Homily – “Worth Fighting For” By, James Rohrbach

First Unitarian Congregational Society

12/14/14 Homily

James Rohrbach

 

Worth Fighting For

 Good morning.  My name is James Rohrbach, and I am a new member of First U and one of our lay leaders this year.  

 When Rev. Ana first suggested that my homily, scheduled for this week, take as it’s starting point the subject of Hanukkah, I thought, “UGH.  This is NOT the topic for me.”

I am Jewish by background and upbringing.  And, perhaps surprisingly, I’ve never liked Hannukah.  Sure, growing up it always seemed fun enough, with the family traditions, the candles, and, of course, the presents.

But I always had this nagging sense that Hanukkah was missing a central core, a heart of content and meaning that made it really matter.  

 

The holiday celebrates an impressive but, frankly, pretty minor episode in Jewish history.  The story doesn’t even come from the Bible.  Isn’t our American Hanukkah – with the dreidels and the gifts and the menorahs everywhere – just a tradition manufactured – not-so-subtly – to compete with our gluttonously commercialized Christmas?  

 

So, I wasn’t particularly looking forward to exploring this topic.  And then I started reading…

First, let’s do a quick refresher on the details.  The year is 167 B.C.E.  Israel has been living in relative peace and freedom for more than a century under the rule of Alexander the Great and his successors.  In fact, during this time many Jews had adopted much of Greek culture; its language, its customs, its clothing.  Effectively, they had assimilated.

Then along comes this new ruler, Antiochus IV.  Antiochus sounds like a bit of a crazy guy – he is described as “eccentric,” and “capricious” in the reading I did, and apparently people punned on his name to call him “The Mad One.”  

Anyway, for whatever totalitarian reason, Antiochus starts severely oppressing the Jews.  No more Shabbat or Jewish festivals.  No more circumcision.  And he looted and desecrated the Temple.  

Shockingly, this sparks major revolt and rebellion.  Led by Judah Maccabee and his family and followers, the Jews went to war.  They fought.  In an impressive display of David vs. Goliath, by 165 B.C.E. they had defeated the armies of Antiochus.  

Hanukkah celebrates this victory, and also a particular miracle that supposedly occurred shortly thereafter.  When the Jews were rededicating the Temple, they needed oil for the Ner Tamid – or eternal light – that was supposed to burn constantly.  They only had enough for one day, but it is said to have lasted for 8, the time it took for the Jews to procure more.  

Ok, so that’s the basic story.  The one I certainly grew up with, and you probably did too.  A tale of a people fighting for their values and traditions against those who oppose them – just like we stand up ours, from Share the Plate to the Climate March to yesterday’s Millions March against police brutality.  That’s worth fighting for. Go Maccabees!

But wait.  There’s actually a much more complex, troubling undercurrent here.  I quote Abigail Pogrebin, from the Jewish Daily Forward, here: 

“Hanukkah: A heartwarming story about Jew vs. Jew.

 “The not-so-hidden truth…is that the Maccabees were angry not just at…Antiochus…they were miffed at their fellow Jews for selling out – embracing Greek culture.. – because they were either seduced by it, or afraid to flout secular authority.”

 Whoa.  So wait, this was a fight between the Jews?  Specifically, between Jews who had assimilated and those who had not?  

Yes, there it is.  There is Wikipedia referring to it as “An internal civil war” between the Jews, and a historian asserting that, “Jews fought as soldiers in the armies on both sides” of the conflict.  

Now I’m confused, and, frankly, a bit worried.  Look at me.  I’m Jewish.  But I’ve joined First U.  And become a lay leader.  And now, I’m standing on this impressive pulpit giving a homily.  Am I not explicitly doing the thing that Hanukkah celebrates defeating?  Even more, in fact – I haven’t just assimilated – I have joined another spiritual community entirely.  Did I end up, ironically and unwittingly, as the person being fought against, as the bad guy in the Hanukkah story…and in my own first homily?

Suffice to say, that gave me food for thought.  And, after a lot of reflection, I think have, if not an answer, at least a response.

First, let’s examine this whole assimilation thing.  For much of history, and for many today assimilation, was and remains a coercive experience, implicitly or explicitly.  

But for many today, the lucky ones – myself included, assimilation barely makes sense as a concept: I am a Jew, an American and a New Yorker, a holder of multiple, sometimes conflicting, identities, exercising the right – for which I am so grateful – to choose my own path, broaden my community, and exercise my religious freedom.

In this post-modern world, it is not my responsibility to not “assimilate,” it is my responsibility to be intentional about the choices I am so fortunate to have.  

Second, my intentional choice to join the First U community is a reinterpretation rather than an abandonment of my tradition.  UU has gathered the best of so many of our traditions into this liberal religion, including the core Jewish values of peace, justice, compassion, charity, and respect. My presence here reflects my commitment to those values, just as much as would my membership in a local synagogue.

Finally, I would add that, in a world in which the frequent choice is total disengagement, is to actually abandon one’s tradition and indeed the very notion of an organized spiritual and ethical community, why would one not encourage continued participation in whatever way works best for the individual?  I am here because I like it, and because my wife likes it, and because we like Reverend Ana, and the service, and the building, and the community that has welcomed us so warmly.

I imagine this is a topic on many of our minds, especially visitors and new members like me, and especially at this time of year as we visit with our families.  So I will say to you, from one abandoning, assimilating nogoodnik to another, that you don’t have to reject where you came from to be here, or even to fully understand how here and there fit together.  Here doesn’t even have to be “better” than there – it’s OK if it just feels better.

One of the special values of UU is that it welcomes people like us, with multiple identities and traditions.  And in my short time here, I already know, that’s something worth fighting for.