Weekly Torah Portion

Around 2200 years ago, the world was very different. Technology, civilizations, travel, housing, medicine, healthcare – it was a whole different world. But there are some similarities to today, especially within the Jewish Nation. As I sit writing this on Chanukah, it strikes me how good it is to focus on those similarities. Let me explain.

Let me take you back 2200 hundred years. Antiochus, the ruler of the Yevanim (Greeks) was a powerful and successful ruler, waging and winning many battles. He saw a Jewish group who were not going along with the flow, and instead of leaving them in peace, Antiochus made it his mission to assimilate every Jew into the Greek way of life. Unlike most other attacks on the Jewish people, he did not set out to kill them, rather he wanted them to lose their identity, their way of life, their connection to Hashem, G-d.

So what was his game plan? Antiochus could have just physically manhandled every Jew, rounded them up and forced them to assimilate. But instead, he went after some of the core mainstays of Judaism, mitzvot that define the Jewish nation. Bris Milah (circumcision), Kosher food and learning of the Torah, instituting a list of punishable-by-death offences. Antiochus’ plan was to cut our connection to G-d, but we didn’t bend or break. We had a choice in front of us – and we chose the seemingly harder, but more beneficial path. Jews studied Torah in private, and had secret circumcisions. We chose to strengthen our connection to Hashem, to fight back against assimilation, to thrive as a Jewish people, even though it was tough to do so.

Fast-forward to 2025, where the concept of choice is resonating with me as I sit on a couch, in a home not my own. We recently had a flood in our home, causing major damage and requiring us to move for an unknown amount of time. Though we are all thankfully ok, it is a tough situation for our family. But now we have a choice which, while paling in comparison to the Maccabees 2200 years ago, echoes the heroes of Chanukah as a source of inspiration: choose to be sad, frustrated, angry and give in to the situation around us or choose happiness, joy, and positivity, rising above to thrive.

We all have the same choice of the Jews and the Maccabees 2200 years ago – go with the tide of those around us, assimilate and disappear, or be proud, active, truth-seeking Jews. It’s a theme, a choice that has defined the Jewish people across the millennia, throughout the Crusades, the Holocaust, behind the Iron Curtain and now, here in America: choose to let our Judaism wither or double-down and make sure Judaism thrives.

It doesn’t get any clearer than the words of Moshe, who at the end of his life advises every Jewish person (Devarim 30:19) – “Choose Life.”  Life needs to have meaning, purpose and joy. A lasting connection to Hashem, Judaism, our treasured heritage helps provide us with that.

So study some Torah. Visit someone in the hospital. Have a meaningful Shabbat experience. Read about the Jewish personalities of yester-year. Choose life – and you too will be a Maccabee.