Obviously, since we are celebrating Chanukah this week, that would be a logical topic for me to write about here. The only problem is that I've had something else on my mind for a while now, so I'm just going to use Chanukah to springboard into my main topic. Perhaps I shouldn't have admitted that to you up front, but you're smart people. You would have figured it out pretty quickly.
The main plot line of Chanukah is the victory of the
Hasmoneans (a Jewish family led by Judah Maccabee) over the Greek-Syrian Seleucid dynasty around 167 BCE. The Seleucid king, Antiochus IV, had turned our Holy Temple in Jerusalem into a pagan shrine to Zeus, and he demanded that pigs be sacrificed there. The Hasmoneans refused. They believed that you have to stand up for what you believe in, and fight for your principles and your values. Oppression cannot be tolerated, and if we have the ability to do something about it, we must act on it. There simply is no alternative.
This week, as we celebrate our Festival of Lights, I would like to reflect on another fight being waged in this country: The struggle for equality of all LGBT Americans, especially teenagers and young people. Ever since Rutgers' freshman, Tyler Clemente's suicide in September, this issue has been on my mind. This past week, I saw Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert interviewing Dan Savage, who created a website called itgetsbetter.org. The interview emphasized the importance of support and openness, values which are also central to the current debate surrounding the Pentagon report about repealing "Don't ask, don't tell."
It also made me think about the level of sensitivity in our community. Do we make sure that
everyone feels included and welcome, accepted and not scrutinized? What are we doing to project this message, to make it obvious before anyone has to ask? We proudly display Chanukiot in the windows of our homes so that everyone will know we are Jewish, but do we also display symbols of tolerance and inclusion? I worry that we don't make it clear enough - both to children and adults - that it is a Jewish responsibility, a mitzvah in fact, to be open-minded and accepting. The Torah teaches us that all human beings are created "Be-Tzelem Elohim," "In the Image of God," and we are therefore obligated to treat each other with respect and dignity.
As winter approaches, most traditions and religions have a Festival of Lights. But light is also a symbol of knowledge and tolerance, the root of the word "enlightenment." Just as we light one candle on our Chanukiah, and use it to light all the others, so too we must pass our values from one person to another. I think I'm a tolerant person. I hope that you feel the same about yourself. But the real question we must each ask ourselves is, how do we show it to the people around us? What symbol will you display to show the world what you stand for, and how will you yourself become A Light Unto the Nations?
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