Hannukah starts this evening – the historical story will be familiar to some: how Judah Maccabee drove the Greeks out of Jerusalem in 164 BC, cleared the Temple of Idols, and sought to relight the Menorah. At which point, or so the story goes, it was discovered that there was not enough sacred oil to last the time needed to get fresh supplies. However, that small vial of oil that was found lasted, miraculously, for eight days. Hence the eight nights of Hannukah, and all the fried (in oil!) foods.
Another Hannukah custom is the dreidel (or in Hebrew, the sevivon), the small four-sided spinning top. According to at least one source, the custom of playing dreidel was actually started in the time of the Maccabis. They say that in an effort to circumvent the Greek decree against studying the Torah, children and their teacher would have a dreidel handy to start playing in case the Greeks came upon them studying the Torah. They would claim they were not studying instead they were just playing dreidel*.
Just over a week ago representatives of governments and international organisations gathered in Prague for the Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) Ministerial. This regular, high-level gathering (a few years ago it was in London) is intended to keep global commitments to the promotion and protection of FoRB at the forefront of the minds of policy makers.
As well as discussions about how to implement measures to promote and protect FoRB, the Ministerials are also opportunities to hear from individuals whose rights have been violated. Testimonies like that of Abide, a Muslim Uyghur woman now living in Cambridge, who was unable to practice her Muslim faith and who witnessed the arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings of other Uyghurs in her homeland. Or Mubarak Bala, a Nigerian Humanist and President of the Nigerian Humanist Association, who has been detained since 2020 on the grounds of making blasphemous statements online. Or Niaz, a Christian Afghani and former police officer, who lost his job when the Taliban returned to power and has gone into hiding to prevent the exposure of his beliefs.
As I read these stories I could not help but think about the Hannukah dreidel. On the surface, its such a simple tale, childlike in its simplicity – playing a game to distract the Greek authorities – but when placed alongside the stories of contemporary FoRB persecutions, the dreidel takes on a new depth. It made me rethink my understanding of what life in Jerusalem under Greek rule must have been like – the fear of exposure and the terrible knowledge of what exposure would mean.
For many Jewish people, Hannukah is known as the Festival of Light. It’s not the only Festival of Light at this time of year, there is Diwali and of course Christmas too. For many people there is a link between light and hope. This year, as I light my Chanukiah I am going to try to think about those suffering from FoRB persecutions (like the Jews who lived under Greek rule), but as it is a Festival of Light and Hope, I am also going to think about, and raise up, the work of those seeking to promote and protect the principles enshrined in FoRB. So, each day of Hannukah, I am going to share a project which I think is doing just that, and I am going to start with a project with which I am involved (authors prerogative!). This is a project which we delivered here in the UK and which seeks to enable teachers to enable children (some as young as 4) to think about FoRB principles.
Thank you for reading this blog, I hope you found it interesting, I would love to hear what you think!
* Sadly, as you can read here, there is good reason to suspect that this is actually a much later tradition!
Josh Cass 