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HANNUKAH, 5772: ILLUMINATING STRENGTH THROUGH COMMITMENT AND SACRIFICE & THE JEWISH PEOPLE’S TRIUMPH OVER ADVERSITY

THE FIFTH CANDLE
Stewart Weiss

Jerusalem Magazine, December 23, 2011

There is no life at Buchenwald. Its gray barracks contain only fear and dread; fear of what tomorrow will bring, the dread of what waits beyond the door. Barbed-wire fences and watchtowers surround the entire compound; the steady rat-atat of machine guns can be heard fulfilling their masters’ tasks. Down the road are the gas chambers; the smoke and smell they emit forming clouds of death that hang over each bunk like a malevolent fog.

But Building 103 at Buchenwald is different from the rest. It looks exactly like its neighbors but it is not the same. It has a certain life within it, for it holds the religious Jews in Buchenwald. They arrived here shortly after Kristallnacht: rabbis and sextons, cantors and teachers. This barracks is their community now, and as new prisoners enter Buchenwald, the religious among them are routed here. The residents of Building 103 are not immune to German persecution. They are regularly beaten, subject to selection, deprived of food and sustenance like all the others at the camp. Those who cannot work or become ill are sent to the gas chambers; those who fail to answer loudly or quickly enough at roll call are promptly whipped.

Yet beyond the daily regimen of suffering, there is a kind of life—religious life—in Building 103. The residents say prayers each day, using a makeshift tallit (prayer shawl) made from a bed sheet. They learn Torah, maintaining a nightly routine of study with the scholars among them. Together they form a surreal congregation suspended between life and death, Heaven and Hell. Their holy rituals give them a certain inner strength, a higher purpose to life beyond just being fuel for the maniacal Nazi murder machine.

Why these Jews are allowed to maintain their religious activities, such as they are, is a matter of great debate.… No official Nazi edict sanctions their religious behavior. It is more an absence of repression, a blind eye and lack of response to the goings-on in the barracks. There is always the fear that they might suddenly be interrupted in the midst of prayer, or informed upon by a spy planted among them. But for a long time, it seems an unofficial arrangement has passed between Building 103 and the Reich.

As winter comes to Buchenwald, the days grow shorter and the nights longer. The inmates who work in the forests are shepherded back to the camp by nightfall, and now have more time in which to talk among themselves. They know Hanukka is coming and they have a bold, completely outrageous thought: Could they actually celebrate a Jewish holiday?

While they have been able to pray and study, they have never actually observed a Jewish Holy Day. There was no wine upon which to recite kiddush on Shabbat, no matza on Passover, certainly no etrog to smell and bless on Succot. True, some had refrained from food and drink on Yom Kippur, but this was a passive gesture to the day, not a real celebration.

As night lengthens and the discussions grow, there is a sense of courage and excitement at the prospect of observing, in a real way, the upcoming days of Hanukka. The debate is fierce: How dare we risk our lives? And yet, if we could somehow celebrate in this obscene place, how could we not take that chance?

Finally, as Hanukka grows closer, they decide to submit the issue to binding arbitration by the resident scholar, Reb Herzel, a Talmudic master who had once led his own yeshiva. He chose to teach his students until the very day the Germans seized him, rather than escape to freedom earlier. His courage and intellect are acknowledged by the entire camp, and they willingly submit the issue to him for judgment.

Reb Herzel buries his face in his hands, deep in thought as he ponders the matter. The hungry and hopeful faces of the assembled watch in silence, aware they stand on the precipice of a momentous decision. Finally, he rises and delivers his verdict: “Because this is a life-and-death matter, I find no law absolutely compelling us to observe Hanukka here. Yet the hanukkia symbolizes our determination that the flame of Judaism within us can never be snuffed out, no matter how powerful the enemy we face. If we were somehow granted the means to observe this holiday, we would re-create the miracle of Hanukka, and in the merit of this action we might be saved. As no Jew may command another to become a martyr, each of us must choose.”

The vote is unanimous. Little by little, a hanukkia takes shape. Iron bars taken from nine beds form the branches of the hanukkia. Atop each bar is attached the end of a spoon, recessed to hold a drop of oil. The men agree to take the bit of margarine they receive once a week with their bread and hide it in the cold earth beneath the floor. The hanukkia is carefully hidden; the inmates count the days until Hanukka.

