Activist Looks Forward To End Of Hanukkah When Assimilation Good Again

The Maccabees’ principal foe was not, as many assume, the Seleucid Empire, but the assimilated, Hellenized Jews of the era.

Tel Aviv, December 17 – A staunchly secular resident of this prosperous city on the Mediterranean voiced her relief today that the eight-day Jewish festival of lights will conclude soon, as she has grown tense with the knowledge that the holiday, embraced even by irreligious Israelis, celebrates the reassertion of sovereignty by a reactionary faction of ancient Jews whose principal foe was not, as many assume, the Seleucid Empire, but the assimilated, Hellenized Jews of the era who sought to sever or loosen the hold of Jewish tradition on politics and culture.

Anisa Tum, 34, of affluent North Tel Aviv, acknowledged in an interview today that Israeli society cannot divorce itself entirely from Jewish history and tradition, but remains uncomfortable with the deeper message of Hanukkah: the celebration of Jewish observance and learning that applies a critical filter to the adoption of outside influences, as opposed to wholesale assimilation into the dominant culture regardless of its implications for Jewish spirituality and community.

“It’s disingenuous and oddly naïve to believe we can build a society in Israel, the Jewish homeland, based on nothing Jewish,” she allowed. “Earlier secularists in this society might have thought it possible, and even made some attempts in that direction, but failed. As one later put it, by depriving the next generation of Israelis of Jewish education they sought to create a generation of heretics, but ended up creating a generation of ignoramuses. So yes, any realist understands you can’t impose European enlightenment secularism on Israel, no matter how wonderful it might seem.”

“But at the same time it’s hard for me to accept that we celebrate Hanukkah,” she continued. “The way it’s taught to children, at least in public schools, it’s about fighting off imperialism, which is fine, because it’s easy to go from there to indoctrinating people into the assumption that Israel itself is guilty of imperialism. That’s important to me politically, and provides entrée to the elite European cultural circles I hope to join. But the other aspects of the holiday make me squirm, because behind the military uprising was a cultural one that rejected assimilation, and I’m not prepared to agree with that. The continued observance of Hanukkah through the ages serves as a reminder that the ancient spiritual, cultural struggle continues as well.”

“You can’t expect me to compromise on my devotion to secularism,” she insisted. “I’m open-minded, so there’s no way I’m going to accept anything other than my own secular outlook. I can’t wait till the weekend, when we can go back to wanting to be Greeks again.”

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