The card shown here depicts Betar members – men, women, and children – around a packed table with a lit menorah on Tuesday, December 4, 1945, the sixth night of Chanukah. On the left of the large banner in back is a Magen David with the Hebrew word for “Zion” inscribed within, and on the right is the symbol of Betar with the words “Tel Chai” written underneath. Joseph Trumpeldor, the leader of the Jewish settlers who were killed at Tel Chai in 1920, is a primary Betar role model who famously died proclaiming “No matter; it is good to die for our country.”
These words undoubtedly had particular meaning for this assembled group who, while joyously celebrating Chanukah, the conclusion of World War II, and the end of the Holocaust, would now turn their full attention to establishing a Jewish state in Eretz Yisrael – and perhaps dying, as did Trumpeldor, for their country.
Zionist Leaders (1921)
This very unusual and rare Chanukah card depicts some of the outstanding leaders of the Zionist movement in the form of a menorah. For an entertaining challenge of “Know Your Zionists,” look carefully at the card and see how many of these early 20th century Zionists you can identify before reading any further.
Beginning with the upper left arm, we find Theodor Herzl (along with an illustration of his gravesite in Vienna; his remains were later reinterred on Mt. Herzl in 1949). The upper right arm is Herbert Samuel. Successive arms, from the top down, are Max Nordau (left) and Chaim Weizmann (right); Abraham Mapu (left) and Nachum Sokolow (right); and, on the bottom branch, Trumpeldor (left) and Jabotinsky (right). Down the stem of the menorah, beginning at the top, are David Wolffsohn, Asher Zvi Ginsburg (aka Achad Ha-am), Chaim Nachman Bialik, Moses Leib Lilienblum, Yechiel Tselenev, and Baron Edmond Rothschild.
The card creatively and powerfully harmonizes two themes: as represented by the Zionist leaders, the dream of a future Jewish state in Eretz Yisrael; and, as represented by the menorah, the return of the victorious Maccabees to the holy Temple in Jerusalem.
“Hashem Is My Light (And My Salvation)” (1918)
Though Psalm 27, L’David Hashem Ori V’yishi, is, in accordance with the Ashkenazic tradition, traditionally recited from the beginning of Tishrei through Hoshanah Rabbah, the use of its first verse as a theme for this 1918 Chanukah card seems particularly appropriate for the Festival of Lights: “(A Psalm of David:) God is my light . . .”
The card, sent less than a week after the World War I armistice, features a beautiful German poem by Malvine Grunwald (1868-1943), a Jewish Viennese writer who was murdered by the Nazis at Terezin:
The month of Kislev has arrived with its host of lights,
and the hearts of the pious beat higher because God’s help is manifest.
Kislev has much to say about heroic fortitude and the enemy’s hand.
How Judah’s lion-like courageous effort broke through the sinners’ iron barrier.
How the fire-sparking words of the priests arouse fervor in the hearts of friends.
How the smallest host, so purposeful, ekes out victory everywhere.
Kislev also knows sweetly to proclaim –
from the smallest juglet such wonderful oil,
and invites us to ignite the clear lights for God’s glory.
A Chag Urim Sameach to all.
