Few - and Proud

This morning in my Tefilah class I studied the Al Hanisim paragraph with 6^th grade boys. I focused on the phrase in the prayer where we thank Hashem for the Jewish victory over the Greeks where it is described as “the many in the hands of the few.”  I reminded the class that the Greeks were not primarily interested in killing Jews, as Haman and the Nazis were. Rather, their interest was in extinguishing Judaism. A Jew would be left alone if s/he gave up unique Jewish beliefs and rituals and lived life as a Greek. Persecution would only occur if Jews refused this offer. Many Jews accepted the Greek offer and lived comfortable lives as Mityavnim. However there was a small cadre of people, led by the Maccabees who refused to give in, or give up.

As I emphasized in today’s class, they understood that there were some ideas or beliefs that are worth fighting for, even worth dying for. I compared the Maccabees to the American soldiers during the Revolutionary War. By and large, citizens of the 13 colonies could have gone on living comfortable lives as subjects of the British. They may have been taxed unfairly, but they would have been left alive. Yet they understood what the Maccabees understood: that there are some rights and ideas worth fighting for.

Chanukah also reminds us that being right does not always put you in the majority. As we read in Al Hanisim, the miracle was that “the many were given over to the few.” In a sense, this is the ongoing miracle of the Jewish People and the Jewish State: the few continue to persevere. Against all odds, against lopsided UN votes, we are still here and we are not going anywhere

Parshat Mikeitz begins with the story of Pharaoh’s dreams. Rabbi Moshe Amiel asks: In Egypt, they don’t talk about this Pharaoh anymore. Egyptian history books barely mention his name, and definitely do not describe his dreams. Yet in Judaism, Pharaoh’s dreams are part of our holy Bible. We read and study Pharaoh’s dream to a much greater degree than they do in Egypt. Why is this so?

Rabbi Amiel suggests that although Yosef interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams as relevant for that particular point in history, there was a much larger significance to this dream that is relevant throughout Jewish history. The narrative of the healthy cows being swallowed by the skinny cows and the healthy stalks being devoured by the skinny stalks is the ongoing lesson of “the many in the hands of the few….the strong in the hands of the weak.” It is a Jewish theme and promise throughout history, not just on Chanukah.

The convergence of Parshat Mikeitz with Chanukah is the right time to remind ourselves of the lessons of “rabim biyad me’atim.” There are beliefs worth fighting for. Even when we are right, we may be in the minority. And just because we are in the minority does not mean we are destined to be lost to history.