As Jews across the world mark Hanukkah amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, some media outlets have taken the opportunity this week to cover the ancient festival symbolizing the power of light over darkness.
But instead of accurately describing the Hanukkah story emphasizing the Jewish connection to Israel, those outlets opted for a watered-down version omitting the festival’s national aspect while focusing on the religious one.
Hanukkah is a story of a Jewish national triumph, as described in various historical sources: In the 2nd century BCE, a small group of Jewish rebels, the Maccabees, defeated the Greek-Syrian invaders who had defiled the Jerusalem Temple and forbade any practice of Jewish ritual. This led to the establishment of an independent Jewish kingdom under the Hasmonean dynasty — the last period Jews had sovereignty over the land until 1948.
Later sources (mainly the Talmud) added to this national story the tradition of a miraculous religious aspect: The Maccabees found a small jar of oil used to light the Temple Menorah, and it miraculously lasted for eight days although it contained just enough oil for one day. Therefore Jews have been marking the holiday by lighting home menorahs for eight days.
The two aspects of the Hanukkah story have been inseparable in Jewish collective memory, and the national one has been unofficially adopted as a credo of the Zionist movement. But news outlets describing the holiday this week ignored it altogether by completely erasing Israel, Jerusalem and its Temple from the narrative.
Erasing History
The BBC started by hinging its entire piece on the story of Hanukkah, quoting the president of the Union of Jewish Students:
The story of Hanukkah will be “more pertinent than ever before” this year, the president of the Union of Jewish Students has said.
Edward Isaacs said the union was asking students to light an extra candelabra used on the festival for Jewish people still being held in captivity by Hamas.
Yet the article’s section titled “What is Hanukkah” listed only the dates of the holiday, with a vague reference to “Jews’ struggle for religious freedom.” The location and nature of that struggle, both very relevant to the piece’s emphasis on the Israel-Hamas war, have been omitted:
Hanukkah or Chanukah is the Jewish Festival of Lights. It dates back to two centuries before the beginning of Christianity.
The festival begins on the 25th day of Kislev, a month which occurs in November and December on the Gregorian calendar, and is celebrated for eight days.
In the western calendar Hanukkah is celebrated in November or December.
The word Hanukkah means rededication and commemorates the Jews’ struggle for religious freedom.
The Guardian at least mentioned the Maccabees and the oil, but again without the significant geographic location:
Hanukkah is usually a joyous festival in the Jewish calendar. It celebrates the victory of a small group of Jews, the Maccabees, in their struggle to freely practise their faith. They lit an oil lamp to mark the victory, but had only enough oil to last one day. Miraculously, the lamp burned for eight days.
What struggle? Where? Why would an entire people celebrate for centuries the lighting of some random unidentified lamp?
Similar questions arise from a New York Times article that completely ignores the national-military story and simply states: “Hanukkah celebrates a miracle, when one day’s supply of oil lasted for eight days.”
In Christian terms, such phrasing is equivalent to describing Easter as marking merely the Resurrection of Christ, ignoring everything that has led up to it.
Related Reading: How Hanukkah & Christmas Affirm the Jewish People’s Connection to the Land of Israel
Similarly, Reuters mentions a “Jewish victory” but Jerusalem and the Temple are carefully avoided:
Commemorating an ancient Jewish victory, Hanukkah is a family festival lasting eight nights and featuring candle lighting and frying of foods in oil because, tradition says, of a miracle that oil found to fuel a ceremonial lamp was only enough for one day, but it burned for eight.
Where was this “ceremonial lamp?”
Why not just say it, @hogotogo? It was the Menora in the temple in Jerusalem. Hanukkah is one of the clearest examples of the Jewish connection to Israel.
But sure, @Reuters, gloss over the context.https://t.co/yLbn6LrAQl pic.twitter.com/ix3V9CHgrl
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) December 7, 2023
Likewise, a lengthy piece on NPR briefly mentions both aspects of the Hanukkah story without locating them. But it goes further — as all context is erased, it can easily appropriate the holiday for the LGBTQ+ struggle:
Zachary, who also hosts a Jewish LGBTQ+ program called Rainbow Shabbat, says the story of Hanukkah is the story of Jews and queer people today.
“The little army beat the big army, and it was a miracle,” says Zachary. “We are small but mighty. And no matter what you throw at us, we’re not going away.”
Light Over Darkness
All outlets mentioned above peg their Hanukkah stories on the holiday gloom of celebrating amid fear of war and antisemitism.
But they all fail to see that erasing the Jewish connection to Israel from their reporting on the festival can actually contribute to such antisemitism.
Ignoring the fact that Jews struggled for sovereignty over their homeland millennia ago, ignoring the bedrock of Jewish heritage — Jerusalem and the Temple — and focusing on miraculous spirituality rather than concrete materiality, all create the impression that Jews don’t have physical roots anywhere.
But it is especially in times of war, whether in the 2nd century BCE or in 2023, that a light should be shined on Jewish history in the face of such attempts to darken it.
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