Mi LaShem Elai

What is so special about Chanukah? Why has it become such a central holiday to our national culture? It’s not the latkes or doughnuts. On Chanukah we celebrate the time that we, Am Yisrael, chose Hashem en masse. It was the harder choice by far, as it tends to be. We could have joined in the Hedonistic pleasures of the Greeks. We could have chosen the glory of the human body and narcissistic intellectual pursuits.

One public figure chose to resist. His sons joined him and raised the slogan, “מי לה’ אלי!” The call did not go unanswered. Thousands rallied to the call. For over three years the Maccabees fought the Greek army, Greek culture, and assimilated Jews. It was their active choice to defend Torah values, for the first time, as a nation in distress.

When Bnei Yisrael followed Hashem out of Egypt we didn’t really have the option to stay there. Also, in the Chanukah story there was no midrashic mountain being held over our heads like at Har Sinai. On Purim the evil decree had been overturned by Mordechai and Esther before most of the kingdom knew it had been made. On Chanuka WE chose to serve Hashem and to follow the laws and culture of the Torah against the seemingly more attractive option and at risk to our very lives.

Hashem helped us and we won our independence for the first time since the first Temple.

Fast forward to today: We are still Hashem’s nation. We have a covenant with Him. We should remember that we have a special connection and a special mission. When we are in sync with our purpose, when we CHOOSE Hashem, then victory is assured.