CHAPTER SIXTY ONE. THE STORY OF HANNUKAH

 

 

Written by: Rick Staggenborg, MD on Dec 13, 2009 8:02 PM PST

This essay is dedicated to my friend Lee Wilson, who together with other brave souls in Peace Now in Israel is resisting the wave of fear that has gripped the nation and allowed the dark forces of paranoia to hold sway of the electorate. In protesting the hypocrisy and violence of the conservative Netanyahu government at considerable personal risk, they are challenging the order that so men either cowardly or greedily seek to maintain at all costs to the People that they have been chosen to represent.

The following represents one possible interpretation of the story of the conflict and triumph by the soldiers of Judea that led to the restoration of the temple of Jerusalum after it had been profaned by Antioches II of Syria. It is based on the Wikipedia version of events as it appears online today.

Hanukkah is that joyous time of year when for eight days the Jewish descendents of Abraham celebrate the victory of Judah “The Hammer” Maccabee over a foreign invader who had defiled the Temple of Jerusalem. Each night, a candle is lit to signify the fabled miracle of the lamp that burned for eight days from a single day’s supply of oil. The number eight may reflect the mystical belief that it signifies the eternal, being one day beyond the seven in which the world is said to have been created.

The invasion of Judea during the reign of the conservatives had ostensibly been provoked by a “liberal” faction of Jews exiled by conservative high priests of the “pro-Egyptian” faction. As history is written by the victors, the rebellion of the Maccabees is generally described as one of the Jewish people over an invader, but according to some sources it amounted to a victory of one group of Israelites over another. In reality, it is likely to have been both.

Hanukkah commemorates the re-dedication of the Temple after Judah Maccabee led a force that defeated the Syrian allies of the “reform” Hellenic Jews who had been exiled for challenging some of the traditional practices of the Orthodox leaders of the faith. The reform Jews had been in the ascendancy in Jerusalem until they lost out to the conservatives who primarily represented the people of the countryside. It is likely that socioeconomic factors played a role in the defeat of the liberals, as such things are generally blamed on the ruling elite whether or not they are at fault. It is reasonable to assume that in Israel at that time, as in America today, hard times breed a new respect for orthodoxy, tradition and authoritarian leadership.

According to Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, the exiled “liberal” faction had requested help from a Syrian king in overthrowing the conservative priests ruling Judea. Josephus wrote that as the king was already inclined to invade, he was only too glad to accept the invitation. It is unclear whether his utter defilement of the Temple and Jewish traditions was a reward or punishment for those who gave him the keys to the kingdom, as surely his utter rejection of all that was Holy to Jews was not what the liberals had intended. The result was that a mass revolt took place against both the foreign king and his “liberal” supporters and their reformist beliefs. Under the leadership of Judah Maccabee, his father and his brothers, Judea was recaptured and the Temple and Orthodox Judaism were restored in Judea.

According to this version of events, Jews around the world celebrate the victory of conservative, God-fearing Jews over heathen invaders who had been invited into the country by former leaders who had failed to respect tradition. An alternative interpretation is that the failure of the conservatives to support reasonable reforms may have led to the very economic decline that perhaps caused the fall of the liberals. I will leave that to knowledgeable scholars to debate, but I would like to comment on possible parallels of this story with today.

In America today, we find ourselves facing a decline in orthodoxy among both Jews and gentiles, as reflected in the decline in membership in almost all mainstream churches over the last four decades. Although fundamentalism remains strong in some subcultures among Christians, Jews and Muslims throughout the world, in general Americans have begun to join Europeans in questioning the wisdom of allowing other men and women to tell us what to believe about the meaning of Holy Scriptures or the nature of God.

I believe that this openness to questioning orthodoxy represents a healthy move toward a more pure democracy. It is critical that in both Israel and America, believers and nonbelievers alike protect the right to worship according to the dictates one’s conscience, free of any influence of the state in favor of one belief system. Supporting one brand of religion over another by definition tramples the rights of both other religionists and nonbelievers.

Let us join hands during this season around the Menorah, the Christmas tree or in the mosque and pray for men and women to realize that our differences are less important than our common needs and desires. Let us fervently hope that we will begin to work together to help each other find the eternal peace, health and happiness that we all wish upon those we love. Let us forget the sins of the recent and distant past long enough to visualize the possibility that eternal peace is possible.

In the words of John Fogerty:




Put a candle in the window,
'cause I feel I've got to move.
Though I'm going, going,
I'll be coming home soon,
'Long as I can see the light.


Pack my bag and let's get moving,
'cause I'm bound to drift a while.
When I'm gone, gone,
you don't have to worry long,
'Long as I can see the light.


Guess I've got that old trav'lin' bone,
'cause this feeling won't leave me alone.
But I won't, won't be losing my way, no, no
'Long as I can see the light.


Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Oh, Yeah!


Put a candle in the window,
'cause I feel I've got to move.
Though I'm going, going,
I'll be coming home soon
long as I can see the light.


Long as I can see the light.
Long as I can see the light.
Long as I can see the light.
Long as I can see the light.






Rick Staggenborg, MD


Soldiers For Peace International


From the US provincial capital of New York, New York

CHAPTER NINETY TWO. SOUND THE TRUMPET! THE BATTLE PLAN TO TAKE BACK THE AMERICAS.

Written by: Rick Staggenborg, MD on Jun 2, 2010 8:57 AM PDT

This chapter is dedicated to Simon Bolivar, the Liberator of the five nations who has inspired generations of Latin Americans to dream of freedom and democracy throughout the Americas. Like Buddha he was born a Brahmin among his people. It was the love and devotion of his Black slave nanny that saved him from falling victim to the dark Angel of his selfish nature and become a true Soldier For peace. Rejecting the privilege to which he was born, he never gave up the ideals he learned from his teachers. He spent his life fighting for all the People of Latin America.

