The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 28, 1902, Page 11

THE fUNDAY CALL. o Foast b4 11 and capriclous and full. of hatred, es- pecially against the Jews and their Law. He was a Hellenist run to seed, and he wished that all -his’ subjects should be Hellenists. His wicked, cruel nature soon showed itself. He attacked Jerusalem, slaughtered young and old, forced his way into the temple, blasphemed God and removed all the golden vessels and the treasures of the sanctuary which Mene- laus pointed out to him. Later, instigated by the same treacher- ous apostate, Antlochus resolved to sweep erg2A | tbe 80\;' é’? N Synzagoue Idy ;\\ 1IVe sfave sons, Johanan, Simon, Eleazar; Jonathan and, the bravest of them all, Judas Maccabaeus. One of the officers of the King reached Modin, erected an altar in the niarket- place and ordered the people in the name of the King to abandon their faith and to perform acts of idolatry. Matta- thias and his sons rushed upon the officer and his troops ard killed them and de- molished the altar of Jupiter. The stan- dard of open rebellion was ralsed. Mat- tathias cried out, “Whosoever is zealous erty of all mankind. ‘Whilst the plous Jew, rejoicing during the festival of Chanuka because of the preservation of Judaism, is stimulated by its observance to remain loyal to the sac- red traditions of his race; and whilst the modern Zionists seek inspirgtion from the Chanuka celebrations to strengthen their national consciousness, every good man and true may participate in Israel's joy at the preservation of the world's best spiritual forces that work for righteous- ness. A Rabbinical legend relates that whea Judas Maccabeus entered the temple In Jerusalem he seagched and found ome small flask of holy ofl, bearing the seal of the genuine High Priest, proving that the oil was fit to be used for the per- petual lamp in the temple. The flask contained sufficlent oil only for Sne day's light, but by a miracle the oil lasted for eight days. The miracle has not ceased yet. The light that was rekindled by the plous and brave -Maccabees has been burning for over two thousand years, and with God's help it will continue to burm brightly as long ‘as there are noble souls left in the world to champion the cause of God, morality and humanity. THE EIGHT CHANUKA LIGHTS. (®or School Children). away the religion of Moses™and the for the Law, and whosoever wishes to ! @ prophets and - to compel the Jews to BUPPOrt the Covenant, let him come forth BY RABBI ISIDORE MYERS ’ adopt the faith of the Greeks. The King's efter me.” Many followed him to the With fervor and joy we give thanks te decree’ was sent to gll the towns of mountains, whence he successfully N DR NN A AANY, SN i SN AN S A ~ OR over 2000 years, throughout all wanderings, the Jews have lovingly kept alive the memory of the stirring events which gave riss to the institution of Chanuka, or the Festival of Dedication. Every year, eight days, beginning with the 25th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev, usually December, are celebrated as “days of = ecration” and are observed as half- holidays. Special prayers are added to the regular service in the synagogue, the Hallel, or “The Praise,” consisting of six Psalms, 113-115, are recited, and during the week the seventh chapter of the Book of Numbers is read through, containing an account of the dedication of the taber- nacle in the wilderness by Moses. In the home as well as in the eynagogue one light s kindled on the eve of the first éay, and this number is increased by one each night until eight lights are kindled on the eighth night. Light to the Jew is a symbol of religion as well as of joy. If you will enter the house of a plous Jew any evening during the Chanuka week soon after nightfall you will see & special Chanuka lamp standing in & conspicuous place, gener- ally neer & window, the lamp containing elght receptacies, either for oll or for candles, and one extra receptacle for the shammesh or “Dbeadle”—that 1is, the candle with which the others are lit. Al the members of the household, including the Jewish servants, are gathered to- gether. The master of the house lights the shammesh, holds it in his hands and chants aloud the “blessings”—“Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, king of the universe, who hast senctified us by thy commandments and commanded us to . kKindle the light of Chanuka.” *“Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, king of the universe, who wroughtest miracles for our fathers in days of old at this season.” A third benediction, sald on the first night only, expresses praise to God, “who hest kept us in life and hast preserved us and enabled us to reach this season.” The candles are then lit, preferably by young children if present, and during the per- formance of the rite Hebrew verses are ed, of which the following is a tion: “We kindle these lights on sccount of the miracies, the deliverances &nd the wonders which thou didst work for our fathers by means of thy holy priests. During all the eight days of Chenuka these lights are sacred; neither §s it permitted us to make any profane use of them; but we are only to look at , in order that we may, give thanks o th me for thy miracles, thy de- liverances and thy wonders.” The thirtleth Psalm, which