The first night of the holiday arrives. Roll call comes and goes uneventfully, the inmates retire to their beds and feign sleep as the camp lights are extinguished. At midnight, they gather in the center of the room as a close watch is kept at the window. The hanukkia is quietly removed from a mattress and erected in the center of the bunk. The stored-up margarine is taken from beneath the floor, a precious bit placed in the little metal cup atop the first branch. A shoelace acts as a wick; one of the men working in the camp kitchen has, at great risk, stolen a few matches. The honor of lighting the first candle is given to the youngest among them, 16-year-old Shmuel, representing all the children unable to celebrate Hanukka.

In hushed tones, the Jews recite the three blessings, and Shmuel lights the lamp. The glow of that fire reflects the faces of men who pray for a miracle, who have somehow reached beyond this place of misery to the homes of their youth, where Hanukka was synonymous with joy and singing. For just a brief, glowing moment, there is no Buchenwald, no Nazi terror; only faith and the eternity of the Jewish people. The residents go to sleep that night with empty stomachs, but their spirits are satiated.

This happy scene is repeated on the second, third and fourth nights as well. On the fifth night there is a tremendous snowstorm, which the Jews take as a good omen, a sign that God is coating the camp in a white shroud of purity in recognition of their having fulfilled a great mitzva. As they prepare to light the fifth candle, they say the 118th Psalm, “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and revel in it.”

Suddenly, without warning, the door bursts open. Several Nazi guards rush into the barracks. They order the Jews to lie face-down on the floor, and seize the hanukkia. Several of the men, including Reb Herzel, are taken to the center of the compound and summarily executed, the sounds of the Shema prayer mingling with the gunshots. Their bodies are left lying there, a warning to the other Jews in the camp and a tribute to Nazi “justice.”

Back in the bunk, no one can speak. Once again, the eyes are hollow and transparent, as if the souls had disappeared along with the hanukkia. At the window, young Shmuel looks out upon the bodies, tears streaming down his face. He shakes his fist with rage and finally screams, “They will not defeat us!”

He lets his tears fall upon the fingertips of his right hand, and while they are still wet, he presses them tight upon the icy window. The bitter cold freezes them fast to the glass. With the defiant yell of a Maccabee, Shmuel recites the blessings upon lighting the hanukkia. Then, with one final cry, he tears away his fingers from the windowpane, leaving five bits of blood and flesh on the window where his fingers had been.

The fifth candle has been kindled.

HANUKKIA LIT IN SPOT HITLER DECREED FINAL SOLUTION
Gil Shefler

Jerusalem Post, December 21, 2011

The large, torch-carrying crowd assembled under the imposing Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on Tuesday was reminiscent of a different era, darker era. But these were not Nazi stormtroopers, and the year was not 1933. Rather, it was 2011 and the gatherers were taking part in a large Hanukka ceremony.

“We’re standing at the same spot where Adolf Hitler announced his plan to annihilate European Jewry,” said Chabad Rabbi Yehuda Tiechtel of Berlin, who organized the event.…

About 1,000 people, including US Ambassador to Germany Phillip Murphy and several other dignitaries were in attendance.… During the gathering Jewish students simultaneously lit candles and torches symbolizing the triumph of light over darkness.

The Brandenburg Gate was built by Prussian King Fredrick William II in 1788. When the Nazis came to power they used it to stage marches and rallies, including Hitler’s swearing-in ceremony as chancellor in January 1933. After the war, the gate stood in a virtual no-man’s land straddling the border between East and West Berlin. It was where then-US president John F. Kennedy delivered his Ich bin ein Berliner speech and US President Ronald Reagan called on Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.…

[Today] the gate…is only a stone’s throw away from a large museum remembering the Jews murdered by the Nazis and their allies in the Holocaust.… “If the purpose of the menorah is light over darkness, there’s no stronger place to express this than here,” [Tiechtel] said.

WOULD THE MACCABEES BE PROUD?
Michael Freund
Jerusalem Post, December 21, 2011

As Jews around the world gather to celebrate Hanukka, the festival of lights, it is only natural that we look back with pride at what our ancestors were able to accomplish.

