Pacifism Without Passivism

by Andreas Wittenstein

To celebrants today, Hanukah is a Festival of Lights ( Khag Ha'Urim), commemorating a minor miracle that graced the (re-)dedication ( khanukàh) of the Holy Temple ( Béit HaMiqdàsh) in Jerusalem in 164 BCE. A single cruse of pure olive oil, expected to light the temple menorah for only one day, lasted instead for eight -- long enough for fresh oil to be fetched from the chief supply town, Teku'ah. These events are briefly described in the Talmud [Shabbat 21b], which discusses traditions for celebrating this eight-day festival.

The Hanukah miracle followed a seemingly far greater miracle, Israel's military victory against the Seleucid armies, vastly superior in number, training, and equipment. The story of the Hasmonean revolt against the tyrannical rule of Antiochus IV Epiphanes is detailed in books 1 & 2 of the Maccabees.

Curiously, these books were not canonized in the Hebrew , yet survive as apocrypha in Christian Bibles. In fact, the Gemara never even names the Maccabees, and the Mishnah neglects the entire episode. Why?

Ostensibly, Judah "The Hammer" Hasmonean ( Yehudah "HaMakabi" Khashmoni) and his clan fought for religious freedom against the oppressive theocracy imposed by Antiochus. Actually, the fanatical Hasmoneans concurrently waged a civil war against the religious freedom of those who refused to follow their fundamentalist brand of Judaism, slaughtering many innocents and forcing the rest to flee abroad. And after the war, the Maccabees usurped the throne to impose their own oppressive theocracy.

Ironically, the Hasmonean dynasty eventually embraced the Hellenistic ideals they overthrew, and self-destructed in 63 BCE by inviting Rome to "protect" them, leading to Israel's oppression by the Roman theocracy. When later would-be Maccabees rebelled against Vespasian in 66..73 CE, the results were utterly catastrophic, including Roman annihilation of all Zealots, destruction of the Second Temple, and exile for many Jews. A second rebellion led by Bar Kochba against Hadrian in 132..135 CE fared even worse.

The disastrous "success" of the revolt against the Seleucids and the disastrous failures of the revolts against the Romans contrast starkly with Israel's initial wonderful relationship with the Greeks, initiated with a miraculous pacifist encounter. When the conquering armies of Alexander the Great of Macedon approached Jerusalem in 332 BCE after razing Gaza and other fortified towns, the High Priest ( kohén gàdol) Shimon "HaTsadiq" ben Yohanan and his fellow priests, armed only with their priestly vestments, marched the citizens out to greet him in peace. This astonishing strategy bought the Jews the greatest autonomy of any nation in the Greek Empire, a privileged relationship that lasted until Antiochus Epiphanes.

Many people equate militarism with activism and pacifism with passivism, and hence deride pacifism as naive; for countless pogroms decimated countless unresisting Jews confined in unguarded shtetls. But militants can be just as foolishly passive, feeling protected by defensive fortifications that constitute military targets as inciteful and enticing as offensive weapons; and countless crusader battles decimated countless Jews (and Arabs and Christians) defending heavily armed fortresses.

Military activism, as Bar Kochba and the Zealots showed, can get tremendous immediate results, though they may be the opposite of what was intended. Worse, as the Maccabees showed, militancy becomes a habit that quickly destroys everything one seeks to protect.

Though seldom as immediate as in Shimon ben Yohanan's case, peaceful activism can also get tremendous results. Moreover, it does so without human sacrifice, ethical compromise, military corruption, or destruction of the environment.

In today's world, where many great nations shield their fear with military might, inadvertently destroying all that is precious to them in a vain effort to protect it, we would do well to learn from the lessons of Hanukah.

—from our December 2002 Newsletter

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