The Puzzlement About Israelis and Chanukah

Along with the revised, perverted and dis-functional command structure, what the opinion piece failed to touch on is the mutual sectorial rivalries, hatreds and prejudices in our times which have been manifested by an evolution away from IDF credos of yesteryear (as recently as 25 years ago) — “What affects you, affects me”, “Your doorstep is like mine” — an evolution away from the IDF command credo of “follow me” (now the commander sits in safe bunkers well away from the action, or in the defense ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv, behind laptop computer monitors, while the grunts – the jobnikim – do the dirty work in the field) — an evolution to “I fight for my politics” while discrediting and dehumanizing one’s comrade’s home in another part of Jewish land as “illegitimate,” as somehow being less Kaddosh because he’s had this shekkar drilled into his head by his teachers, his professors, the Israeli “intelligencia”, the left-agendized media, his politically agendized IDF commanders and more.

The puzzlement about Chanukah and Israelis is;

How can it be, and this is by no means confined only to the chilonim such as in Ramat Aviv Bet, that Israelis can live with Chanukah — the most Land of Israel-connected chaggim — in a vacuum?

How can it be that those, among Israelis, with even the most rudimentary recognition of the connection between Chanukah and the Land — the war of the Chashmonai’yim al Kiddush Hashem against the Greeks — the Yavonim and their ethics and mythology (their opposition to, and attempts to ban Shabbos, Brit Milah and Rosh Chodesh as well as the intimate Jewish connection with Hashem) — that those among Israelis cannot see the practical contemporary connection to and applications of the lessons of Chanukah; the victory of Jewish ethic, morality and spirituality over the forces of evil, and the renewal of our Divine Legacy of Eretz Yisrael?

How can those with even superficial knowledge about Chanukah not see the danger of today’s tyranny of the Yavonim within who seek the eradication of Torah, Halachot and severance of our intimate connection withj Ha Kodosh Borchu?

And how can the abovementioned opinion writer not see the correlation of the contemporary “I”, the “self” Israeli, with the Greek ethics and mythology which the Chashmonai’yim fought, with Hashem’s help, and were victorious over?

These questions are a pella — a wonderment to me! For if we can’t relate in our days to the meaning of what happened on Chanukah, then Chanukah becomes mere symbolism — a festival hung here on the luach at this time of year — mere chocolate gelt and dreydels.

May we, the B’nai Yisrael be zocha that our brethren — the refugee families from Gush Katif be permanently settled and be made totally whole, that our dear brother Jonathan Pollard, captive Gilad Shalit and the other MIAs be liberated alive returned to us in ways befitting Al Kiddush Hashem and that we fulfill Hashem’s blueprint of B’nai Yisrael as a Unique people — an Am Segula, not to be reckoned with as with “the nations” and may we be zocha to see the Moshiach, the Ge’ula Shlaima, as Dov Shurin sings; “Yom Hashem V’Kol HaGoyim”, the Ultimate Redemption, bim hay v’yameinu — speedily, in our time”, — Achshav, Chik Chuk, Miyad, Etmol!!!