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GLOBAL RELIGIOUS LEADERS
GL OBAL RELIGIOUS LEADERS

Rabbanit Rachelle Fraenkel

Chanukah 1948

ovember 1947. The UN’s the strength of my hand gave me this non-religious – at the end of the war,
Partition Plan is announced wealth.” on Chanukah, December 1948: “…The
Nand the War of Independence mystery of the miraculous victory of
begins… Indeed, one of the most famous Israeli the few against the many is the most
Chanukah songs, written by Colonel perfect expression of the strength of
Mid-May 1948. The British Man- Aharon Ze’ev, the IDF’s Chief Edu-
date ends and Ben-Gurion declares cation Officer during Rav Goren’s the spirit when faced with oppressive
the new State of Israel, signaling the tenure, is called “We Carry Torches” military might… י ִּ כ ַ חֹכ ְ ב אלֹ ְ ו לִי ַ ח ְ ב אלֹ
second and more intensive phase of and is still played today at national ה ר ַ מ ָ א י ִ חּור ְּ ב ם ִ א, “Not by might nor by
the war. The bloody battles continue Yom HaAtzmaut ceremonies. The power but by My spirit, said G-d.”
for over six months (more than 6,000 chorus is: Thus and only thus were the many
are killed, approximately 1% of all the able to fall before the few, because the
Jews in Eretz Yisrael at the time!) A miracle did not happen for us few knew what they were fighting for
May 26, 1948. The IDF is established We did not find a cruse of oil. and for whom they were prepared to
and a young man who took part in the We eroded rocks until we bled… die: for the purity of faith in the Word
battles himself is appointed its first And there was light! of G-d, for the Torah of their G-d
Chief Rabbi. and the Land of their forefathers, for
The song was written before the State human freedom and spiritual release
From his very first day in office, Rabbi was established, but became more from a foreign culture, and for uni-
Shlomo Goren (then still Goronczik) relevant after the military victories. versal justice that had been in grave
saw himself not as a functionary pro- It stresses faith in the human spirit danger…
viding religious services to the army, as opposed to reliance on Divine
but as someone blazing the trail and intervention. Before our very eyes, the great mira-
defining the vision for a sovereign cle of Israel’s redemption happened
Jewish army, perhaps the first since December 1948. Chanukah. Against again… with the reawakened spirit of
the days of the Chashmonaim. this backdrop, Rav Goren addresses the Chashmonaim, we conquered our
the soldiers in Israel’s fledgling fight- Holy Land…
The very idea of a Jewish army drew ing force. The war is coming to an
much ideological fire – from non-re- end, the soldiers are exhausted, trau- Army of Israel! Holy soldiers of the
ligious thinkers who viewed the use of matized, wounded, but also bathed in War of Independence and Renewal,
force as a contradiction to fundamen- euphoric triumph. Chanukah is your holiday! In you,
tal Jewish values, or those who hoped the spirit beats, and in your hearts
the settling of the Land could grad- The Rav attempts to connect them to is a holy, burning fire taken from the
ually transpire without any violent the spirit of the Chashmonaim. His altar of G-d… Light the candles of
confrontation at all. On the other side task is to strengthen their sense of freedom, carry torches, in the cities
were ultra-Orthodox circles who held being party to a huge achievement, of and the villages, in the bases and the
that any military action against the displaying irrepressible human spirit, outposts!
local gentiles was irresponsible and yet also telling them they are part of Carry with you the command [about
completely forbidden, endangering an unprecedented and magnificent going to war] to those standing at the
the lives of the soldiers and breaching miracle. foot of Mt. Sinai: ‘…You shall not fear
the oaths described in the Midrash All that separates nobility of spirit them…
not to rise up against the nations of from hubris is keeping one’s values ְ
the world. front and center: The clear knowledge ם ִ ע ם ֶ כ ָ ל ם ֵ ח ָּ ל ִ ה ְ ל ם ֶ כ ָּ מ ִ ע ך ֵ לֹה ַ ה ם ֶ כי ֵ קלֹ־ ֱ א ’ה י ִּ כ
.ם ֶ כ ְ ת ֶ א ַ עי ׁ ִ שֹוה ְ ל ם ֶ כי ֵ בְיֹא
Other voices began to emerge from of what we are fighting for and for
within the army itself. The military whom we are fighting. The unbreak- “For the L-rd your G-d goes with you
success earned with blood and sweat, able link between the voice of Yehuda to fight for you against your enemies
huge self-sacrifice and brilliant strat- HaMaccabi and the sound of Sinai… to save you.”
agem, led to the belief that ם ֶ צֹע ְ ו י ִ ח ּ ֹכ And this is what Rav Goren says to the Rabbanit Rachelle Fraenkel teaches
הֶּז ַ ה לִי ַ ח ַ ה ת ֶ א י ִ ל הׂ ָ ש ָ ע י ִ דָי, “my power and entire army – almost all of which was Torah at midrashot in Israel.

The very existence of Israel is as near to a miracle
18 | as we will find in the sober pages of empirical history.
RABBI SACKS