A hundred years ago from today who will know?

If you want a recipie for not losing proportion and for seeing life

as relative and the daily current events in the right light

i suppose the best sentence would be

"100 years from now, who will know?"

I wake up from my sleep , it is 1 a.m. the dog is growling

is there someone in the apartment? an uninvited guest?

I think about what i have , what i treasure, and it is clear and near to me

my children who are sleeping in their beds, the small brown dog

is reacting to the rabbits making noise or is that all ?

The room is warm , the heating is on, outside it is cold

the last days of December,

i wake up and walk around carefully,

there is no one here but us

i go to the computer and turn it on and research

"CHANUKA"

Holidays in winter are about celebrating events that happened a long long time ago

earlier on i had been reading to my children from a collection of Issac Beshevis singer's stories

the stories are about another  time , a long long time ago

and all have the theme of chanuka

about jewish people living in Poland a long long time ago

a time before world war two had wiped out the Jewish population of Europe

and especially that unique jewish existence in the " stetel "

small towns populated by jews only as Jews in Russia and russian occupied lands

could not own land and could not live amongst the rest of the nonjewish population

Both my parents had come from such Jewish families who had been living in Eastern Europe for centuries

ever since the Jews had been expelled from their land

at the time the Romans has conquered the land of Israel and scattered the Jews amongst the nations of the world

a hundred years ago,1908, where was my family?

World war two had not yet occured

neither did the first world war where many jews around the world had participated

in fighting in the armies of the countries they had lived in for centuries..

My maternal grandparents were five years old, younger than my youngest child

my paternal grandparents were a bit older and both living in what was then called

Palestine, my father's grandmother was living in the old city of jerusalem

and her future husband was learning the trade of farming,

the first of his family to have owned land of his own

as his own father had left ukraine after the massive pogroms against the Jewish population in 1860's

1908

and the world seemed at peace

but back then Jews had celebrated Chanuka as well

what is chanuka all  about?

it is about an event that had happened in 170 A.D.

more than 2,300 years ago

a Syrian king by the name of Antiochos had taken over the land of Israel

and had tried to convert the jews living there to his religion, and to force them to worship Greek gods

The jews rebelled , they kept sabbath secretly and continued to study and to worship their g-d in hiding

one family rose to lead the rebellion , the family of yehuda formed a band

called "The Maccabim", which means "there is no other g-d but you"

they fought few against the many well armed army of Antiochos and after years

of fierce fighting they had managed to win back Jerusalem

and to reach the jewish temple, now a place of worship for the greek gods

they had sought to purify the temple and found enough  oil to burn for only one day

however there was a miracle again,

not only did the few manage to overcome the large syrian army but the oil

had burned for eight days

which is why we celebrate chanuka, the rededication of the jewish temple

by lighting each night a candle till the eight candles burn

to signify the long unbroken chain of jewish history.

100 years from now where will my family be?

in 2108?

I hope still celebrating chanuka..

as i read my children the wonderful stories of Issac Beshevis singer

i recall my father 's wonderful voice and his stories

i think of how the Jewish people had overcome so many attempts througout history

to wipe them out

to uproot their spiritual as well as physical existence

i think of how i had married a nonjew who every December tried to join us in celebrating chanuka

without ever asking why

he never understood why i did not want to celebrate christmas as well

or why we celebrate at all

why we hold on to the past

within one generation of having moved to another country in Europe  my ex husband had stopped talking his native tongue  , or celebrating the traditions of his forefathers and had accepted the local traditions , christmas after all is christmas..

some mixed up version of Bing crosby songs mixed with excessive shopping

seemed to stand out every year

and spending time with my former parents in law who had stayed silent

and unapproving of my lack of "adaptation " to European life..

the wooden depiction of the story of christmas i had bought my parents in law in Nazareth as my ex husband had wished to see the roots of christmas

had remaind in their cellar or elsewhere

no word was spoken about why we celebrate the holiday

and nothing seemed to have remained of the traditions of that family

who had within one generation nothing to pass down from one generation to the next

no stories, no traditons, no faith in anything

i watched in horror as my former father in law would spend hours talking to his other son in law , a business man, but not one minute speaking to the grandchildren

this is not to say that this or that tradition is superior

there are many Moslem , christian, Buddhist, or just families who spend time

with their children and children's children passing on traditions

but just to say

this particular family, my former in laws , not only did not spend time with the children

they seemed to have nothing to pass on

nothing to give

and i dont mean gifts you wrap in pretty paper

and i dont mean things you can give

i dont mean material values at all

a hundred years from now

however his children's  children's children will still be celebrating Chanuka i hope

and reciting the prayers in Hebrew

"blessed be the lord who had made miracles for our forefathers , in the past days

and during this time"

i wake up in the middle of the cold December night

i think about my good friend Alison who had sent me book after book of the stories of Issac beshevis singer

stories of a world which no longer exists

the world of the stettel one can see  alive once more in the movie "fiddler on the roof"

but there is something in the stories which overcomes the transition of time

which is the eternal unbroken chain

which Tuvia the milkman calls "TRADITION"

something wakes me up from my sweet sleep on a cold December night

and sends me forth to write down words to express my gratitude to my forefathers and mothers who had struggled and fought to keep the tradition

and keep passing the fire

of faith

and i bless their memories and cherish the wonder of a good friend

who had sent me such a reminder , such a treasury

all the way from Washington

and i tell my children

and this too we need to remember and not forget

the kindness of strangers who open the door to a poor man dressed in rags

because this is how Eliyahu is dressed

and this is how the Messiah, g-d willing, when he comes

will be dressed like

in rags

and let us not forget to keep the door open

and let us not forget to light the candles

and celebrate the miracle of family

and life.