MY BOOKS

 

THE FESTIVAL OF HANUKAH; MIRACLE: YES OR NO?

 

This year, the first candles of Hanukah will be lit on Thursday night, Dec. 7, 2023. The festival lasts 8 days.

The traditional explanation of why the festival of Hanukah is celebrated for eight days is based on a Talmudic passage: Oil for one day, miraculously lasted eight. . However, this is a late development. Early texts do not mention this so-called miracle. It is time we give up this irrational explanation and find a better one. And that historical explanation does exist.

The history behind Hanukah is, briefly, this: In the second cent. BCE, Antiochus IV, the Syrian king, set out to conquer Egypt. While he was fighting there, Jason, who was deposed from his position as the Jewish High Priest in Jerusalem, left the Ammonites with whom he had taken refuge, and attacked Menelaus, his brother in Jerusalem, in order to regain the High Priesthood. A civil war broke out between the two, and Jason successfully entered Jerusalem. King Antiochus was furious. On his way back from Egypt, the king attacked Jerusalem, imposed restrictions on Judea, and eventually desecrated the Temple. In reaction, a priest by the name of Mattathias, and his sons (called the Maccabees), fought against the Syrians, and were able to clean and rededicate the temple of Jerusalem to the worship of one God in the year 165 BCE. This rededication is called Hanukah (“dedication” in Hebrew).

The First Book of Maccabees (c.mid-2^nd cent. BCE), states that Hanukah ought to be celebrated for eight days but does not indicate the reason for it (see, 4:59). It is in the Second Book of Maccabees (c.125 BCE) that we find a rational explanation: It happened that on the same day on which the sanctuary had been profaned by the foreigners, the purification of the sanctuary took place, that is, on the twenty-fifth day of the same month, which was Kislev.  And they celebrated it for eight days with rejoicing, in the manner of the feast of booths, remembering how not long before, during the feast of booths [Sukkot], they had been wandering in the mountains and caves like wild animals. (10: 6). So, Hanukah was really like a delayed Sukkot that lasts seven days plus Atzeret, a one day festival (See, Lev. 23: 33-36; cf. v.39).

The first reference to the lights of Hanukah appears in the writings of Josephus (1sr cent. CE) who calls the festival “Lights” by saying: I suppose the reason was this liberty beyond our hopes appeared to us and that hence the name given to that festival. (Antiquities, 7:7).

In it only in the Talmud, which was edited in Babylonia in the 5-6^th centuries CE that the so-called “miracle” makes its appearance (under Persian influence?): What is [the reason of] Hanukah? For our Rabbis taught: On the twenty-fifth of Kislew [commence] the days of Hanukkah, which are eight on which a lamentation for the dead and fasting are forbidden.  For when the Greeks entered the Temple, they defiled all the oils therein, and when the Hasmonean [i.e. Maccabees] dynasty prevailed against and defeated them, they made search and found only one cruse of oil which lay with the seal of the High Priest, but which contained sufficient for one day’s lighting only; yet a miracle was wrought therein and they lit [the lamp] therewith for eight days. The following year these [days] were appointed a Festival with [the recital of] Hallel and thanksgiving. (BT Shab. 21b). 

Later on a midrashic text (c. 9^th cent.) provides another explanation: When the Hasmoneans defeated the Greeks, they entered the temple and found there eight iron spears. They stuck candles on these spears and kindled them. (Pesikta Rabbati 2: 5).

It is clear that the explanation of why Hanukah was celebrated for eight days changed over the years, some legendary, and some more historical. For me, the simplest and the most reasonable explanation is that, in its own time, Hanukah was a delayed Sukkot. No miracles. The festival today proclaims many important values, such as courage, dedication, thanksgiving, and above all, the right to be different. These are the values we need to stress, and not the miracle of oil which is not rational, historical or even believable in our time.

