Only Republican Jews have the right to celebrate Chanukkah

[SpeakNow]

This bigot seems to think that liberal Jews aren't are stupid and shouldn't be able to celebrate Chanukkah.

"Conservative Republicans of all stripes understand this, and must not let the meaning of Hanukkah be co-opted by liberals who want to “celebrate†a holiday by stripping bare the holiday’s very meaning.

For those who want to honor the Jews who used hard military power to break an enemy and preserve the Jewish people, light a Hanukkah candle or several and break out your best blue and white pride."

"Hanukkah is an even bigger internal struggle for liberal Jews. Try as they might to deny the truth, Hanukkah is a military celebration. It is a Neocon holiday honoring military force. Hanukkah’s message is politically conservative: When dealing with genocidal enemies, force is the only solution. Diplomacy is an utter waste when negotiations become a stalling tactic between bouts of terror."

I will happily light candles in my liberal Jewish hone tonight!

.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/tygrrrr-express/2013/nov/26/why-politically-liberal-jews-should-consider-skipp/

[Dinorah]

What a ridiculous idea. I thought it was a holiday about lighting candles and eating latkes, and not even that important originally if weren't that it coincides with Christmas.

[FloraKitty35]

Just something else for the fundies to co-opt from Jews :roll:. The Washington Times is a right wing shit rag.

[NotALoserLikeYou]

What about republican fundies? I know a few are "celebrating"

[Ralar]

Obviously that ignorant Republican only learned the most basic Chanukah story, the one taught to the youngest children: There was a war between the Greeks and the Maccabees, the Maccabees won, they rededicated the Temple and found oil for only one day. But there was a miracle and the oil burned for 8 days.

The story I learned contains all those elements, but I also learned that the reason the Maccabees fought was religious freedom. Not only did the Maccabees battle the Syrian-Greek armies, but also the Hellenistic Jews. There was a civil war between Hellenistic Jews and traditional Jews.

Desiring to unify his kingdom through the medium of a common religion and culture, Antiochus (ruler of the Syrian-Greek empire) tried to root out the individualism of the Jews by suppressing all the Jewish Laws.

One day the henchmen of Antiochus arrived in the village of Modin where Mattityahu, the old priest, lived. The Syrian officer built an altar in the marketplace of the village and demanded that Mattityahu offer sacrifices to the Greek gods. Mattityahu replied, "I, my sons and my brothers are determined to remain loyal to the covenant which our G-d made with our ancestors!" Thereupon, a Hellenistic Jew approached the altar to offer a sacrifice. Mattityahu grabbed his sword and killed him, and his sons and friends fell upon the Syrian officers and men. They killed many of them and chased the rest away. They then destroyed the altar.

Mattityahu knew that Antiochus would be enraged when he heard what had happened. He would certainly send an expedition to punish him and his followers. Mattityahu, therefore, left the village of Modin and fled together with his sons and friends to the hills of Judea. The loyal and courageous Jews joined them. They formed legions and from time to time they left their hiding places to fall upon enemy detachments and outposts, and to destroy the pagan altars that were built by order of Antiochus.

Before his death, Mattityahu called his sons together and urged them to continue to fight in defense of G-d’s Torah. In waging warfare, he said, their leader should be Judah the Strong. Judah was called "Maccabee.â€

Antiochus sent his General Apolonius to wipe out Judah and his followers, the Maccabees. Though greater in number and equipment than their adversaries, the Syrians were defeated by the Maccabees. Antiochus sent out another expedition which also was defeated. He realized that only by sending a powerful army could he hope to defeat Judah and his brave fighting men.

An army consisting of more than 40,000 men swept the land under the leadership of two commanders, Nicanor and Gorgiash. When Judah and his brothers heard of that, they exclaimed: "Let us fight unto death in defense of our souls and our Temple!" After a series of battles, the Maccabees won the war.

The Maccabees returned to Jerusalem to liberate it. They entered the Temple and cleared it of the idols placed there by the Syrian vandals. Judah and his followers built a new altar, which he dedicated on the twenty-fifth of the month of Kislev, in the year 3622.

