This past Sunday, students in our Camp Wise Sundays program studied the Jewish value of trust, bitachon, examining how trust shaped Jewish history – from Hanukkah to the present – as well as the role trust plays in our everyday lives. During this week’s Daily Kavannot, we examine how trust shapes our people’s history and present.
The festival of Hanukkah, which begins tonight, is often portrayed exclusively as a tale of victory by the Jews, whose trust in their traditions, in themselves, and in one another led them to success against the superior forces of the Seleucid Greeks. But Hanukkah is much more than a tale of military victory. It is also an example of how we may navigate the events that call our trust into question.
For, if the history of Hanukkah teaches us that, with trust, we can succeed against overwhelming odds, then the succeeding era of Jewish history teaches us that, often, the odds are simply too overwhelming. Following three increasingly disastrous attempts to rebel against Rome, Jews recognized that, regardless of their trust in themselves or one another, they could not hope to overcome the Romans’ military might.
To survive, Judaism had to redirect its trust from statehood to peoplehood and from might to spirit. So, the rabbis brought us the tale of a menorah whose light lasted eight nights, reminding us that sometimes, trust means waiting for a miracle. And so, we waited until our miracles arrived, first in the late 18th century, when a nation was founded on the principles of the free exercise of religion, and again in the mid-20th century, when the Jews fashioned a state in our People’s ancient home.
As we kindle the Hanukkah lights, we are called upon to consider whether the challenges before us – as individuals, as a community, and as a people – demand trust in our might or trust in our spirit.
– Rabbi Josh Knobel