Over two millennia ago a small band of freedom fighters rose up against the Seleucid tyrant Antiochus and his despotism, determined to reinstate our national sovereignty and salvage our religious identity. Thanks to Divine providence, Matityahu the high priest and his intrepid sons prevailed, defeating the enemy, cleansing the Temple and re-establishing Jewish rule. As a result, the Maccabees rightfully earned their place in the annals of Jewish heroism, setting an inspiring example of spiritual resolve and military fortitude for generations of Jews to come.

Tuesday night, as we lit the first candle, I stared at the light and considered what the Maccabees had achieved with one pressing question on my mind: how would they view us? Would the Maccabees, who sacrificed everything for the sake of preserving the Jewish way of life, be proud to see what the Jewish people and the modern State of Israel have become?

From a strictly political and martial perspective, the answer would appear to be obvious. Surely Judah the Maccabee and his brothers would rejoice to see a reborn Jewish state, free and independent, with a potent military that is the envy of the region. They would undoubtedly marvel at Israel’s accomplishments on the battlefield against overwhelming odds, seeing in them some undeniable parallels with their own victories over the Syrian-Greeks.… The IDF is the living embodiment of Judah the Maccabee’s fighting spirit, carrying on his legacy of national dignity and self-respect.

But as much as the Maccabees would have taken delight in Israel’s prowess, I can’t help but feel they would be terribly disappointed by a number of the Jewish state’s policies.

Take, for example, Israel’s treatment of the Temple Mount, which lies at the very heart of the historical events that Hanukka commemorates. In deference to our Muslim neighbors, Israel imposes a series of shameful restrictions on Jewish visitors to this holiest of sites. Jews ascending the Mount are not allowed to bring a prayer book or Bible with them, nor are they permitted to pray. Indeed, Jews are occasionally detained by police for moving their lips on their Mount, as this could be interpreted to be an act of prayer. On the other hand, the Muslim Wakf, which effectively controls the site, has done as it pleases, carrying out illegal archaeological digs and destroying priceless relics from Temple times right under Israel’s nose.

I think Matityahu and his sons would have a hard time understanding why the Temple Mount they fought so hard to liberate and purify is now routinely debased thanks to a weak-willed Jewish government. After all, it was the restoration of the Temple and its service that was the driving force behind their revolt.…

And then there is Israel’s nasty habit of turning over territory to our enemies. Take, for example, the ignominious withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, which would certainly have astounded the protagonists of the Hanukka story.

In the year 145 BCE, the Hasmonean king Jonathan, Judah the Maccabee’s brother, attacked Gaza and forced its population to sue for peace, as recounted in the First Book of Maccabees (11:62). His brother Simon, who succeeded him, later captured Gaza and pacified its population, which had been agitating against the Judean kingdom. He sent Jews to settle Gaza, and even built himself a home there, sending a clear message that the Jews were there to stay.

Contrast this with our own expulsion of thousands of Jews from Gaza, and the inexplicable forbearance that our government shows in the face of rocket attacks emanating from the area. The Maccabees would be appalled!

Matityahu and his sons took up arms because Judaism and its core beliefs, as well as the Jewish people, were under assault from both within and without. They were driven by a firm belief in the justness of their cause, which gave them the wherewithal to confront the existential threats facing the Jewish nation. In our own time, even that has eroded, as many of our fellow Israelis seem to have lost sight of the fact that we are engaged in a clear struggle between good and evil.

What ensured the Maccabean success was their obstinate and uncompromising commitment to Jewish values and principles, and it is this trait that we must seek to re-embrace. Enough with retreat, enough with withdrawal and appeasing our foes. Let’s learn from the Maccabees and start worrying a little less about what the world might think, and a little more about how to build and defend the Land of Israel.

Just as the candles that we kindle each night stand ram-rod straight, giving off light in defiance of their surroundings, so too must Israel now do the same. That, perhaps more than anything, is what the heroes of Hanukka would have wanted.

US STATE DEPARTMENT TRUE TO FORM
ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES
Arlene Kushner

FrontPage, December 20, 2011

Is the US State Department capable of getting it right when addressing deprivation of human rights endured by Jewish people? Its conduct with regard to the Mount of Olives cemetery in Jerusalem gives serious pause.

On the slopes of the Mount of Olives (Hebrew: Har Hazeitim), in eastern Jerusalem, lies a 2,500 year-old Jewish cemetery, bearing a legacy of enormous import and sanctity. Among those buried in its 150,000 Jewish graves are prophets, Zionist leaders, rabbis, writers, and an Israeli prime minister.

