For a holiday that celebrates a military victory, it’s safe to say that after what happened in Australia, we probably all feel a bit defeated.

After all, there have been too many such days the last few years, not to mention the last few centuries, all equally dispiriting. Okay, saddening and infuriating, too.

What Israel and Jews around the world are up against really does underscore what a miracle it was that the Maccabees were able to defeat the baddest army in the world.

But needless to point out, that’s not why we light the menorah or eat fried food. The main miracle of course was that one day’s worth of oil managed to burn for eight until more could be produced.

We take that part of the story literally, as if it were a fact of history. Actually, in many respects it is. Chanukah, as well as Purim, occurred after the Biblical age. The Jewish people really did win a war over the Assyrian Greeks, who really did defile the Beit ha Mikdash, the great Temple. The holiday is considered rabbinic rather than having been brought down by the Torah like........

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