When the cause is right: In Chanukah, we see God's hand in history

At this time, we Jews have come to Chanukah, our festival of lights.

In the words of the bizarre Adam Sandler song — well known now — "Put on your yarmulke, it's time for Chanukah!"

While technically a minor holiday, Chanukah commemorates an important historic event for Jews. It harks back to 168-165 B.C. in Israel, and the defeat of the oppressive Greek Syrians by the Jewish fighters (Maccabees). With that victory, the Maccabees rededicated the Jerusalem Temple and set up a Jewish state in Israel.

In this battle, the Jewish fighters were greatly outnumbered. But, their cause of religious freedom was right in God's eyes. That is what motivated the Maccabees.

As related in the Apocryphal Book of Maccabees, the Maccabean leader, Judah Maccabee, encourages his military followers in this way:

"When the people feared and trembled at the sight of the great number of the enemy, and said: 'How can we, few as we are, fight against so great and strong a multitude?' Judah replied: 'In the sight of Heaven there is no difference between saving by many or by a few. We fight for our lives and our laws.'" (I Maccabees)

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Chanukah is a blueprint for history. So many times, righteous movements are a relatively small group, but eventually, they triumph because the cause is just and God is working.

The outgrowth of the Maccabees, the modern state of Israel, followed this pattern. Zionism took place with a few pious Jewish settlers at the end of the 19th century and the work at that time of the beleaguered leader Theodore Herzl. Always outnumbered, with immigration and military struggle and God's help, this evolved into Israel as we know it today.

Here in this country, beginning in the 1950s, the civil rights movement took place with a relatively small group of African Americans who refused to be second-class citizens — on buses, at lunch counters and other venues. But, again, the cause was right in God's eyes, and with brilliant leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., so much was accomplished.

And this phenomenon occurs on the international level as well. As an example, in communist Poland in the 1980s, the activist in the shipyards, Lech Walesa, led the rather small pro-democratic Solidarity Movement. But again, the cause was a just one, as seen by God. And by 1989, Poland was a free nation, leading at that time to the fall of communism throughout Eastern Europe and in the Soviet Union.

So, harking back to the Maccabees and the Chanukah event, we see God's hand in history. Sometimes, we may have a difficult time perceiving the presence of God, even though there are many different signs of His work — healing, majestic nature, friendship and others. But, what I have related here — the triumph of good when the strugglers are few — is truly important evidence of His work.

So, with that great Chanukah teaching, may I wish all my readers happy winter holidays — whatever one you observe. Be safe, and enjoy!

Ronald Gerson is rabbi emeritus of Congregation Children of Israel in Athens.