HAPPY HANUKAH

Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D

http://rsonsino.blogspot.com

 

 

 

 

WHAT'S SO SPECIAL ABOUT BEING JEWISH? A KEY TO THEIR SURVIVAL

 Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D

Jews have survived for centuries, often living under very poor conditions. Yet, they made it. Jews are in general not more or less capable than others. The question is what is the secret of their survival? What keeps Jews Jewish in good times or bad? A few ideas come to mind.

1.    Survival skills

When the second temple of Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE, Jewish sovereignty ended in the land of Israel. From then on, Jews had to live under the hegemony of other people and cultures. Many lived in Christian societies, and others, later on, in Muslim countries. Even though they lived as tolerated minorities, they somehow managed to create a culture of their own by absorbing the best of what the dominating societies had to offer. In the Greco-Roman period, Jews created an imposing rabbinic literature. Living in Muslim Spain, they gave rise to a rich literature of poetry and philosophy. They survived by adapting to the environment.

2.    Kinship

There is a rabbinic saying that “All of Israel are responsible for one another.” (Shevuot 39a). This is the basis of the notion of communal responsibility in Jewish law. In other words, if a Jew sees another on the verge of sinning, he/she has an obligation  to step in and help. But the concept goes even beyond that. Jews are expected to look for one another, especially when living in hostile countries.

3.    Intellectual pursuit

According to a rabbinic teaching, “the study of Torah is equal to all other religious obligations “ (Peah 1:1). This dictum has been the center point of Jewish life throughout the centuries. Jews soon realized that in order to advance in life and survive as individuals, they needed to pursue science and special skills. In the past, many Jews were not allowed to practice all types of trades and were forced to concentrate on limited choices of work. For example, until the 16th cent. Catholics were forbidden by the church to engage in money lending. So, Jews were forced to do that. Many Jews in the past could not work as farmers because they were not allowed to own lands. So, they excelled in only those professions that were still open to them. And most of them did well.

4.    Religious cohesion

The Jewish religion has been a powerful unifying element in Jewish life. Some in the past and many even now believe that God has had a special covenant with the Jewish people, that will guarantee their survival. Reading through Esther Rabba, an early rabbinic Midrash (c.500 CE),  one comes out with the realization that many past kingdoms have disappeared (i.e. Greco-Roman, Babylonian, Persian etc), and yet we Jews are here. This belief has been a comforting message to Jews who were suffering. Furthermore, the practice of Jewish rituals and festivals, albeit in different forms, have had a unifying force that kept Jews strong and hopeful.  

The Nazis did not destroy the Jewish people, nor will Hamas in our time.

Am Yisrael hay! The Jewish people will live.

SONSINO’S BLOG, rsonsino.blogstop.com

 

WE NEED EMPATHY

 Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D

There are different ways to relate to others. The best, I believe, is to have empathy for someone else. What is empathy? According to Carl Rogers, a prominent American psychologist, it is “the accurate understanding of the other person’s world as seen from the inside.” It is like getting into the other people’s shoes and view the world through their eyes. It is stronger than sympathy, which is simply understanding your neighbor’s plight. When you empathize, however, you get into their skin! This usually has three components: cognitive, emotional, and compassionate.

 An example of empathy comes from the Babylonian Talmud, which attributes a saying to Moses, “Since the Jewish people are suffering (in Egypt), I too will be with them in their suffering” (Taanit 11a).

But there is even an older text in the Hebrew Bible, which states, “You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the feelings (literally, the heart) of the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Ex. 23:9).  Here the word for “stranger” in Hebrew is GER, and it means, a resident alien, a sojourner. (For the Rabbis, later on, a GER is a convert). In another Biblical text we are reminded that “we used to eat fish free in Egypt” (Num.11:5). Life was good there!

