Happy Chanukah, from your gun rabbi. What does Chanukah have to do with guns? Back at the start of the Jewish rebellion against Greek religious oppression, there was not yet clarity with regard to the Torah Law of fighting a war on Shabbos.1 The experiences of that period made it very clear that the Jewish people need to be prepared to defend ourselves from those who would oppress us, wherever and whenever they may come.
First, some history. Alexander the Great conquered Judea, but made a relatively peaceful agreement with the Jews. The Jews were granted local rule, so long as we paid taxes and did not rebel against Greek hegemony. (In exchange, the Jews also agreed to name every boy born that year "Alexander" in honor of their monarch. This is how "Alexander" became a Jewish name.) This agreement lasted through several generations of relatively benign Greeek hegemony. As in other regions of Greek rule, Greek culture spread in Judea, and many Jews adopted Greek ways. Known as Hellenists, these Jews sought to "modernize" Judaism to bring Jewish belief and practice into line with Greek philosophy and its related paganism.
The relationship between the Jews and Greeks changed radically with the ascendency of King Antioch IV. As Antioch became increasingly desperate for money to fund his military and royal pursuits, he offered to sell the office of the High Priest -- and with it the religious authority over the Temple -- to the highest bidder. Internal Jewish strife resulted between the Hellenists and those who remain loyal to Torah. While Antioch was at battle in Egypt, a Jewish civil war erupted. Antioch heard of the war and sent his general Nikanor to rule over Judea. Nikanor and his army march into Jerusalem, welcomed by the Hellenists who open the gates to invite the Greek army to settle the dispute.2
Megillat Antiochus opens with the Nikanor's march into Jerusalem and the declaration of a prohibition against circumcision, Shabbos, and the declaration of the months of the year.3 Jewish rebellion against increasingly oppressive Greek decrees against Jewish practice ultimately resulted in the Maccabean revolt and triumph over Greek hegemony, the victory we celebrate today as Chanukah.4
Now all of this is intimately connected with the evolution of Torah Law regarding self-defense and thereby to the right to bear arms.
At the start of the Greek oppression, when the Greeks outlawed Shabbos observance, the Jews did not fight back. Megillat Antiochus tells of the Jewish response to the Greek prohibition: "At that time, the Jews said to one another, 'Come, let us go hide in a cave and keep Shabbos there.' But the Hellenists reported it to the authorities."5
In response, the Greek army besieged the cave entrance and warned the Jews to come out or be killed. The Jews responded, "we will not break Shabbos, even if you kill us." So the Greek soldiers brought wood and lit a great fire which burned around and into the cave, killing over a thousand Jews inside, men, women, and children.5 Their actions met no resistance from the Jews.
Now anyone who studies the Torah Laws of Shabbos, even at a basic and introductory level, learns the supremacy of the sanctity of life over the sanctity of Shabbos. In a situation of danger -- even the possibility of danger -- we override all Shabbos prohibitions and do everything we can to protect the lives, safety, and well being of those in danger. This is true not only in cases of war but also in cases of sickness, sometimes as minor as a fever.6 So why did the Jews in the cave sit passively and let the Greeks kill them? Why didn't they fight?
Tosefta Eiruvin7 (3:5-13; see also Eiruvin 45a) offers a possible answer. The Tosefta explains that "originally", Jews would not violate Shabbos even to fight a defensive war. Subsequently, when the enemies of the Jewish people learned that we would not fight back, they learned to attack us on Shabbos. Thus the Law was promulgated that we could fight defensively.
At first, defensive wars were fought with maximal Shabbos observance intact; for example, following the battle, the victorious Jewish soldiers did not carry their weapons home with them. Again, the enemy learned to use this against us, and again further leniencies were promulgated to permit Jewish defense.
Gradually the Law evolved to permit even offensive war and pursuit of the enemy. (For example, if allowing the enemy to flee would give the enemy an opportunity to regroup, re-attack, and endanger the Jewish soldiers and civilians once again, pursuing the enemy was not only permitted but required.) Thus in modern times, the Tzitz Eliezer (3:9) writes that religious soldiers are not only permitted but required to engage in both defensive and offensive operations on Shabbos, in some circumstances making Shabbos engagement no different from weekday.
Unfortunately, the Jewish people have learned through our long history the importance of being prepared and able to take up arms and defend ourselves. We certainly value our religious commitment to G-d above all else, but we have learned that this commitment requires us to defend ourselves, even at the expense of most ritual observance. It is a hard-earned lesson, one that I pray that the Jewish people will never forget.
So now it is Chanukah, and we must stand in defense of Judaism. At times, that means defending against religious oppression, as when dominated by the Antioch Greeks or the Soviet Empire. At other times, that means defending against physical assault, as in modern Israel. G-d forbid, may we never see such a need in America; I pray daily that we will never face such threats in a land that guarantees Freedom of Religion -- indeed, Freedom of Conscience.
But thank G-d that in America, we are also guaranteed -- for now -- the right to defend ourselves, the Right to Arms. Of all the different ethnic, national, and religious groups in America, we Jews should understand the value of this right as much or more than others. Just as we avail ourselves of the right to worship as we please, we should avail ourselves of the right to arm and defend ourselves. Every Jew should know how to use a gun, and those who are psychologically and physically fit to do so should own one (or several).
G-d forbid, may we never have a need to use them.
Happy Chanukah.
1Shabbos is the Jewish Sabbath. During the period from sunset Friday until nightfall on Saturday, Jews observe Shabbos by refraining from a variety of creative labors.
2Megillat Antiochus verse 12. Megillat Antiochus is a Jewish historical and political account of the Chanukah period.
3Verse 11 and elsewhere. The Jewish calendar depends upon the declaration of the months by a Rabbinical Court, and the calendar of course determines the times of Jewish holidays. By prohibiting the declaration of the months, the Greeks sought to obliterate Jewish observance of the Holidays.
4Note that there are several different accounts of the Chanukah story, each of which differs in some or many details. I have given a brief composite summary account here -- incomplete in details, but sufficient for the historical context of this presentation.
5Verses 37-40. Translation is my own and it is both idiomatic and figurative.
6See Orach Chaim שכח and related commentaries.
7The Tosefta, or "Additions," consists of Jewish legal rulings that originate between the years 1300 BCE - 250 CE. They are "additional" in that they were not included in the authoritative compendium of such rulings, the Mishnah. Nonetheless, the Tosefta is a useful source for minority opinions, for historical details, and sometimes for the authoritative rulings of the Talmud, a subsequent text.
