By Rabbi Ron Stern
The noted Israeli psychologist Daniel Kahneman tells us that our brains are lazy. In general, if there’s a simpler rationale for our actions or a superficial conclusion to be drawn from events, our brains take that easy way out—even if it’s not based on a full grasp of the facts. Along with his colleague Daniel Twersky, he coined the term: WYSIATI (What You See Is All There Is) to explain our tendency to reach mistaken conclusions without understanding the depth of the issue. While this can be applied to so many areas in life—and is a useful caution to all of us when making judgements about the world around us, lets look at Hanukkah through the WYSIATI lens.
The first version we learned was the story of the jar of oil burning for eight days when the Temple was rededicated. Simple, but it doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. Deeper investigation reveals that story only entered the Jewish opus nearly a thousand of years AFTER the Maccabees fought their battle to re-claim the ancient Temple.
Later we learned about the virtuous Maccabees fighting the evil Greeks led by Antiochus, adding another layer to the Hanukkah story. While there’s an element of historical truth here, scholars tell us that, the Maccabees were just a fraction of the Jewish population. Historians have revealed that most Jews at that time welcomed the Greeks and it was the High Priests (Cohan Gadol) Jason and Menelaus who actually paid off Antiochus so they could claim the priesthood and allowed him to impose Hellenizing policies on the Jews. A major component of the Maccabean result, then, was Jew against Jew. The anti-assimilationist Maccabees fighting their Greek-culture-loving brethren. The word Hanukkah (however you spell it!) means dedication and accurately describes the rededication of the Temple by the Maccabees once they won they day.
Okay, so the Maccabees won, restored true Jewish worship in the Temple and insured the future of the Jewish people. Well, yes but… the last ruling queen of the Maccabean dynasty was named Salome (Shlomtzion) Alexandra. Her second name came from her husband Alexander, obviously a Greek name. She supported the more Hellenized Jews (Pharisees) who were fast become normative and, in turn, ostracized the traditionalists (Saducees). The Pharisees became the rabbis of today and selectively brought Greek culture and thought into Judaism. Were it not for that modernization of Judaism, we might not be here to celebrate Hanukkah at all!
So, What You See Is NOT All There Is! The history of Hanukkah is far more complicated and I’d argue more interesting! While it takes more effort to explore the complex facets of so many of the aspects of the world around us, we must resist our brain’s tendency to take shortcuts and take the time to truly understand our multi-layered world. And that is a Hanukkah lesson for our times!