is chanted in the synagogue, is omitted at home, but 2 hymn forming an acrostic of the name thelr of the author, Mordecal, is chanted by @ll the family to a popular tune, the hymn recording in brief the successive verances of Israel from the Egyp- from the Babylonians, from Haman Greeks “in the days of the must not make any pro- lights, but he is only to look z But as he gazes at the burs s he sees by their light a rmost impo! period of the wonderful ry of his people reproduced before He how his religion was sees ved from abolition and hilation, as shown in The Story of Chanuka. acul the early part of the second of the Christian era te Jews of Palestine were brought under the influ- ence of the Greeks. Their brethren in Algxandria had, during 2 whole century, imbibed Greek ideas and were to a cer- tain extent Hellenized. Their example was followed in Palestine. But in Judea the rich upstarts lost their heads and their Jewish hearts They Mindly sd- mired and apiehly imitated the frivolous Greeks. Jewish simple living gave plaes to extravagant pleasures and shameless dissipations. No check was put on their greed for money nor restraint on the appetite. If the Law of Moses was sternly opposed to & profiigate life, then the yoke of that Law must be removed from the neck of the people. The greatest ambition of those Hellenist Jews was to be regarded by their neighhors as Greeks. They trained their children according to tha Greek model. They longed to tear them- selves away from the past and to “go with the times.” They must be llie the Greeks in every respect and at any cost. Their watchword was “‘assimilation.” Those faithful Jews who saw with pain the shameful attempts of the Heflenists to pull down the temple of purs religion formed themselves into a party under the name of Hasldim, or the “community of the plous.” They clung to the Law -all the more sealously, and most scrupulously observed all the customs of their fathers. The bulk of the people, however, took a middle course, avolding the excesses-of the Hellenists as well ‘as the severity of the Hasidim; anxious to. remain true to the past and to shun all dangerous in- novations. Am!dst these divisions the leaders of the Hellenists sowed the seeds of daiscord. The legitimate high priest Wwas removed from his offics, and his brother, Jesus or Jason, through bribery, had himself appointed. to the position. Jason went systematically to work to Hellenige the people, introducing Greek gymnasia into Jesusalem and training the young men to ‘be fit to take part In the Olymplan games In a state of nudity. But Jason was not Hellenist enough for his party; he was still too partial to Ju- @atsm. 2 A successor was found In the person of Onias Menelaus. This miserable fellow, by ‘offering & larger bribe to the Syrian King, was raised to the holy dignity of high priest, although he did not even be- long to the prfestly tribe. To the internal disorders that disturbed the Jewish na- tion Menelaus added troubles from with- out. Hated as he felt he was by the better class this miscreant calumniated the whole race and maligned the Jewish religion before the King. Antiochus - Epiphanes, the reigning monarch, was a monster; cruel, cunning Judea, commanding the Jews to renounce the God of Israel and to worship in his place the gods of the Greeks. Any one found practicing any. Jewish Tite was to be put to death. Altars and idols were erected everywhere. The Temple in Jerusalem was desecrated, the scrolls of the Law wers burnt, unclean animals were sacrificed upon the altar, and the Jews were ferced to eat the meat. The statue of Jupiter, called in the Book of Danlel “the abomination of Gestruction,” was placed upon the altar, and to him sacrifices were for the future to be offered. Officers wers appointed to see that the King’s commands were strictly obeyed, and to put to death every one found to offer the least resistance. Thus & sys- tematic persecution was organized. Tke opportunity was offered for the first time to the Jews to manifest the strength of their loyalty to their God and his Law. And they passed through the ordeal gloriously. The blood of many martyrs testified that Israel held con- gcience dearer than life. The resistance offered by so many Jews maddened the King, and he gave orders that the se- verest crueity be exercised in the pun- ishment of the disobedient: The people were cowed with terror, even the bravest lost §eart. When the dreadful .persecution reached {ts great- est height deliverance came. In a little town called Modin, about three miles from Jerugalem, there lived a noble, priestly family, the Hasmoneans, consist- ing of an aged father, Mattathias, and waged a petty warfare against the enemy. He was dally joined by many who took heart to fight in the defense of liberty and religlon. Before hiz death Matta- thia3 exhorted his sons to give their Hves for their God and their country, and he appointed his son Judas as the leader. Judas Maccabaeus, as brave and noble a figure as ever appeared In Israel, com- bined plety and herolsm, prudence and wisdom, lion-hearted courage with dove- like gentleness. He infused a new spirit into his follow- ers and with undaunted courage and mar- velous strategical =kill he led his little band of herofc adherents from victory to victory. When the