate the victory and the return of the monarchy is precisely the day on which the Beis Hamikdash was purified and holy service was renewed. The duration of the holiday was also set at eight days of lighting, in memory of the miracle of the oil cruse that enabled the renewal of the holy service. We find, then, that the national and religious content of Chanukah are so intertwined that they cannot be separated.
The question, therefore, is not whether Chanukah is a national or religious holiday; the question is whether Israeli nationalism can exist at all without a basis in holiness. Is the national inclination in Israel similar to the national inclination in every nation, with the matters of holiness that distinguish us from other nations coming upon it as an additional layer, or is our entire nationalism built upon the foundation of holiness from the outset? This is how Rabbi Kook, of blessed memory, phrased the question:
"צורתם של ישראל צריכה להתברר, אם האנושיות הכללית של תוכן האדם עומדת היא בה בצביונה כמו שהיא אצל כל העמים, ועליה נבנתה הצורה הישראלית המיחדתה, או שמעקב עד ראש הכל מיוחד." (אורות ישראל, ה' ח').
"The form of Israel needs to be clarified: whether the general humanity of the human content stands in its character as it does among all nations, and the unique Israeli form is built upon it, or whether from head to toe everything is unique." (Oros Yisrael, Chapter 5).
Even in his youth, while in Boisk, during conversations with the Gaon Rabbi Mordechai Eliasberg, of blessed memory, the Rav expressed his opinion
"כי צריכה היא (הלאומיות הישראלית) להיות בתחילת יסוד עצמותה ובכל מהותה, מיוחדת בתוכן קדושתה העליונה, ומתוך כל עיקר הויתה...שייכת לכל קדושתן של האמונה התורה והמצוות...באחדותן של ישראל-אורייתא-וקוב"ה, אשר גוי אחד הם בארץ".
"that (Israeli nationalism) must be at the beginning of its essential foundation and in its entire essence, unique in the content of its supreme holiness, and from the very core of its being... Belongs to all the holiness of faith, Torah, and commandments... In the unity of Israel, the Torah, and the Holy One, Blessed Be He, who are one nation in the land.
In the article "Head of the Emir" (at the beginning of the book "Tree of the Citrus"), which was printed about a hundred years ago, the Rav writes the following sharp words:
"...כל אלה אשר חבתם לציון היתה באין רוח מנשמת אלוקים חיים, באין קדושת אמת ואמונת אומן קשורה בקשר אמיץ...באהבה אלוקית נצחית...שרק היא עומדת לעולם, כל אלה הלבבות הרחוקים מזה, הולכים הם ונפרדים מעל אהבת ארץ הקדש. אהבתם שהיתה חומרית ודמיונית, כלעומת שבאה - כן הלכה...שנהפכו מאוהבי ארץ ישראל...לשונאיה ומנדיה...כל אותם שהם מחזיקים מעט באהבתה (של הארץ) ואת ה' אלוקי ישראל השוכן בקרבה לא דרשו...לא לאורך ימים יעמדו במעמדם...וכמקרה אהבת ארץ הקדש, כן היא גם כן אהבת האומה ואהבת לשון הקודש. היסוד החלש הולך ומתמוטט...ועינינו הרואות, כי מאהבת האומה, הארץ וחבת השפה וכן - (כשאלה באים) עם מאסה של תורה - ועד שנאת כל אלה ותיעובם, הוא רק מהלך קצר של איזה שנים ואיזה נסיונות המביאים לידי מורך לב".
"... All those whose love for Zion was without the breath of the living God, without true holiness and the faith of a skilled craftsman bound by a strong bond... With eternal divine love... That only she stands forever, all these hearts far from it will go and separate from the love of the Holy Land. You loved that which was both material and imaginary, and as it came, so it went... who turned from lovers of the Land of Israel... To his enemies and those who hate him... All those who hold little love for the land and did not seek the Lord, the God of Israel who dwells within her... They will not stand in their position for long... And just as there is a love for the Land of Israel, so too is there a love for the nation and a love for the Holy Tongue. The weak foundation is crumbling... And our eyes see that from love of the nation, the land, and fondness for the language, and also - (when these come) with a rejection of the Torah - to hatred and contempt for all these, is only a short journey of a few years and some trials that lead to faintheartedness."
This harsh vision of the rabbi, written during a crisis that befell the Second Aliyah, is unfortunately coming true before our eyes. The insane race to "break free" from the bonds of the homeland, to destroy a magnificent settlement, to wage war on pioneering settlers, proves that indeed, the Jewish people cannot exist for long without a nationalism that is not connected to the sacred. We stand amazed; where has common sense disappeared to, where is simple patriotic feeling, surely any person who loves their people and country would rise up.
Because we failed to reveal the sacred roots of our nationalism to our people, national sentiment has waned and even the holiday of Chanukah is losing its luster. A generation that rejects national symbols and is ashamed of its own wars cannot celebrate the Maccabees' war and victory. After emptying the holiday of its sacred content, no national content remained, leaving only the folkloric symbols of doughnuts and dreidels.
Only someone who understands that it is forbidden
"אפילו לחלק בין הנושאים של קדושת התורה וקדושת הארץ, בין קדושת האומה וקדושת שתיהן, וכשם שאין האומה אומה אלא בתורותיה כדברי רבינו סעדיה גאון ז"ל, כן אין תורה כי אם באומתה, והמשכה הבטוח הוא רק בארצה"
"even to distinguish between the subjects of the holiness of the Torah and the holiness of the Land, between the holiness of the nation and the holiness of both, and just as the nation is not a nation except through its Torahs, as stated by our Rabbi Saadia Gaon of blessed memory, so too is there no Torah except in its nation, and its certain continuation is only in its Land" (in the words of the Rav in a letter to Rav Amiel) - only he can connect to the national holy content of Chanukah, and say with a full mouth of praise for the raising of Israel's banner in both its religious and national meanings!
R' Felix
