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End of Chanukah - Drash By Rabbi Denise L. Eger (2020)

End of Chanukah - Drash By Rabbi Denise L. Eger (2020)

Shabbat Shalom.
 
I hope it has been a wonderful  Chanukah for you and yours. While I missed  having some in person family gatherings , I know the kindling of the  lights of the chanukiah each night has meant more to me this year. It brought me comfort and hope. Perhaps because of the Pandemic life—we need more light.  More miracles.  And I have particularly liked being with all of you online each night of the holiday. 
 
The first Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel in Modern Times was Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook  He taught this:
צריך שכל איש ידע ויבין, שבתוך תוכו דולק נר, ואין נרו שלו כנר חברו, ואין איש שאין לו נר. וצריך שכל איש ידע ויבין, שעליו לעמול ולגלות את אור הנר ברבים, ולהדליקו לאבוקה גדולה ולהאיר את העולם
 כולו.                        
Every person must know and understand that deep within them a candle burns, and their candle is unlike the candle of any other. There is no person without a candle. Every person must know and understand that it is upon them to toil and reveal the light of their candle for others. They must kindle them into a great torch that will illuminate the entire world. 
 
To me this is such a beautiful teaching.  Each person has within them a candle and flame that burns within them that Is unique.  Rav Kook stresses  the uniqueness of every person. The soul of every human being blazes in the world. And embodies what we experienced this week of Chanukah.  That when the full Chanukiah is ablaze in its glory—it can only do so when each of the flames are shining brightly individually.  This is the  same with all of us.  Each of us shine and make our world a brighter place.  Our souls linked together light the way. And oh how we need that now. A way forward. Shining into the coming New year.
 
This is the gift we give the world on our Festival of Light.  To illuminate the darkness. My teacher Dr. Melilah Hellner Eshed in a class I took this week, made this very point about this text.  
In our tradition the night time is a scary time.  To our ancestors the night was filled with demons, with wild beasts, with brigands and criminals, with the potential for death. That’s when the pograms and most violent attacks on the Jewish people occurred.  And so the winter months when the days are shorter and there is more night time than day light-brought with it worries and fear.
 
When we join our flames together, we can see clearly into even the darkest times.  And that is what we are doing as the pandemic rages around us.   The winter solstice will take place on Monday Dec. 21.  Just a few short days from now we will have the shortest amount of day light of the year. And it will be the darkest moment of the year. With the number of people infected still rising and the number of deaths climbing from Covid-19 this is one of the hardest moments that we have lived in as well.- as the virus at least here in southern California continues to take its toll on all of us. Our hospitals are critically full. And our health care workers exhausted.  And we too are bleary from an online existence, alone, and cutoff from those we care most about.   
 
This is why Rav Kook’s teaching reminds us about the light, the candle within us. We must shine the light on all who are sitting alone in the dark.  And we must let our own light shine forth.  Especially upon the true heroes and heroines of this dire time. 
 
And we must hold on to precious moments of light in our world.  That is why we must celebrate with all gusto the recent peace between Israel and many of her neighbors.  Earlier this year of course Israel signed the Abraham Accords establishing full diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates and then quickly after Bahrain and Sudan.  These are huge moments of hope and light in our world not to be missed.  And this past week, Israel established diplomatic relations with two additional countries.  Morocco another Arab nation. And the Buddhist nation of Bhutan.   For Israel this is historic and a welcome respite from the usual chill that wafts in the Middle East.
 
The peace with Morocco is most interesting as many Israeli Jews are of Moroccan descent.  The Moroccan Jewish community is an ancient one. More than 2500 years old. Dating back to the Catheginian Empire. Many Jews who were forced out of Spain and Portugal during the Inquisition settled in Morocco. Both Arab and Spanish influence permeated the Moroccan Jewish culture.  Before the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 Morocco had the largest Jewish population of any Arab country estimated at 300,000. But by the early 1960’s Moroccan Jews were evacuated to Israel in Operation Yachin.—Israel having to pay a head tax for each Jew that emigrated  A ransom if you will.  And by the six day war  only 60,000 Jews were left in Morocco.  That number continued to dwindle and today  there are barely 2000 Jews left. 
 