Note that the law in Ex. 23:9 is in conflict with another statement in the Bible which reminds us that “we were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt” (Deut. 6:21). So, were we sojourners having a good time in Egypt or were we slaves suffering under the yoke of the Egyptians? The answer is simple: the text is Exodus is early (c.9 cent. BCE). Things changed by the time Deuteronomy was put together in the 7^th cent. BCE.

The original message is still compelling. The law in Exodus is telling us, when you see a stranger, treat him/her with kindness and care, for you must remember that, once upon a time, you yourself were a stranger in Egypt. Now, this teaching applies to us and those we deal with in our daily life. We need people who care for others. And for that we must develop an empathic personality. Our lives will be enriched, and we will find pleasure in our achievements.

SONSINO’S BLOG, rsonsino.blogspot.com

SPIRITUALITY FOR NON-THEISTS

 Rabbi Rifat Sonsino Ph.D

 Some people have argued that unless you are a theist who thinks of God in personal terms, namely, viewing God like a Person who is all-powerful and all-good, and who listens and responds, punishes or rewards, you cannot have a spiritual experience. I would say that all depends on how you define spirituality. I prefer to define it as “the awareness of being in the presence of God” no matter how you understand the term God.

 For me, a religious naturalist, God is the mysterious energy that sustains the universe. God does not have free will but functions with necessity according to the laws of nature. God does not create miracles by changing natural law. 

 Spirituality is still possible for non-theists, but it needs to be understood differently. Judaism has had a long tradition of spirituality. In the Bible, it was centered on the “love” or “fear” of God, and expressed through an elaborate sacrificial system. In the Rabbinic period, the sages designed a Mitzvah system, where individuals were expected to go and carry out certain Mitzvot, religious obligations defined by a heavenly father. In the Hellenistic period that followed, people concentrated on a contemplative life. In the medieval period, many opted for a mystical love of God and a longing for communion with the divine. For many mystics, this involved an immediate awareness of the relation with God through prayer, meditation or song.

 In my case, I experience my spirituality through various paths.   For example,

1.    I experience it through many acts of transcendence, such as rare peak experiences in life, which are transformative in nature: such as, carrying a Torah scroll, holding my baby for the first time, major life cycle-events etc.

2.    I experience it through prayer when I can formulate my hopes and expectations. I am aware that prayers do not change the world outside but they give me new insights into myself. In Hebrew, to pray is lehitpalel , an introspective verb, which deals with personal reflections. Music is a major component of this endeavor.

3.    I experience it through meditation when I direct my mind towards something specific within myself. ( The word “meditation” comes from the Latin “medi” meaning “center.” The Hebrew equivalent would be hitbonenut , meaning” “to know oneself.”)

4.    I experience it through religious rituals, when I perform them with joy and a sense of accomplishment.

5.    I experience it through relationship and good deeds, through empathetic response to others.

6.    I experience it through study of classical texts for its own sake.

 I believe spirituality cannot be imposed; it needs to be discovered by each individual, at times combining various paths. It must satisfy the heart as well as the mind. It should lead to tikkun atsmi and tikkun olam, to bettering oneself and improving the world around us.

SONSINO’S BLOG, rsonsino.blogspot.com

 For more details, see my book, SIX JEWISH SPIRITUAL PATHS; A RATIONALIST LOOKS AT SPIRITUALITY, 2002

 

RABBINIC GEMS

Rabbi Rifat Sonsino. Ph.D

I belong to a unique rabbinic study group that meets online in the greater Boston area, religiously, every Monday morning, 10 am to 11.30 am. We have been doing this for a few decades. To my knowledge, there is nothing like this in the States. We rarely take a vacation. We are 11 retired Reform Rabbis, and  consider this endeavor as a sacred commitment. We are now studying Ruth Rabba, a 6th century CE rabbinic Midrash that comments line by line on the biblical book of Ruth. It was composed in Israel and written in mishnaic Hebrew as well as in Galilean Aramaic, and contains many Greek words.

