On the Holiday of Chanukkah – The Next Messiah
The holiday of Chanukkah is a celebration of light, the commemoration of an ancient miracle. It is a time for us to reflect on the light in our life, and be reminded of the miracle that is life. Chanukkah means “dedication.” It marks the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem to Jewish worship by the victorious Maccabee rebels, after its desecration following the Greek pagan invasion and takeover. The rebellion came at the end of 150 years of the Jews living under Greek dominion. The Greek leaders cared mostly about keeping themselves in power, concentrating wealth in as few hands as possible, and imposing their culture, their values, upon everyone else. Chanukkah is a story of the uprising of people living under a rule that didn’t resemble them, that didn’t reflect their values as a nation. The revolt broke out because Jews felt disenfranchised, alienated, disrespected and spiritually crushed. Theirs was a struggle to maintain a way of life that they saw being systematically eradicated. There are times when history seems to be repeating itself. I believe ours is such a time.
In order to stay in power the Greeks pit the Jews against each other: those who embraced Hellenism against those who resisted it. The divisiveness came to a head when the High Priest appointment to the Temple was taken away from its legitimate heir by the Greek ruler, and given–after a major bribe–to a pro-assimilation candidate. In our days this would be akin to unlimited financial contribution by special interests. What it meant then was that brothers of the same nation became enemies overnight and civil war ensued. The war turned into revolt against Greek rule only after the latter stepped into the conflict on the assimilationists’ side.
Learning from our ancestors’ history, we need to reject the divisive mindset that elements of our media and our politicians have led us to buy into: that we are a deeply divided nation, living in a highly individualistic society, where the accumulation of stuff matters more than people. We need to let go of the alienating isolating storyline that we have been fed to believe; and rebuild relationships based on mutual support and shared action. Today, we need to empower each other to dream a different dream, to envision a different future. We need to come together to manifest that vision, that dream, in our cities, in our neighborhoods and in our communities.
Today we are called to rededicate our Temple.
So where do we start? We can start in the only place there ever is to start: right here and right now. The lesson of Chanukkah points us in one direction: the tremendous power of community to change our collective fate. Bet Alef as a committed spiritual community can forward such a vision. Our vision is one where we manifest in our world all that we learn, who we each become by practical engagement in the very spirituality we embrace. Our vision is one where our community itself becomes the container through which these spiritual values are expressed; where we create the kind of world we want to live in, the kind of life we want to participate in, the kind of society we want to raise the next generation in. Like the Maccabees, we are the ones called to spiritual warriorship–to compassion and care for one another. We are the ones called to open our hearts to break down the isolation, in order to rebuild relationships between us on a basis of trust, mutual interdependence, and love.
This is “applied spirituality.” In Jewish tradition one’s spiritual height is measured by one’s actions in the world. The same is true for our communities. Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh quoted an ancient sutra that says: “The next Buddha will be the Sangha.” Our rabbis would have put it thus: “The next Mashiach will be the Kehilla” or, in other words, “The next Messiah will be the Community.” And for this Messiah, we certainly don’t have to wait.
Happy Chanukkah.
PS: On January 10th from 7PM – 8:30PM, as a first step toward manifesting this vision, I invite you to gather together and explore, as a community, the possibility of creating Resilience Circles at Bet Alef. Resilience Circles are small groups of people in community settings who come together to learn, share, dream of new possibilities, and take action. These circles will be the building blocks of a Bet Alef that inspires us to be the kind of community that embodies mutual support, epitomizes shared abundance, and is a model for transforming our society.