But while Morocco and Israel didn’t have full diplomatic relations and Morocco often sided with the Arab League, the two countries have long had a back door relationship . Morocco’s royal family has never been anti-Semitic and refused to implement the anti-Jewish laws of the French Vichy regime during WWII; Jewish advisors have played a prominent role in government even after Israel’s creation; Israelis (many of Moroccan extraction) have been able to visit freely for years; and the country still houses the Arab world’s largest Jewish community.  Jerusalem and Rabat also have a long history of intelligence and diplomatic cooperation:
  • King Hassan II gave Israel recordings of the 1965 secret Casablanca Arab League conference; they proved a goldmine of data about Arab military capabilities and war plans and helped Israel win the Six Day War.
  • In September 1977 King Hassan II hosted a secret meeting between Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan and Egyptian Deputy Prime Minister Hassan Tuhami that helped spur peace between the two countries.
  • Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin visited Morocco in 1993 and the two countries maintained diplomatic liaison offices in Rabat and Tel Aviv respectively from 1994 until the outbreak of the Second Intifada in 2000.
  • Last year, Prime Minister Netanyahu held secret talks with Morocco’s Foreign Minister on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.
Jerusalem and Rabat retain discreet military ties: Morocco acquired three used Israeli Heron drones in January to use to surveil insurgents in the Western Sahara
 
But what made this deal finally come to fruition is the United States agreed to recognize Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed area known as Western Sahara.  This was a reversal that was central to Morocco’s decision to recognize Israel. Rabat peacefully overran and then unilaterally annexed the sparsely populated Spanish colony in 1975, taking advantage of the Madrid government’s disorientation following the death of long-time dictator Francisco Franco.
 
Both the Sudan and Morocco normalization agreements share an important characteristic: a major U.S. concession was key to clinching the deals. For Sudan, it was removal from the U.S. state sponsors of terrorism list and a pledge to grant Khartoum sovereign immunity in U.S. courts; for Morocco, it was Washington’s recognition of its sovereignty over the Western Sahara. Of these, only Sudan’s removal from the terrorism list was relatively uncontroversial.  But it is unclear how the policy in Washington will shift under President Elect Biden’s administration. Thus both Khartoum and Rabat are going slow in the normalization process.  Although next week a high level Israeli delegation will head to Rabat.
 
Another bright light in this season, is that Israel established relations with the small Budhhist country of Bhutan, making it the 70th country to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel.  The Kingdom of Bhutan known for putting the Gross Domestic Happiness index above its Gross Domestic Income index, signed agreements in India with Israel.  India and Israel—and particularly Bibi Netanyahu and India’s Modi have developed a very warm relationship and exchange.  Both former British colonies, became independent around the same time and both are Nuclear powers with a highly developed tech industry.   What’s notable about this accord between Bhutan and Israel is that it was not brokered by the U.S. but instead by India and also draws Bhutan away from China. And right now the tension between India and China is at an all time high. Also Chinese investment in the Middle East  has exploded in the last 8 years particularly in the Gulf states and China and Iran have concluded a strong Military pact. So to draw Bhutan away from China sets an interesting new alliance.
 
All of these peace accords and establishment of diplomatic relationships are part of a larger complex geo-political jigsaw puzzle. But for Israel—long our Jewish light, the re-established Jewish sovereignty after more than 2000 years, these peace accords with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, Morocco and Bhutan represent a hopeful sign and a new light of hope and peace for the land of Israel.
 
Interesting Mr. Abbas of the Palestinian Authority has been largely silent about the Moroccan peace deal.  But there is much disarray in the Palestinian leadership now following the death of the primary negotiator Saeb Erkat of Covid in November and the retirement of longtime leader Dr Hanan Ashrawi who was a long time member of the PLO’s executive committee. 
 
Even with these achievements for the State of Israel, Israel is headed to new elections in March and it will remain to be seen if Bibi can survive yet again.  Under indictment for  breach of trust, accepting bribes, and fraud, Netanyahu has big problems at home and there are protesters at his door steps for months.   He is an impediment to peace with the Palestinians.  Even if has makes peace far away, he needs to make peace at home. As the book of Isaiah teaches Shalom shalom l’rahok u’lkarov.  Peace peace to those far and near.
 
The lights of Chanukah are now burned down. And it’s time to scrape the wax from our Chanukiah.  And put it away for another year.  But the bright light that burned on the last night remains seared in our hearts.   As you know each night at our Congregation We dedicate to a different value  And we always dedicate the Shamash the 9thcandle to Shalom, Peace. And we give thanks for the peace that Israel has been able to establish with these additional countries.   May peace descend upon us, Israel and all the world
 
           
Thu, April 25 2024 17 Nisan 5784