Chrismukah: Giving Thanks for Miracles!

 

This article was co-edited by Prof. Dan Brook (Bio at end)

 

Christmas on December 25 and Chanukah on 25 Kislev periodically coincide and do so again in 2024 on Christmas Day, which is the first night of Chanukah. Some are calling it Chrismukah. Some are calling it another miracle!

Hope springs eternal. Indeed, it’s always been an integral part of Jewish and American history, spirituality, and politics. Without hope, there wouldn’t be a Chanukah; without hope, there might not even be a Jewish community; without hope, there might not be America or Israel. That’s the power of radical hope!

Christmas has been celebrated for over 1600 years and Chanukah has been celebrated for 2100 years since the 2^nd century BCE. The two holidays may be united in our gratitude for Light, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Latkes. We don’t know if Jesus ever ate latkes, but as a Jew, he celebrated Chanukah, which is mentioned in the Christin Bible as the Feast of Dedication, it’s former name.

Jewish survival is a miracle of hope. Increasing light at the darkest time of the year to celebrate Chanukah and Jewish survival is also a miracle. Each year, we should be grateful for our miracles and we should work and hope for further miracles.

We sincerely hope that Jews and Christians will enhance their celebrations of this spiritually-meaningful Judeo-Christian holiday of Chrismukah by making it a time to strive even harder to live up to Judaism’s and Christianity’s highest moral values and teachings. For most of us, we certainly don’t need more “things” in our homes or more food in our bellies; instead, we need more meaning, purpose, gratitude, peace, love, and spirit in our lives. There are a variety of ways to accomplish this. One significant way we can do this, on a daily basis, is by moving towards plant-based lifestyles.

Chanukah commemorates the single small container of pure olive oil — expected to be enough for only one day — which, according to the Talmud (Shabbat 21b), miraculously lasted for eight days in the rededicated Temple on the 25^th of Kislev, two years after it was defiled by the Syrian-Greeks, who were ruled by the tyrannical King Antiochus IV. In kabalistic (Jewish mystical) thought, according to Avi Lazerson, “oil is symbolic of chochmah (wisdom), the highest aspect of the intellect from which inspirational thought is derived”.

A switch to vegetarianism or veganism would be using our wisdom and compassion to help inspire another great miracle: the end of the tragedy of world hunger, therefore ensuring the survival of tens of millions of people annually. Currently, from one-third to one-half of the world’s grain, and about three-quarters of major food crops in the U.S. (e.g., corn, wheat, soybeans, oats, alfalfa), is fed to animals destined for slaughter, while about one billion poor people chronically suffer from hunger and malnutrition and their debilitating effects, tens of thousands of them consequently dying each day, one every few seconds.

Billions of cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys, and others are bred in unnatural and brutal conditions, leading to injuries and ill-health, first for them and eventually for their consumers. Maimonides, the great rabbi, physician, and scholar known as the Rambam, who wrote that the pain of people is the same as the pain of other animals (Guide for the Perplexed), ruled that one must literally sell the clothes one is wearing, if necessary, to fulfill the mitzvah of lighting the menorah and celebrating the miracle (Hil. Chanukah 4:12).

Uniting physical needs and spiritual needs is vitally important for the body, the mind, and the spirit. In the joyous process of celebrating our holidays — including Christmas, Chanukah, and Chrismukah — other beings shouldn’t have to be enslaved, tortured, and killed by our tyranny over them for a passing pleasure. No one should ever have to die on our account or in our name, especially for the purpose of celebration.

Chanukah represents the victory of the idealistic and courageous few, over the seemingly invincible power and dominant values of the surrounding society. We learn through both our religious studies and history that might does not make right, even if it sometimes rules the moment. Therefore, quality is more important than quantity; spirituality is more vital than materialism, though each is necessary. “Not by might and not by power, but by spirit”, says Zechariah 4:6, part of the prophetic reading for Shabbat Chanukah. Today, vegetarians and vegans are relatively few in number — though growing — and billions of captive factory farm animals are powerless to defend themselves, but the highest ideals and spirit of Judaism and Christianity — namely, peace, justice, and liberation — are on their side.

Still believing in brute force, materialism, greed, and gluttony, the world presently wastes a staggering and nearly unimaginable amount on total military might annually (with about half of that amount by the U.S. alone), while half the world’s population barely survives on $2 a day or less and, as noted, some don’t even survive. Security does not come from superior physical forces or from authoritarian political conditions, as the Chanukah and Christmas stories and contemporary events remind us. Collective security lies in a peaceful, just, sustainable, and beloved society, what Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. described as the justice of “positive peace”, just as personal security lies in a healthy and sustainable lifestyle. These are deeply and intimately related. (Rev. King’s widow said she thought he would have become vegan had he lived longer as a logical extension of his philosophy of non-violence.)

The Jewish anti-imperialist insurgency that inspired the Chanukah story, led by the Macabees, was sparked when a pig was killed and Rabbi Eleazar and other Jews were ordered to eat it. Those who refused, including nonagenarian Rabbi Eleazar, were summarily killed. According to the Book of Macabees, some Macabees lived on plant foods — to “avoid being polluted” — when they hid in caves and in the mountains to escape capture. Further, the major foods associated with Chanukah, latkes (potato pancakes), sufganiyot (jelly donuts), and chocolate gelt are vegetarian foods and the vegetable oils that are used in their preparation are a reminder of the pure olive oil used in the lighting of the Temple’s Menorah.

