Israel and the Jews - Then and Now

Just a few days ago, 11/29, was the 71st anniversary of the UN General Assembly vote to partition the British Mandate in Palestine into two states - a Jewish one and an Arab one. The Jews formed a state which they called Israel. The Arabs chose not to create their own state, rather, they chose war in an effort to destroy the newly created Jewish state. It was in 1897 that Theodore Herzl called for the First Zionist Congress, which was held in Basel, Switzerland. Herzl is generally regarded as the founder of the modern Zionist movement.

Fast forward 71 years from that UN resolution and on 11/30/18, the UN General Assembly voted 156 to 8 (with 12 abstentions) for a resolution which, among other things, referred to the Temple Mount (Judaism's holiest site) by its Muslim name al-Haram al-Sharif. There was no connection made to Judaism or the Jewish people. The US, Canada and Australia voted against the resolution. However, the EU supported it. In a less than stern admonition, the EU advised that it "could stop doing so (supporting such resolutions) unless more inclusive language was used to reference holy sites in Jerusalem." So, the wimpy EU MIGHT not support such resolutions in the future unless they use nicer, more inclusive language.

Seventy-three years ago the Second World War ended, bringing an end to the Holocaust carried out by Germany against the Jewish people. Now, seventy-three years later, the Jerusalem Post has reported that Germany's Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has been pressuring the Central and Eastern European countries to not follow the US's lead and move their embassies in Israel to Jerusalem. Supposedly, Germany is concerned that the moving of embassies will interfere with the Iran nuclear deal, which they strongly support. Then again, it might be an indirect slap in the face to President Trump.

Or, maybe Germany was just continuing its anti-Israel policies. In 2015 it failed to "block the marking of Israeli goods from disputed territories." In other words, Germany supported the BDS (Boycott, Divest and Sanction) movement against Israel.

This week Jewish people around the world are celebrating the holiday of Chanukah. Antiochus IV was a Greek-Syrian King of the Seleucid Empire. Antiochus sought to prevent the Jewish people from practicing their religion. There was a group of "Hellenized Jews" who were assimilated and really did not practice Judaism. However, the observant Jews would not comply with the ban on the practice of Judaism. In 167 B.C.E. Antiochus sent his forces in to enforce the ban, and thousands of Jews were killed. The observant Jews who fought back were known as the Maccabees, and were led by Mattathias and his five sons, and ultimately succeeded in routing the forces of Antiochus.

Under the control of the Syrians, the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem had been desecrated. When the Jews again took control of the Temple they determined that it would take eight days to restore the oil used in Jewish rituals. However, they only found enough uncontaminated oil to last for one day. Miraculously, the oil lasted eight days. Jews light candles in the menorah during Chanukah, one on the first night, two on the second and so on up to eight on the last and eighth night of the holiday. Eight candles to mark the eight days that the oil in the Temple in Jerusalem lasted.

But that was then. Today, we have a revisionist theory of Chanukah. This was expressed by author Michael David Lukas in the Op-Ed pages of the 12/2/18 Sunday edition of the New York Times. This theory of Chanukah says that there was a civil war between the Maccabees and the Hellenized Jews, with Antiochus, incredibly, getting no mention in the Lukas article. Rather, Lukas tells us the religious fundamentalist Maccabees defeated the "city-dwelling assimilationists who ate pork, didn't circumcise their male children and made the occasional sacrificial offering to pagan gods." In other words, the Hellenized Jews did not practice Judaism. After all, the primary prayer for Jews, recited morning and evening, is the Shema: "Hear O Israel, G-d is our Lord, G-d is one." The belief in a monotheistic G-d was brought to the world by the Jews. It is hardly consistent with making sacrificial offerings to pagan gods.

For revisionists such as Lukas, it makes perfect sense. He is a self-described Bernie supporter who says he is an assimilated Jew and a product of intermarriage. Lukas continues that he eats pork, and that he and his wife agonized over the decision to circumcise their son. He grew up in Berkeley, now lives in Oakland, and said he practices Reconstructionist Judaism. Lukas asks: "Why should I light candles and sing songs to celebrate a group of violent fundamentalists (the Maccabees)?"

Shame on Germany. Shame on the EU. Shame on the UN. As for the revisionist Jews, who do not seem to be able to see the good in Israel or Judaism, well...you decide.