ANOTHER WAY CLASSIC JUDAISM IS FUNDAMENTALLY CONSERVATIVE:

Chanukah: Be politically incorrect --- and be proud doing so (Rabbi Berel Wein, 12/06/02, Jewish World Review )

The Torah reading of Miketz traditionally marches in lock step with the holiday of Chanukahh so that it is almost always read on the Sabbath of Chanukahh. Since Jews know that there are no coincidences in Jewish tradition and life, it must therefore follow that there is a deep and lasting connection between the Torah reading of Miketz and the holiday of Chanukah. I have always felt that one of the connections between Miketz and Chanukah lies in the willingness to be unpopular in the present in order to be judged correct in the future.

In the Torah reading of Miketz, Joseph interprets Pharaoh's dream in an accurate, truthful, and prophetic but basically critical and unflattering fashion. He tells Pharaoh that there will be a horrid famine and that the Egyptian authorities are unprepared for it. Pharaoh's own rule will be threatened unless he changes his governmental policies, prepares adequately for the future, and does not squander the prosperity of the present and immediate future.

It is in the nature of all governments to sacrifice the tomorrow for the today, to turn a blind eye to the future and bask in the glory of the apparent successes of the here and now. [...]

Chanukah essentially repeats the same message --- of telling and facing the unpopular truth in Jewish life and history. [...]

Judaism without a Sabbath or true Jewish ritual and one that refuses to make the hard and necessary Jewish demands on its constituency will not contribute to Jewish growth. A Jewish community that does not give its young an intensive Jewish education, but willingly, almost desperately, spends its talent and wealth pursuing general social projects that change with the constantly varying popular perceptions of society will not ensure Jewish survival.

The difficulties of the Jewish future, which are now already apparent to all thinking Jews, are foolishly and irresponsibly ignored and their solutions sacrificed to the comfort and false unity of the present.

That was not the way of Joseph or of the Hasmoneans.

It's the way of Joseph Lieberman and the Hamptonians. Posted by Orrin Judd at December 7, 2002 1:41 PM