Chanukah, Assimilation, and the Jewish heroines of Rabbi Marcus Meir Lehman

What a mouthful of a title! But these things all contect, I promise. 

Chanukah has just begun, which although it coincides this year with Christmas is very much not a Jewish Christmas. In fact, Chanukah celebrates the re-dedication of the temple, our beit ha mikdash, once the Maccabeas liberated it from the Greeks. Interestingly enough, many Jews at the time were perfectly fine living under Greek rule. One might even argue some overdid it. I don't even know if I want to get more specific than that, because, yikes, and ouch. If you know you know. 

The Greek ruler Antiochus could have followed in the footsteps of Alexander the Great. Instead he acted like a putz and forbid Jewish traditions. At that time, the Hellenistic Jews happily went along but for the Maccabeas this was the drop that spilled the kiddush cup. Chanukah is therefore a holiday that celebrates the fight against assimilation. 

This was all recap. Now I want to get to my actual subject which is the impact of Hellenistic culture on Jewish women. I would have put that in the title too, but, you know... There's only so much a mouth can handle between latkes and donuts. 

While the Greeks felt that circumcision was a "barbaric" custom that should be banned,  they were perfectly fine with exposure. Exposure in this context meant, leaving an unwanted newborn to die. As historian John Cooper in The Child in Jewish History states, "During the Hellenistic and Roman Eras, the Jews were faced with the challenge of an ideology that espoused the swift extinction of the lives of infants who were deemed to be physically weak or who were superfluous because they happened to be female." 

The role of women in Greek culture was very restrictive. Whereas most Jewish women would receive some education, most Greek women would not. Greeks were capital P Patriarchal, whereas Jewish families had an adjusted patriarchy. The men were more involved in the child rearing, and the Torah commanded to honor both their fathers and mothers. The Talmud even relates that the Greek rulers would try to violate Jewish brides on their wedding night. 

The Maccabean rebellion freed Jewish women of this persecution. Therefore, women and girls aren't supposed to do any work for half an hour after candle lighting. And then there's the story of Yehudit who could compete with every modern female action heroine. 

Since I'm on the subject of feminity and maintaining Jewish traditions, I would like to take a quick look at the women in the works of Rabbi Marcus Meir Lehman (1831-1890). If you're Orthodox, chances are you have read one of his books. He was a pioneer in Jewish fiction writing, trying to offer "kosher" novel alternatives. During his lifetime there was also a lot of debate about assimilation. This influenced his literary work as well.

When I recently read his novel "Out of the depths" I noticed something surprising. If you haven't read it, I'll give you a short summary. The children of two affluent Jewish bankers get married but unlike the devout bride, Minna, the groom, Edward, only pretends to be orthodox. Edward boasts to his friends that he will soon make his wife abandon her old-fashioned customs. This implies that he believes that women are easy to control. Hmm... 🤔 A misogynist who wants a Jew to abandon her observance...Where have I seen this before?

Edward pushes his wife's boundaries more and more. He even tricks her into eating non-kosher food. Sidenote, I'm not trying to shame anyone here for their level of observance. That is not the point. The point is that he deceives his wife because he thinks he can. Communication and honesty in our goals in life is important to any relationship. 

To Minna's shock, Edward decides to smoke on Shabbat. At this point he knows she won't back down so easily. So he makes a deal with Minna that she has to accept this if he brings in a Rabbi to back him up. Edward invites a Reform Rabbi who, to the Rabbi's credit, is at first very apprehensive to okay Edward's behavior. But Edward being the entitled rich boy he is, he intimidates the Rabbi into approval.

Now here comes the surprising part. Not only does Minna remain steadfast, she chews them out. Rabbi Lehman uses Minna's voice to put these men in place, showing that she is in fact the wisest person in the room. Luckily, Edward does get his come uppance in the end, but more on that on the next post.

To end, Chanukah is a holiday during which we embrace Jewish women's resilience. Like Yael, Minna and so many others, we can fight in actions and words.

Chanukah sameach! 🕎