| Traditional Chanuka food is fried - the oil as a reminder of the chanuka
miracle. In Ashkenazik communities, potato pancakes, latkes in yiddish, are
"the" chanuka treat; Sephardim favor donuts, sufganiot in hebrew. Chanuka is
NOT the time for a low fat diet (is any jewish holiday a good time for a diet?)
> Is a bottle of wine appropriate?
if its kosher, sure. Red with meat, White with poultry or fish (I had a really
great bottle of Cabernet recently...)
Louuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
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| Well,
My wife Sue (who started this note) is in New York at the moment with one
of her sisters and of course I don't want to speak for her - but Friday's
dinner was so wonderful, I just wanted to thank you all (as I know she
does) for your suggestions. I also wanted to take this opportunity to share
a few thoughts with you that have been swimming in my head over the past
week.
It turns out that our friends *do* stick very closely to kosher dietetic
laws...this in spite of a misconception that even *I* (a gentile) had
regarding Messianic Jews. I called earlier in the week to ask them
directly what we might bring, but they insisted we bring nothing but
ourselves (this time). So thanks again for the suggestions - I'll
consider us more prepared for the next time ;-)
What I wanted to share with you was the fact that this past week has been
quite an eye-opener for me, in that - all I had ever heard about Chanuka
was that one day's worth of oil lasted 8 days. Over this past week, I've
had the wonderful opportunity of learning more about this Holiday from a
number of different perspectives - perhaps the most impressive from
Josephus' accounts of Antiochus Epiphanes and Judah Macabee. I'd like to
share a few excerpts that have really opened my eyes regarding this most
wonderful Chanuka celebration:
From Josephus' "THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS", Book 12, chapter 5 section 4...
"And when the king [Antiochus Epiphanes] had built an idol altar upon G-d's
altar, he slew swine upon it, and so offered a sacrifice neither according
to the law, nor the Jewish religious worship in that country. He also
compelled them to forsake the worship which they paid their own G-d, and to
adore those whom he took to be gods; and made them build temples, and raise
idol altars, in every city and village, and offer swine upon them every
day. He also commanded them not to circumcise their sons, and threatened
to punish any that should be found to have transgressed his
injunction...but the best men, and those of the noblest souls, did not
regard him, but did pay a greater respect to the customs of their country
than concern as to the punishment which he threatened to the disobedient;
on which account they every day underwent great miseries and bitter
torments;..."
Josephus' account goes on to describe the *horrible* torture and murder of the
Jews who chose to be faithful to G-d and their religion, rather than submit
to the tyrnany of a possessed mad-man.
Of course, he later recounts the story of Mattathias and his son Judah
Maccabee - who against impossible odds, worked up a Jewish army to defeat
the forces who wanted nothing less than to see Israel, Judaism, and Jews
themselves wiped off the face of the earth.
Thankfully - we know how the story ends. I'm no history scholar - and I
won't pretend that a week of study on this series of events makes me an
expert. But I'm struck by the courage of Judah and his troops in the face
of absolutely impossible odds. By all natural signs, this was a foolish
battle for them to fight - and perhaps there's something there that has
given me a small glimpse of the importance of Chanuka, then and now...
from Chapter 7, section 3... (Judah Maccabee to his troops the night before
they would fight...)
" 'O my fellow-soldiers, no other time remains more opportune than the
present for courage and contempt of dangers; for if you now fight manually,
you may recover your liberty, which, as it is a thing of itself agreeable
to all men, so it proves to be to us much more desirable, by its affording
us the liberty of worshipping G-d. Since, therefore, you are in such
circumstances at present, you must either recover that liberty, and so
regain a happy and blessed way of living, which is that according to our
laws, and the customs of our country, or to submit to the most opprobrious
sufferings; nor will any seed of your nation remain if you be beat in this
battle.' "
*Learning* from the past and being able to learn more with our friends this
weekend was both moving and encouraging for us.
Have a happy and blessed Chanuka,
Steve
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