news of his first de- cisive victory reached Antiochus, this “madman” abandoned his plan to Hellen- jze the Jews. They were not worthy of the honor of becoming Greeks, since they could not appreciats the favor he de- sired to bestow on them. He was now determined upon a plan of wholesale destruction. The whole cursed race, including the Hellenists, must be swept off the face of the earth. But God was on the side of the weak, and Judas vanquished the numerous powerful le- glons of the enemy. After several deci- sive battles had been fought, Macca- baeus and his followers marched into Jerusalem. Deeply affected by the sight of the desolate city and the desecrated temple, Judas proceeded hastily with the work of purifying the sanctuary. He re- moved all the symbols of idolatry from its precincts. A new altar was bulit and new vessels were introduced. S On the morning of the 2%th day of Kis- lev, three and a half years after its pol- lution, the temple was reconsecrated with sacrificial offerings and expressions of praise and thanksgiving to the God of Israel, the people chanting the words of the psalm, probably written for the oc- casion, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his loving kindness endureth forever.” The festival lasted for eight days. Lamps were lit in the city to sig- nify the triumph of religion. Judas, with the approval of the Great Council, re- solved that the house of Israel should every year celebrate those elght days of dedication by kindling the lights and by offering praise to God for having “deliv- ered the strong into the hands of the weak, the many Into the hands of the few, the impure into the hands of the pure, the wicked into the hands of the righteous and the arrogant into the hands of those that occupled themselves with the law.” The festival of Chanuka has ever been dear to the Jewish heart, and is to-day, after an Interval of 2067 years, as popular as ever. During the protracted tragedy of eighteen centuries, in the midst of the direst sufferings and the most cruel per- secutions! the Chanuka lights infused new hope and courage into the Jewish breasts, sad the memory of the earlier martyrs stimulated thousands to offer themselves as holocausts for the sake of God and conscience. Chanuka stands as & glorious monu- ment commemorating the trfymph of re- ligious liberty, and recording for ever the victory of & pure monotheism, with its holy ideals, over a corrupt paganism, with its degrading habits. The whole civilized world is*bound to homor the name of the brave Maccabees who, under God's will and providence, achieved this victory. Had the plan of Antiochus and of the treacherous Jews succeeded, Juda- ism would have died, and Christianity and Islam would never have been born. Thank God, who willed it otherwise. The genius of Israel was destined to im- press itself on humanity, and the prin- ciplés of justice, morality and love which follow from a pure conception of the Deity had to be preserved in Israel In order that they might tecome the prop- And glory and praise to ms name W2 g cord; While we greet with great gladuess thiy gloricus night Ana piously kindle each Chanuka light. To God who is one, and whose name is but one, We'll ever feel grateful for what he hath done; When all for our race was as dark as the night, Sald the guardian of Israel, “Let there be light.” The commandments God gave to our ne~ tion alone, ‘Whose words were engraved on two tab- lets of stone; And our people were chosen with seal and with might To spread through the world the great heavenly light Our fathers most nobly have striven te be As true to their God as the patslarchs three, ‘Whose faith was a star which was shin- ing so bright That the gloom of the world was lumed by its light. Four parts of the world, the north, south, west and BSee the Israelites keeping the Chanuka feast, - ‘Who, just like ourseives, are performing the rite Of piously kindling each Chanuka lght The five Hasmoneans, whose memory dear, The sons of our people will ever Tevere, With the courage of herces did fight fow the right, And God’s temple they cleansed and re- kindled its light. Six days we must labor and do all our work, And woe unto him who his duties doth shirk. Though the battle of life is a hard one te ght, ‘With heaven's assistance our task is made light. When the seventh day comes, by God Dal lowed and blest. ‘Wa should joyfully welcome the day of sweet rest, For our lives are made happy and reme dered more bright By the joys of the Sabbath, its peace its light - May the eight days of Chanuka strength= en our mind he;;a;xnucwhb«roroodmm Til the day shall arrive when all men will unite To serve the one God and to walk in his light. — & In to-day’s issue of The Sunday Call appear the con- cluding chapters of “The Gos- pel of Judas Iscarict,” by Aaron Dwight Baldwin—a novel that is proving the sen~ sation of two continents. Thisbook is published com- plets in the three issues of The Sunday Call’s Y Section — December 14, 21 and 28. BE SURE TO READ IT. IT. IS THE NOVEL OF THE HOUR. Our next novel will be “When XKnighthood Was in Flower,” by Charles Major, illustrated by photographs of scenes in Julia Marlowe’s play of the same name. Read the short story om page 6, and see our announce- ment of special short fiction on page 14. - — b