 There are great gems in the text. Here are three examples:

1. Knowing how important it is to preserve a good reputation in life, the ancient Rabbis taught: “Praiseworthy is the person who has departed from this world with a good name.” (RR 2:7) After all, after we die that is all that matters.

2. Teaching appropriate behavior, they also stressed that “One engages in sexual  relations at night, not during the day.”(RR 2:16) Many would probably take exception to this teaching. I guess the Rabbis were concerned about issues of privacy.
3. Commenting on the biblical teaching that gives priority to a worthy life here on earth, as stated in Eccl. 9:14, “A live dog is better than a dead lion,” the ancient sages maintained that in this world one can, and should,  improve his/her lot but not after death, for it would be too late: They say, “in this world one who is a dog can become (as strong) as a lion, but in the world to come (namely, at the end of time after death), one who is a lion cannot become a dog, and anyone who is a dog cannot  become a lion.” (RR 3:2)

 These are sound teachings that are worth pondering.

 SSONSINO’S BLOG, rsonsino.blogspot.com

 

BIBLICAL HEROES: LEGENDS OR HISTORY?

 Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D

 The Hebrew Bible mentions a number of people who led the Israelites during their peregrinations in the ancient Middle East. However, very few of these leaders are mentioned in other ancient Near Eastern texts. For example, no contemporary source, outside of the Bible, mentions Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, not even Moses or Solomon. These individuals appear as great heroes in the biblical narrative to whom miraculous feats were attributed. We can assume that they actually lived, even if we are left only with a biblical testimony. How reliable is this? Not much!

 On the other hand, we do have a few texts that come from the Hebrew Bible as well as other sources in the ancient Near East. Based on this duplication, we can convincingly maintain that these leaders did in fact existed. For example, the Mesha Stone (II K 3:4, 9^th cent. BCE), discovered in 1868 by F.A. Klein, a German missionary, and written in Moabite, clearly mentions king Omri of Israel (I K, 16:15-28, c.876-869 BCE) and the Israelite tribe of Gad. Similarly, the Annals of Shalmaneser III of Assyria (858-824 BCE), written in Akkadian, know of “Ahab, king of  Israel” (I K 16: 29-22:40; 869-850 BCE) as well as “Jehu, son of Omri” of Israel (843/2-815 BCE)  even though Jehu was not the son of Omri, nor his descendant. He was the son of Jehoshaphat (II K 9: 2) and a military commander who took over the kingdom in Israel.  We also have the Annals of Sennacherib (7^th cent. BCE), written in Akkadian, that refer to king “Hezekiah of Judah,” (II K 18: 1-20:21; 715-687/6 BCE). It is also most likely that “(Jeho)ram son of (Ahab), king of Israel”(II K 8: 25; c.849-842 BCE) and “(Ahaz)iahu, son of (Jehoram)” of Judah (II K 8: 16; c.843/2 BCE) are mentioned in Tel Dan Inscription- the text is however corrupt.  This monument was discovered by Avraham Biran in 1993, and written in Aramaic, probably by Hazael, ruler of Syria (842-800 BCE). Preserved in 13 lines, it celebrates his military victory over Israel and Judah. 

 What about King David? Well, Tel Dan inscription, in line 9, does mention BYTDVD, namely, “the house of David.” The implication is that if there was a “house of David,” there must have been a David as well. This is as far as we can go.

Up until now, it was claimed that even the Mesha Stone makes reference to  “the house of David” in line 31. However, in a recent article in the Biblical Archaeology Review of Spring 2023, the authors M. Richelle and A. Burlingame have raised serious objections to this identification. They say that “while the reading b(td)wd is not impossible, it remains purely hypothetical” (p. 570). The original text is not clear.

 Our biblical text contains much legendary material that was transmitted orally for many years before they were written down. Some of it is historical. Others are not but we continue to be inspired by their message, most of it positive, even if it is not always based on verifiable data.

 SONSINO’S BLOG, rsonsino.blogspot.com