From 1948, when eastern Jerusalem was captured by Jordan, until its liberation by Israel in 1967, no Jews were permitted at the site; horrendous damage was done to the cemetery during those years. Although restoration has been taking place since 1967, until recently action to protect the site had been insufficient. That is now changing as the Israeli government has become more vigorously involved and the International Committee for the Preservation of Har HaZeitim has been established.

Yet vandalism still regularly occurs at the cemetery. Arabs drop cinderblocks from the top of the Mount down the hillside, in a frequently successful effort to crack headstones. Additionally, mourners and those visiting graves of loved ones are often harassed by Arabs throwing stones and require an armed Israeli security escort. Not infrequently, those mourners and visitors are American citizens.

Enter Jeff Daube, Director of the Israel Office of the Zionist Organization of America, and a leading member of the International Committee. Alarmed by what he had learned about the situation, he wrote a letter on November 10, 2010, to the U.S. General Counsel and Chief of Mission in Jerusalem, Daniel Rubinstein. Observing that as “the consulate’s good offices are meant to represent the U.S. in Jerusalem…it appears the Mt. of Olives falls within your diplomatic purview.” Daube requested, on behalf of “outraged U.S. and Israeli citizens,” that the Consul General “issue a condemnation of this ongoing sacrilege and violence,” and call upon local Arab leaders and the PA to issue condemnations of the acts of desecration and harassment.

On November 12, 2010, Daube was invited to a meeting with Jonathan Cullen, Political Officer, and Matthew Welsh, Officer of Religious Affairs, at the Consulate. After the situation was discussed, it was agreed that these officers would visit the site with Daube on January 5, 2011. But when the consulate officers subsequently learned that they were to be accompanied by Israeli security personnel, they explained to Daube that regulations forbid consulate personnel from participating in any event involving Israel-funded security. This is to avoid implicit U.S. recognition of Israeli sovereignty over eastern Jerusalem. As Daube declined to be responsible for escorting American officials on the site without security protection, there the issue rested.

This spring, Daube, who lives in Israel, visited Washington DC. Twice—on May 10 and June 1—he met at State with John Buzbee, Director of the Bureau of Near East Affairs/Israel-Palestinian Affairs. At the first meeting, with regard to the Mount of Olives, Daube made three requests: 1. That the State Department issue a condemnation of the violence and grave desecrations; 2. That the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem prevail upon the PA to release a condemnation in Arabic; 3. That the problem be addressed in the State Department’s annual Report on International Religious Freedom.

During the second meeting, Buzbee reported with satisfaction that the draft of the report on religious freedom was on his desk and, indeed, the problem on the Mount was included. In mid-November, Secretary Clinton held a press conference announcing the release of the report for 2010. On checking, Daube learned that the relevant text in that report reads: “The desecration of Muslim and Jewish cemeteries in Jerusalem continued throughout the reporting period. Jewish tombstones on the Mount of Olives cemetery were vandalized, and the Jerusalem Municipality demolished tombstones in the Muslim Mamilla cemetery it deemed were constructed illegally.”

The State Department has a solid reputation for adopting a stance of moral equivalency regarding Israeli-Palestinian issues: When releasing a statement critical of Arabs, its officials behave as if duty-bound to find something equally critical to say about Israelis. While allegedly this is done to avoid the semblance of a pro-Israel tilt, this policy actually generates an anti-Israel bias because Israeli and Arab behavior are simply not equivalent. This is stunningly obvious with regard to this particular report.…

Earlier this year, the Israel Land Authority discovered that the northern branch of the Islamic Movement had been planting fake tombstones in the Mamilla Cemetery as part of a “land war.” Official inspectors at the site found tombstones that bore no evidence of graves beneath. After extensive documentation had been gathered, the Authority declared that they were dealing with “…fraud on a massive scale. Five hundred tombstones…were placed in the graveyard.…”

Working with antiquities officials to insure no actual graves were disturbed, the Authority removed the fake headstones. It is a distorted description of this action, without proper context, that found its way into the State Department report.

Neither Secretary of State Clinton nor other officials within the State Department have issued public condemnation of the deprivation of religious freedom endured by Jews on the Mount of Olives. The guess would be that—while this issue merits public condemnation—Secretary Clinton is inhibited by her concern that Arab sensibilities not be offended.

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