When the Maccabees went to light the Temple's menorah, they found only a small cruse of pure olive oil bearing the seal of the High Priest Yochanan. It was sufficient to light only for one day. By a miracle of G-d, it continued to burn for eight days, till new oil was made available. That miracle proved that G-d had again taken His people under His protection. In memory of this, our sages appointed these eight days for annual thanksgiving and for lighting candles.

Somehow,

Hanukkah is a military celebration. It is a Neocon holiday honoring military force. Hanukkah’s message is politically conservative: When dealing with genocidal enemies, force is the only solution. Diplomacy is an utter waste when negotiations become a stalling tactic between bouts of terror."

Was left out of every single version of the Chanukah story I've ever heard.

For the next 8 days, and especially as we sit down for our Thanksgivukkah feast, my family will remember to give thanks not only for everything we have, but for the religious and political freedom we enjoy. Of course, we'll also remember the miracle of the oil lasting for 8 days.

[Cannelle]

Happy Thanksgivukkah to our FJ'ers who are celebrating! <3

[2xx1xy1JD]

This is not a holiday for those who see evangelical Christians and Pro-Likud Jews as enemies.

Actually....it's very much a holiday about a relatively small religious group revolting against a larger global political and military power, when it sought to deny their traditional freedom to worship.

The Maccabees may have been the first to point out that there can be a cost to appeasing powerful forces which don't always respect your religious rights.

Traditionally, Hanukkah was a pretty low-key holiday. The Hebrew Bible doesn't include the Book of Maccabees, and there's a bit of discomfort with celebrating what was basically a civil war.

http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holiday ... .shtml?p=1

It's not about military force. Logically, you'd expect the Syrian-Greeks to have won, since they were the dominant power. They were a group of religious guerillas, fighting against Greek/Western culture. [At the first of being totally un-PC - they may not have been totally unlike the Taliban.]

The miracle celebrated is not the military victory. It's the dedication oil lasting 8 days - which is sort of an odd thing to focus on. The rabbis emphasized that proper worship could resume, NOT the bloodshed involved in the revolt.

As for the ranting on Iran - wrong holiday. Save it for Purim.

Finally, here's my rant on the whole "liberalism is a sign of Jewish assimilation!" meme:

http://jrkmommy-personalandpolitical.bl ... ss-of.html

Once upon a time, it seemed to a lot of Jews (like my grandparents) that it was politically expedient to support leftist causes. On the far left, that ended badly. Why would it be a good idea to forget what we've learned and jump into bed with the conservatives because it's politically expedient? I'm not opposed to strategic alliances from time to time and you take support where you can find it, but thinking that we need to embrace conservative Christians whole-heartedly is about as naive as my grandmother embracing Stalin's promise of creating a Jewish state in Birobijan.

[Emme]

well fuck them, they don't get to dictate shit about my holiday!

Happy Hanukkah peeps!

[SPHASH]

I thought most Jews were Democrat.

[2xx1xy1JD]

I thought most Jews were Democrat.

They are - here's a chart showing the split of the Jewish vote in presidential elections. The last time a Republican got more Jewish votes than a Democrat was in 1920.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jso ... wvote.html

That said, there are changes in the spread between the Jewish vote and general vote. Jimmy Carter, for example, got less than 50% of the Jewish vote in 1980. If you look at the 2012 data vs 2008 data, Obama lost more support among Jewish voters than among the general population (although he still got 69% of the Jewish vote, as opposed to 51% of the general vote).

Positions of individual candidates on Israel accounts for some of the shifts. You can't really compare the Bill Clinton/Yitzhak Rabin bromance to the rather frigid Obama/Netanyahu relationship, for example.

The crazy wing of the Republican party, however, still scares off many Jews, which is why Obama can still get 69% of the Jewish vote even with his record on Israel. Jews will be willing to vote for moderate north-east Republicans - look at Giuliani or Christie.