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| December 16, 2011/Kislev 20 5772, Volume 64, No. 12 |
| OPINION - Commentary
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Fervor of Maccabees defeated mighty army
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RABBI BONNIE KOPPELL
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The holiday of Hanukkah invites reflection on themes of war and peace.
Changes in the nature of warfare can be quantitative and/or qualitative.
There is no neat evolution from primitive hand-to-hand combat,
culminating in star wars.
The wars of the Maccabees were fought against combatants on elephants -
the tanks of their day. From elephants to tanks does not represent a new
strategy, just an alternate means of accomplishing a similar end.
Truly new technology radically affects the conduct of a military
campaign. For example, the initial impact of a strategic air campaign
was unimaginable in previous centuries. In the 21st century, we can
expect new threats in space and cyberspace.
The chances of an old-fashioned, land-based, tank-and-infantry war are
receding. We've gotten so good at conventional warfare as to render it
virtually obsolete.
Some things don't change, though. Contemporary strategic thinker Colin
S. Gray notes, "Belligerents who find themselves materially challenged
will seek strategic compensation primarily by means of adopting
asymmetric ... strategies that might offset their disadvantages."
Thus, today's opponents rely on insurgency and asymmetric threats,
threats that the mighty U.S. military cannot seem to root out, even with
the most advanced technology in the history of warfare.
Which brings us to the story of Hanukkah and the Maccabean warriors.
Outnumbered and out-armed, our ancestors undertook a guerilla campaign
in their fight for freedom. The book of II Maccabees depicts the
Maccabees "living like wild animals in the mountains and caves."
Ultimately, the forces of Antiochus learned the same lesson that we are
relearning now: War is not an arithmetic equation in which the larger
and better-equipped force always wins. Ultimately, the Maccabees and
their followers prevailed.
Antiochus gave himself the name Epiphanes, meaning "God incarnate."
Beware the leader who thinks he is God. The unwillingness to question
one's own strategic thinking and adjust accordingly has been the
downfall of military leaders throughout the centuries. "An army of one"
is never a good plan.
Victories in small skirmishes led to the capture of weapons and an
increased willingness of volunteers to support the Maccabean
insurrection. It is important to note that the Maccabees did not target
civilians: The distinction between combatants and noncombatants was an
accepted standard "bayamim ha-hem/in those days."
As the Jewish fighters gained confidence and skill, Antiochus realized
that victory was not forthcoming, his treasury was being rapidly
depleted, and a negotiated resolution was preferable to an endless and
expensive campaign.
B.D. Liddell Hart, in his classic work on strategy, refers to this as
self-exhaustion. Hart reminds us that "a good cause is a sword as well
as armor." The Maccabees were sustained by their devotion to a good
cause: their right to freedom of religious expression. They were
fighting for their own spiritual survival, and, were it not for their
bravery, Judaism could easily have disappeared.
Not surprisingly, there was no unanimity regarding the Maccabean
perspective among the Jews of their day. Not every Jew supported the
resistance; there were those who were ready to assimilate to the
Hellenistic way of life.
Sadly, the nature of power is corrosive, and corruption ultimately beset the Maccabean reign.
The rabbinic tradition, uncomfortable with the glorification of military
prowess that is at the heart of our celebration of Hanukkah, shifted
the emphasis to the miracle of the oil and the message of the prophet
Zechariah: "Not by might and not by power but by my spirit, says God."
Or, as Hart puts it, "The perfection of strategy would be, therefore, to
produce a decision without any serious fighting."
"Swords into plowshares" - such is the vision of the messianic age of
peace for which we hope and pray and work. Until that longed-for time
arrives, we celebrate Hanukkah, honoring the bravery of those who risk
and, indeed, too often, sacrifice their lives, in support of our
freedom, then and now.
Rabbi Bonnie Koppell is associate rabbi at Temple Chai and serves as a chaplain in the U.S. Army Reserve.
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