It is a sad commentary on the tendency of men to think only in terms of tribes that exist to divide the wealth of the People among themselves that Bolivar felt compelled to declare himself dictator in order to save the people from the devastation that inevitable befalls a people who submit to rule by an oligarchy of the privileged. Although President Monroe was probably sincere when he declared that the United States would defend its brothers and sisters from European designs of conquest, the US itself soon gave in to the temptations of conquest.

Today we find ourselves faced with the prospect that the CIA, acting on behalf of a cabal of international corporate terrorists, will continue to sow havoc in a Latin America that remains divided by the selfishness of its own leaders. The dictators and strongmen who have ruled many of the nations of this region of the globe seem content to feast upon the bones of the People that they have sold into slavery for a few pieces of silver.

When I dream of a future in which all men and women live in harmony with nature in the fabled return of the Garden, I try to imagine a means by which we might unite the people in order to achieve Mankind’s dream of ending war. I have this vision that suddenly, there is a sonic boom and I look up to see Superman flying above, ready to save us from ourselves. Look! It’s a bird! No, it’s a plane! No, it’s Hugo Chavez! He has come to save us!

Bolivar was trained in the art of war by the very Spanish overlords who he successfully drove from the continent of South America. What a delicious irony it would be if the fascist generals who were trained in the School of the Americas to be the boot-licking lackeys of the CIA and the corporate terrorists for whom they toil would suddenly develop sentience. Perhaps they would realize that their actions are ultimately self-defeating. If they have any love at all for their children, they would turn their weapons on the agents of the CIA and the US military and run them out of Latin America.

If the US were a true representative democracy, we would elect leaders who spoke and acted in the interests of all the people of the United States rather than for the corporate criminals who have paid for their lavish propaganda campaigns that enable them to serve the Puppetmasters of the Senate. The People of the US are inherently good, as are People everywhere. If we were allowed a vote on every decision that an honest group of Senators would carry out, we would surely consider the interests of our neighbors in Latin America when acting on issues of mutual concern.

If only someone of courage and vision would arise in the United States who would stand against the corruption of the government by the selfish men to whom we have handed the tiller of the ship of state. All it would take is one voice rising above the clamor of the angry victims of their own selfishness to be heard proclaiming that the Empire has no clothes. We must provide that collective voice and elect individuals who will make it echo in the chambers of Congress.

The naked ambition of the Empire builders is to lead an international corporate cabal in enslaving the planet for a self-selected elite. If those of us can explain this to those who are hypnotized by the corporate media, it would be apparent to all citizens of this once-proud democracy. Every God-fearing citizen would recoil in horror at what our leaders have done to our brothers and sisters in the name of “peace and freedom” if they could only see behind the curtain and view the reality of what the United States has truly come to represent.

The simple act of introducing a Constitutional amendment on the floor of the Senate that would propose to abolish corporate personhood would have Earth-shattering consequences. If this senator would then challenge each of the other 99 Senators to openly choose between the People and these corporate criminal conspirators, there would still be time to save the planet from the threats of endless war, famine, pandemic and environmental destruction that are the Four Horseman whose hoof beats can be heard beating ever closer from off in the near future.

Good is truly stronger than evil, but the meek will not inherit the Earth until the assertive claim it in their name.  If enough of us believe that it is possible to save ourselves by listening to the Angels of our better nature, we will provide our own salvation. If there comes a day when the final battle between Good and Evil is played out upon the Earthly plane, together we can assure  that it will be a joyous one rather than the terror that the weak of faith fear. 

A restored democracy in the US need only join with the democratic forces being assembled to the South by our latter-day Bolivar and link with Canada, a free Europe and Australia to demand justice for the people of the Mideast, Asia, Russia, Africa and the subcontinent. The day of reckoning appears to be nearer than the faithless can imagine. Let us pray to whatever God  we can imagine that it will give us strength and guidance in the days to come. The battle of Evermore will not be won by faith alone.

In the immortal words of Robert Plant:




The Queen of Light took her bow and then she turned to go.
The Prince of Peace embraced the gloom and walked the night alone.


Oh, dance in the dark night, sing to the morning light.
The Dark Lord rides in force tonight, and time will tell us all.
Oh, throw down your plow and hoe, race now to my bow.
Side by side we wait the might, of the darkest of them all.


I hear the horses thunder down in the valley below.
I'm waiting for the angels of Avalon, waiting for the eastern glow.
The apples of the valley hold the seeds of happiness.
The ground is rich from tender care, which they do not forget, no, no.
Dance in the dark night, sing to the morning light.


The apples turn to brown and black, the tyrant's face is red.
Oh, war is the common cry, pick up your swords and fly.
The sky is filled with good and bad, mortals never know.


Oh well, the night is long, the beads of time pass slow.
Tired eyes on the sunrise, waiting for the eastern glow.
The pain of war cannot exceed the woe of aftermath.
The drums will shake the castle wall, the Ringwraiths ride in black (ride on).


Sing as you raise your bow, (ride on) shoot straighter than before.
No comfort has the fire at night that lights the face so cold.
Oh, dance in the dark night, sing to the morning light.
The magic runes are writ in gold to bring the balance back, bring it back.


At last the sun is shining, the clouds of blue roll by.
With flames from the dragon of darkness, the sunlight blinds his eyes.
Oh, bring it back, bring it back...






Rick Staggenborg, MD


Roseburg, Oregon