Author Topic: Rabbi Meir Kahane WAS & IS a modern-day Maccabee  (Read 1454 times)

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Offline muman613

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Rabbi Meir Kahane WAS & IS a modern-day Maccabee
« on: December 01, 2013, 03:10:13 PM »
It has occurred to me that our great teacher Rabbi Meir Kahane (May his memory be a blessing, May his blood be avenged) can be compared to Matisyahu Maccabee without concern for denigrating either. Many things brought me to this conclusion but most recently an article I read on Aish.com which I will re-post below this article.

The Maccabees were a small minority, a fringe element, within the Land of Israel societies. Coming from the priestly class (the Kohanim) the Maccabees were not numerically superior. Many of the Jewish people had slid into the morass of Greek Hellenism and were happy playing the Greek sports and worshiping the Greek ideals of philosophy and science (which elevated man to the position of G-ds and erased Hashem from the picture). But the fire of Torah burned brightly in the family of the Hasmoneans and eventually the breaking point was reached, they revolted against the Greek and Hellenist destroyers.

Drawing a parallel to our great, wise, and prescient Rabbi Kahane we find that this fire of Torah also burned within his soul. Rabbi Kahane, much like our most revered prophet Moshe Rabbeinu, could not live in a world were being Jewish was something to be ashamed of. Rabbi Kahane felt the burden of the Jewish people throughout the diaspora. He saw the Egyptian task-masters striking against the Jew and his deep-down emotion was to smite the Egyptian. So too did the Maccabees feel this fire burning inside their soul, the flame of Jewish pride and purpose, and they would not allow these Hellenists to replace Hashem, the Holy One Blessed is he.

The task at hand was not easy. No test from heaven is ever easy, and the Maccabees rose to the occasion. They mustered all their strength (and the fact that they had no military training, nor any history of brave warriors) and faced the obstacles head on. They did not show fear, they did not back down, they stated the facts and they stood strong like the cedars of Lebanon against the Greek onslaught. Four of the brothers died in the ensuing battles and it was not always easy to move forward, yet in the end their endeavors were correct. They saved the Jewish nation from almost certain death.

Rabbi Kahane too had such 'Mesirat Nefesh' (Self Sacrifice) and 'Ahavat Yisrael' (Love of the people of Israel) that he had no fear of the nations, no fear of the hellenist Jews, and knew that his mission was righteous and noble. His love of the Jewish nation trumped everything, even his own comfort. Like the Maccabees had to live in a cave after rising against the Hellenists, Rabbi Kahane spent many months in prisons because of his protests against Jew haters, yet his love of AM YISRAEL never ever diminished.

Rabbi Kahane stood against Nazis (actual neo-nazis and muslim nazis) and against the USSR's attempt to smash the Jewish spirit in Russia. He did this with a rag-tag team of supporters, often he was taunted by his own people and called unbelievable names. But he knew that he was speaking the truth, he was teaching the lessons which our prophets were trying to teach us all along. He stood against assimilation in America even as the problem got worse and worse, till today when more than 70% of Jews are assimilating. Rabbi Kahane Was Right! This is a slogan we use today because we hear what he said over 30 (even 40) years ago and see that he was absolutely, 100% correct and if we only listened to him then we would not be in the predicament we are in today.

I am of the opinion that the Oral Tradition of Judaism will adopt Rabbi Kahane as a modern day hero. We see this slowly happening as articles from time to time appear in the media which support the legacy of Rabbi Kahane. With our help, his 'disciples', we will spread his message.

May Hashem assist us, as he assisted the Maccabees and Rabbi Kahane, to resist the force of hellenisation and assimilation, and to educate and strengthen the Jewish people, where ever a Jew is, especially in Eretz HaKadosh, the land of Israel.

