Hanukkah one of two (along with Purim) late Jewish holidays, speaks powerfully about the Jewish experience over the last two thousand years.   It confronts a question, “can Judaism survive when Jews live as a minority within the bounds of a pervasive world empire, in those times the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire?”  Facing internal and external enemies, the Jews of those days answered with a resounding “yes.”  They rose up in rebellion against the Syrian Greeks, when assimilation or death were the choices presented to them.  Under leaders like Judah Maccabee, they successfully reasserted Jewish independence, and preserved our tradition for generations to come.

The festival was instituted by Judah Maccabee and his brothers following their victory over the Syrian Greeks.   They were able to recapture Jerusalem, and to rededicate the ancient Temple.  Indeed, the word Hanukkah means rededication.  Traditionally, when the Temple was recaptured a single cruise of holy oil was found to be sufficient for eight days until more oil was consecrated.  Thus the holiday we celebrate today is eight days long.

Over eight days we light a special eight branched candelabra called a Hanukiah  (most have an additional branch, to hold the candle used to light the others) commemorating the ancient miracle and Jewish survival.  On the first night we light one candle, and add an additional candle until we light all eight on the last night.  Light is a symbol of hope and commitment.  As we light our candles each night, we like our ancestors rededicate ourselves to the preservation of our tradition for ourselves and for future generations of Jews. 

When the past is forgotten, people perforce become part of the empty homogenized largely Americanized materialistic culture.  Indeed, recent studies point to a decline in non-Orthodox Jewish communities, and the assimilation of many young Jews who look elsewhere for their spiritual sustenance.  I place this decline squarely at our failure to teach our tradition in all its nuance and complexity.  It has the power to answer the spiritual needs of Jewish adults, yet this is unknown or forgotten, because we as modern Jews are content that Jewish education end, for the most part, at thirteen.   (Tragically, not only are Hebrew sources rendered inaccessible, but even most of the sophisticated modern English sources are unknown, and unappreciated.)

To build a religion of the future, we need to be knowledgeable about the past and the answers that it provides.  Yet, slavish adherence to these is not sufficient.  The Ba’al Shem Tov, in his commentary on the first prayer of the Amidah, taught that to create a living tradition, each generation must both receive the beliefs and traditions of the past, and continue to build on these to discover new things within a tradition that also speaks to the present and the future.  In that way we ensure that the light will shine not only for us, but for future generations as well.

(FYI, the Hanukkah Blessings are now found on the website, under the services -> we sing -> resources tabs)

Chaverim
 I know we are all saddened by the devastation Typhoon Haiyan has visited on the Philippines.  The news gets worse and worse.  We grieve for the lives lost in this terrible storm and pray for those who are injured or displaced.  Our tradition teaches that all humanity are brethren, and that we have an obligation to relieve suffering wherever it is found. This obligation is heightened in light of the devastation in the Philippines.  We cannot sit silently in the light of such death and destruction. 
The need for relief funds is very great.  Please consider making a donation to the relief fund established by the JDC (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee).  The JDC's response to disasters is always nimble and well coordinated with local authorities and aid groups.  Please use the link below to contribute to the JDC's efforts to ameliorate the suffering of our neighbors.
The JDC and the world stood by Japan in in March 2011 following the earthquake and tsunami, now it is again our turn to step-up and support the people of the Philippines.
Shalom,
Rabbi David A. Kunin
www.jdc.org


Press Release from the JDC

New York, NY, November 9, 2013 – In the aftermath of the destruction wrought by super Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) has begun collecting funds for relief efforts. Responding to a quickly rising death toll and catastrophic destruction, JDC staff experts are consulting with local authorities, the Filipino Jewish community, and global partners to assess the unfolding situation on the ground and ensure survivors’ immediate needs are addressed. The typhoon, one of the strongest storms in recorded history, caused widespread damage to the island nation, especially the hardest-hit central city of Tacloban, and is barreling its way towards Vietnam.
 “Our heartfelt prayers go out to the Filipino people in the wake of yesterday’s deadly storm. We immediately activated our network of global partners and will leverage our previous experience in the region to provide immediate, strategic relief to survivors in their time of need,” said Alan H. Gill, JDC’s Chief Executive Officer. “These efforts are especially poignant for us given the Philippines’s life-saving actions during the Second World War when the country offered safe haven to more than 1,000 Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazi onslaught. It is our privilege today to honor that historic debt.”
 As damage reports and casualty rates continue to grow, hundreds of thousands of Filipinos remain inaccessible, without power and shelter in the wake of Haiyan, called Typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines. JDC has a history operating in the Philippines, previously helping to fight post-typhoon cholera through an Israeli partner in 2009 and working to enhance emerging Jewish community life through the inclusion of the Filipino Jewish community members in pan-Asian Jewish events. During the buildup to World War II, JDC ensured the emigration of more than 1,000 European Jews escaping Nazi persecution to the island nation. The story of European Jews who took refuge was the subject of “Rescue in the Philippines,” a recently released documentary. It followed the remarkable story of how one family – the Frieders – together with the JDC helped bring hundreds of European Jews to Manila, saving them from near certain death in the Holocaust.
 JDC’s disaster relief programs are funded by special appeals of the Jewish Federations of North America and tens of thousands of individual donors to JDC. JDC coordinates its relief activities with the U.S. Department of State, USAID, Interaction, the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Israeli relief agencies, and the United Nations.