The miracle of the oil brings the use of fuel and other resources into focus. One day’s oil was able to last for eight days in the Temple, a miracle of resource conservation. Conservation and energy-efficiency are sacred acts; plant-based living allows resources to go much further, since far less oil, water, land, topsoil, chemicals, labor, and other agricultural resources are required for plant-based diets than for animal-centered diets, while far less waste, pollution, and greenhouse gases are produced. For example, it can require up to 78 calories of non-renewable fossil fuel for each calorie of protein obtained from factory-farmed beef, whether kosher or otherwise, but only 2 calories of fossil fuel to produce a calorie of protein from soybeans. We increasingly need to incorporate this ecological ethic into the fabric of America, Israel, and everywhere else.

Reducing our use of oil by shifting away from the mass production and consumption of meat and other animal products — thereby making supplies last longer, freeing us from our dangerous dependence on oil as well as oily authoritarian governments, and diminishing the availability of petro-dollar funds for dictators, terrorists, and others — would surely be a fitting way to celebrate Chrismukah. By conserving oil, commemorating how one’s day’s worth of oil lasted for eight, and by reducing our dependence on it, we can create what Rabbi Arthur Waskow of the Shalom Center calls a “green menorah” for a green Chanukah, a green Christmas, and a green Chrismukah. In this way, we support ethical lifestyles and holy communities on this holiday and throughout the year.

In addition to resource conservation and economic efficiency, a switch toward vegetarianism or veganism would greatly benefit the health of individuals, the condition of our environment, and would sharply reduce the suffering and death of billions of animals and millions of people. Further, the social, psychological, and spiritual benefits should not be underestimated. Many people who switch to a plant-based diet report feeling physically, emotionally, and spiritually better. And more and more Jews, Christians, and others are doing just that!

Chanukah also represents the triumph of idealistic non-conformity. Like the Hebrew prophets and Jesus, the Macabees fought for their inner beliefs, rather than conforming to external pressure. They were willing to proudly exclaim: this we believe, this we stand for, this we are willing to struggle for. Like the great Prophets and the celebrated Macabees, like Jesus and St. Francis (who was an animal-loving vegetarian and is a patron saint of Italy), and like our revolutionary activists and abolitionists, vegetarians and vegans represent this type of progressive non-conformity by an inspired minority. At a time when most people, especially in wealthier countries, think of animal products as the main part of their meals, vegetarians and vegans are resisting and insisting that there is a better, healthier, compassionate, environmentally sustainable, and ethical choice, one that better fits with our religious values, spiritual feelings, philosophical beliefs, and physical needs.

Jewish sages compare candles to our souls and the light to the Torah (Proverbs 20:27), noting that the fire of a candle always strives to go upward. In this way, we kindle souls with the ethical light of our tradition. Candles are lit for each of the eight nights of Chanukah, symbolizing a turning from darkness to light, from despair to hope, from oppression to liberation, and from the mundane to the miraculous. According to the prophet Isaiah, the role of Jews is to be a “light unto the nations” (Isaiah 42:6). “Light is sown for the righteous” (Psalm 97:11) and, as our sages have said, it only takes a little light to dispel much darkness. Vegetarian and vegan activists are like the shamesh, the servant candle, which helps to spread light without itself being diminished. We do not lose anything by helping ourselves and others; indeed, we gain in righteousness and holiness. Vegetarianism and veganism can be effective ways of adding light and hope to the darkness of a world still suffering with factory farms and slaughterhouses — and their attendant negative consequences — as well as with other systems and symbols of violence, destruction, death, and oppression.

The word Chanukah means dedication, while the Hebrew root of the word means education. Christmas is about sacrifice and resurrection. Each year, we should re-educate ourselves about the horrible realities of factory farming and slaughterhouses, as well as re-dedicate and beautify our inner temples, humbly giving gratitude for what we have, while striving to make the world a better place for all. We can do this by practicing the powerful Jewish and Christian teachings and highest values of Judaism and Christianity, as another way to “proclaim the miracle” of Chrismukah.

These Jewish sacred values and holy deeds (mitzvot) include compassion for others, including animals (tsa’ar ba’alei chayim), preserving one’s health (pekuach nefesh), conservation of resources (bal tashchit), proper spiritual intention (kavanah), righteousness and charity (tzedakah), peace and justice (shalom v’tzedek), being partners in creation (shomrei adamah), healing our world (tikkun olam), and increasing in matters of holiness (ma’alin bakodesh v’ayn moridim, going from strength to strength, just as Hillel successfully argued that we should light the menorah for the eight days in ascending order).

Chanukah commemorates the deliverance of the Jews from the Syrian-Greeks. In our time, vegetarianism and veganism can be steps toward deliverance of society from various modern plagues and tragedies, including our climate crisis, world hunger, deforestation, air and water pollution, species extinction, resource depletion, heart disease, various cancers, stroke, diabetes, obesity, hypertension, rising health care costs, and lost productivity, among others.

The letters on a diaspora dreidel, those we use outside of Israel, are an acronym for nes gadol hayah sham, a great miracle happened there. May the celebration of this joyous holiday inspire another miracle and deepened reflection within each of us.

May we all have a happy, healthy, thankful, and miraculous Chrismukah!

 

For more information, please visit the Center for Jewish Food Ethics.

 

Dan Brook, Ph.D. is Senior Lecturer Emeritus at San Jose State University. Dan is the author of An Alef-Bet Kabalah, editor of Justice in the Kitchen, was a member of the Board of San Francisco Veg Society and Advisory Board of Jewish Veg, and can be contacted via brook@brook.com. More info at https://about.me/danbrook.

 

 

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