The War of Light and Darkness |
There are moments in history—often tragic—when one event becomes emblematic of a long chain of preceding and forthcoming events. Such a moment occurred on the first day of Hanukkah at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, where an act of pure evil extinguished the light of a public Hanukkah menorah lighting meant to bring warmth and hope. This premeditated act of mass murder will become emblematic of the wave of antisemitism sweeping the world—the war of darkness vs. light. In the midst of pain and sorrow, my only hope is that this evil act, which brought darkness upon Australia and Jewish communities around the world, will also bring moral clarity to the confused—be they Western intellectual elites, political leaders, or bystanders—who passively enable antisemitism by failing to condemn it.
Hanukkah has been celebrated by Jewish people around the world for two millennia in commemoration of the victory of an oppressed Jewish community in Judea over the mighty Seleucid Greek Empire. The Maccabees, a small group of brave Jews—the indigenous people of Judea—rose against Seleucid armies and, against all odds, achieved victory and a measure of independence. This military miracle was amplified by another miracle—the menorah in the rededicated Temple in Jerusalem burned for eight days on a single-day supply of olive oil.
Leo Tolstoy wrote that Jews invented freedom. But freedom did not come easily. And it did not last long. Jews were conquered once again and sent into exile, where Jewish people have been the subject of pogroms, blood libels, the Inquisition, the Holocaust, and relentless, ubiquitous antisemitism. And when Holocaust survivors finally returned to their ancestral homeland—the land of King David and the prophet Isaiah, the land of two Holy Temples that once stood in Jerusalem, where only the Western Wall of the last Temple remains—they were branded “colonialists.” Nevertheless, every year, Jews lit their Hanukkah menorahs as an act of defiance, an act of hope. And thus, Hanukkah became a........