 JDC has provided immediate relief and long-term assistance to victims of natural and manmade disasters around the globe, including Haiti, Japan, and South Asia after the Indian Ocean Tsunami, and continues to operate programs designed to rebuild infrastructure and community life in disaster-stricken regions.

Yesterday was Remembrance Sunday, the Sunday closest to November 11th.  Originally called Armistice Day, it marked the end of World War I at the 11th hour, of the 11th day in the 11th Month of 1918.  Now in the Commonwealth of Nations (the historic British Empire) it is called Remembrance Day, while in the United States it is referred to as Veterans Day.  For countries like Britain, Canada and Australia (and other Commonwealth Nations) it is the primary day set aside for remembering all of the young men and women who gave their lives in war -- in the United States, Memorial Day in May, established after the Civil War, serves this purpose.

For ten years I marked this occasion, coordinating and helping to lead (in conjunction with B'nai B'rith) the services held at the Jewish Cemetery in Edmonton Alberta.  This service was made much more meaningful as I stood in the presence of my father-in-law Bernie (who served in the RCAF) and the other veterans of World War II.  Their courage and sacrifice helped to preserve the freedoms that we cherish today.  They also played a real part in the preservation of the Jewish people, as they each played an important role in the defeat of the Nazis.

This year I took part in a much larger service, held at the Commonwealth War Cemetery near Yokohama.  It was not a Jewish service. Instead six diverse religious leaders (Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Buddhist) each prayed for peace and an end to war throughout the globe, and wreaths were laid, not only by communal leaders, but also by the ambassadors of nearly all the Commonwealth.  There were also representatives from the Japanese government, and from the city of Yokohama.

The location of the cemetery was not fortuitous.  Instead, it was placed near where most of the young men had died, most of illness not wounds.  Nearly all had been captured early in the Pacific war, following the loss of Singapore and Hong Kong.  For me, at the Canadian section, it was especially poignant to find that many of the graves marked the resting places of young men from Winnipeg  -- my father-in-law's home city.  As he went east to fight from British shores, these young men went west.

Quite a lot is now known of the young men and their time as prisoners of war.  Two Japanese women dedicated themselves to finding and sharing all that they learned.  Apparently they speak little English, but they have dedicated themselves to ensuring that each of the young men was remembered.  They too were here, and they laid a wreath.  
There were young men of every religion and tradition buried in the cemetery.  I came upon graves with the cross of Christianity, the star of Judaism, the ohm of Hinduism, and the crescent of Islam.  Epitaphs on many contained reminders that these young men fought for peace and justice.  They lie together, whatever their traditions, perhaps calling on us to remember their sacrifice, demanding that we together create a world of peace and justice.

As the service progressed, there were reminders of Canada.  Of course all of us wore red poppies, fulfilling a Commonwealth Remembrance Day tradition.  But apparently not all poppies are created equally.  The Canadian Military Attaché gave me a Canadian poppy -- like ones I have worn for the last ten years -- mentioning that these were much better than the standard Commonwealth poppy.  I also noticed that the Canadian wreaths, with the name of our country emblazened, were unique among all of the standard Commonwealth wreaths.  These little details reminded me of Edmonton, and connected me with Bernie and many others, who are joining together at the Jewish Cemetery today to commemorate Remembrance Day.

Yesterday was a pleasant but windy 18 celsius, and the hillside cemetery could not have been more beautiful with its forest of trees covered with autumn leaves.  Even the occasional light rain did not distract from its beauty.  But despite its beauty, grave after grave of young men who never had a chance to live their lives, was a reminder of the horrible cost of war.  For me it was a cry of "never again."  It was a prayer that one day humanity "will beat its swords into plough-shears and its spears into pruning hooks, and that nations will know war no more".