You shall make yourself the Festival of Sukkoth for seven days, when you gather in [the produce] from your threshing floor and your vat.And you shall rejoice in your Festival-you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, and the Levite, and the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow, who are within your cities
Duet 16:13-14

Offline muman613

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Re: Rabbi Meir Kahane WAS & IS a modern-day Maccabee
« Reply #1 on: December 01, 2013, 03:12:42 PM »
http://www.aish.com/h/c/t/dt/I_Wanna_Be_a_Maccabee.html

I Wanna Be a Maccabee
by Sara Yoheved Rigler

Who are the heroes of Chanukah?

The founders of the “Jewish Olympics” had a formidable task. To find a name for the games, they had to pick through Jewish history and find a hero who, if not actually athletic, was minimally physically fit. Two millennia of pasty-faced scholars did not qualify, so they reached back further. King David had a spindly physique and, as the author of Psalms, was remembered more for his lyrical poetry than his military conquests. The greatest war hero among the Biblical kings was perhaps Ahab, the husband of Jezebel, but he was a villain. “The Ahab Games” just wouldn’t do.

Then, voila! They found them: the Maccabees! These five brothers valiantly fought and vanquished the mighty Greek army. They were physically strong and morally upstanding. The games would be called the Maccabiah. After all, the Maccabees are the perfect role models for aspiring Jewish athletes.

Or are they?

Who Were the Maccabees Anyway?

The Maccabees were distinguished by two traits: They were idealistic and they were undaunted by difficulty.

In terms of their idealism, the name “Maccabee” says it all. The five brothers were the sons of the elderly priest Mattathias. The family designation was “Hasmonean.” The appellation “Maccabee” is actually an acronym for Mi kimocha b’eilim Hashem, meaning: “Who is like You among gods, God!” “Maccabee” is a statement of one-pointed dedication to the One God.

The battle the Maccabees waged was the first war in history to be fought not for the sake of land or power, but for the sake of a religious ideal.

For the first 160 years after Alexander the Great’s peaceful takeover of Judea, the Greek Hellenists allowed their cultural influence to gradually win over the Jewish population. The urban elite of Jerusalem adopted Greek language, dress, and artistic and cultural mores, including the hitherto unknown pastime of engaging in sports. While physical strength and prowess were always valued for military conquest, the Greeks made athletics an end in itself, instituting competitions where the fastest/strongest/most adept were feted. In Jerusalem, they built a sports stadium to the south of the Holy Temple. There young Jews, including priests, competed naked. Many had their circumcision surgically reversed, for the Greeks idolized nature and spurned circumcision, the Jews’ sign of their covenant with God.

The choice of the cosmopolitan residents of Judea to become Hellenists was simply conforming to a world trend. Greek culture, after all, was modern, enlightened, scientific, and universalistic, while Judaism was widely regarded as old-fashioned, tribal, and restrictive. In that era, taking on the Greek lifestyle was a prerequisite to becoming materially successful and culturally sophisticated. As historian Paul Johnson wrote: “Acquiring Greek culture was a passport to first-class citizenship, as later would be baptism.” [A History of the Jews, p. 99]

Of course, all this was anathema to traditional Jews such as Mattathias, but as long as they were allowed to continue to study and observe the Torah, they submitted to Greek rule. All that changed in 167 B.C.E., when the Seleucid Greek King Antiochus issued a decree outlawing the practice and study of the Torah, on pain of death.

Greek troops entered the village of Modi’in and commanded the residents to sacrifice a pig to an idol. One obsequious Jew stepped forward to comply. An enraged Mattathias killed the apostate and the Greek officer. Then he, his sons, and a handful of his supporters fled to the hills.

One can only imagine the discussion that took place that night in the cave where Mattathias and his five sons were hiding. As they huddled in the cold (because they dared not light a fire that would give away their whereabouts), they had to plan their next step. They never intended to start a war; they didn’t dream of vanquishing the mighty, well-equipped Greek army. Only one thing was clear to them: They would continue to practice the mitzvot of the Torah, and no force on earth would stop them. And if Antiochus sent his troops to enforce his nefarious decree, they would fight those troops. They would fight for their religious ideals.

The Maccabees were, first and foremost, idealists.

