The official motto of the US, “In God We Trust” – which has overcome multiple lawsuits – is similar to the Maccabees’ battle cry, which adopted Moses’ battle cry against the builders of the Golden Calf: “Whoever trusts God, join me!”
Unlike Passover and Purim, Chanukah commemorates a national Jewish liberation holiday and a series of battles, which took place in the land of Israel, mostly in the mountain ridges of Judea and Samaria, the home court of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Therefore, Shimon the Maccabee – who succeeded his brothers, Judah and Yonatan – defied an ultimatum by the Syrian emperor, Antiochus (Book of Maccabees A, Chapter 15, verse 33), who demanded an end to the “occupation” of Jerusalem, Jaffa, Gaza, Gezer and Akron: “We have not occupied a foreign land; we have not ruled a foreign land; we have liberated the land of our forefathers from foreign occupation.”
Shimon the Maccabee’s statement is as valid in 2014 as it was in 143BCE, with the Jewish State facing – once again – global pressure to withdraw from its own cradle of history. The moral high ground, and critical security requirements, behoove Israel and her allies to align themselves with the Chanukah legacy, the 17th century Pilgrims, the US and Israeli Founding Fathers and other patriots of liberty against rogue regimes and agents of appeasement, oversimplification and wishful-thinking.
Wishing you Happy Chanukah and Seasons Greetings,