Rabbi Noah Weinberg, o.b.m., used to say: “Figure out what you’re willing to die for. Then live for it.” That could have been the motto of the Maccabees. They were willing to die (and all five of them did die!) for God and His Torah. In that cave they decided to start fighting for that ideal.

Had they been pragmatists, they would have cowered before the Greek army with its 40,000 well-trained, well-equipped troops, plus elephants, the tanks of the ancient world. Had they been realists, they would have surrendered to the zeitgeist of assimilation that had already swept their country and their people. But they were idealists, and an idealist does what’s right, whatever the cost, whatever the result.

Miraculously, they ended up winning. After three years of guerilla warfare, they drove the Greeks from Jerusalem and from the Holy Temple, and reinstituted the service in the Temple. It took them a full 26 years to achieve complete victory over the Greeks, and by that time four of the Maccabee brothers had been killed. Only Simon lived to witness the final withdrawal of the Seleucid Greek forces from Jerusalem, and seven years later he too was killed by a Seleucid plot.

Idealists, the Maccabees both devoted their lives and gave their lives for their religious ideals.

Undaunted by Difficulty

Sometimes a person who rises to heroic heights for the sake of ideals is routed by the day-to-day hardships of living. In our times, the plaintive, “But it’s hard!” has become a common response to all kinds of proposals meant to benefit oneself and others.

Let’s go back to the cave where the Maccabees are discussing what to do. Imagine a 21st century person joining the discussion.

Judah Maccabee: We can’t go back to our village. The Greeks are looking for us. We’ll have to live here in the cave, without any of the comforts of home.

21st century person: But that’s hard.

All heads turn, but they decide to ignore the interruption. Another brother continues:

Jonathan: We can’t even stay in this cave. We’ll have to keep moving around so the Greeks won’t find us.

21st century person: But that’s hard.

Simon: It means not seeing our wives and children—for as long as this takes. It could be a very long time.

21st century person: But that’s hard.

Eliezer: We can’t just hide. We have to go out and attack the Greek troops, engage them in battle.

21st century person: Are you kidding? That would be really hard.

Maccabees, annoyed, in unison: What does “hard” have to do with it?

Fortunately for us, the Maccabees were not discouraged by difficulty. If they had been, the Hellenists would have won, and Judaism would have disappeared. Not only would there be no Chanukah, but there would be no Judaism and no Jews.

The Maccabees, dedicated to an ideal and undaunted by difficulty, are indeed worthy Jewish role models. The world’s highest pole-vaulter has nothing on them!
You shall make yourself the Festival of Sukkoth for seven days, when you gather in [the produce] from your threshing floor and your vat.And you shall rejoice in your Festival-you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, and the Levite, and the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow, who are within your cities
Duet 16:13-14

Offline muman613

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Re: Rabbi Meir Kahane WAS & IS a modern-day Maccabee
« Reply #2 on: December 01, 2013, 03:16:34 PM »
I also wanted to add that Chaim Ben Pesach is also another Maccabee in the sense that he worked with Rabbi Kahane and keeps alive the Kahanist spirit. I am very honored to be involved with his organization and want to show my appreciation.

You shall make yourself the Festival of Sukkoth for seven days, when you gather in [the produce] from your threshing floor and your vat.And you shall rejoice in your Festival-you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, and the Levite, and the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow, who are within your cities
Duet 16:13-14

Offline muman613

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Re: Rabbi Meir Kahane WAS & IS a modern-day Maccabee
« Reply #3 on: December 01, 2013, 04:33:28 PM »
I just posted this article to my blog and gave credit to JTF...

http://mytorah.wordpress.com/2013/12/01/rabbi-kahane-ztl-was-is-a-modern-day-maccabee/
You shall make yourself the Festival of Sukkoth for seven days, when you gather in [the produce] from your threshing floor and your vat.And you shall rejoice in your Festival-you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, and the Levite, and the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow, who are within your cities
Duet 16:13-14