Don’t give up – fight with light

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.” Robert Frost

What’s more powerful – light or dark?

Darkness takes up more news time and brain space than light-filled tales. Open any news site, and you will inevitably find more sad and scary news than positive and uplifting stories. Bad news sells.

But is darkness more potent and more enduring than light? Is a gun more powerful than a heart of courage? Superficially, yes. But all we need to do is think about the history of the Jewish people and we’ll realise the truth that although we were often the victims of evil done to us by people physically stronger than us, they are gone. Look at the past 14 months as exhibit A on this exact point.

Whereas we, the people of the book, the spirit, and the faith, thrive and grow until this very day and forever.

What will the world look like in 100 years? I have no idea, but I know that Jewish people will be there doing mitzvot and lighting up the world. Somewhere, someone will be a proud Jew practising their faith.

The Chanukah story about a small ragtag group of Maccabees taking down the mightiest army on earth – the Greeks – just by the power of their faith and courage is a perfect example of how a little light is so much more powerful than darkness. No military analyst would have predicted their victory, and 2 200 years later, millions of people would still celebrate their victory of light by lighting menorahs, eating latkes, and playing dreidel.

In short, in the second century BCE, the holy land was ruled by the Seleucids (Syrian-Greeks), who tried to force the people of Israel to accept Greek culture and beliefs instead of mitzvah observance and belief in G-d. Against all odds, a small band of faithful but poorly armed Jews, led by Judah the Maccabee, defeated one of the mightiest armies on earth, drove the Greeks from the land, reclaimed the holy Temple in Jerusalem, and rededicated it to the service of G-d.

When they sought to light the Temple’s menorah – the seven-branched candelabrum – they found only a single cruse of olive oil that had escaped contamination by the Greeks. Miraculously, they lit the menorah, and the one-day supply of oil lasted for eight days until new oil could be prepared under conditions of ritual purity.

The Maccabees took to heart the verse from the biblical book of Zecharia: “Not by might, and not by power, but by My spirit, said the L-rd of hosts.” Our strength is with our spirit (ruach), which we believe is infinitely more potent and consequential than the sharpest knife and the fastest fighter jet. Spirit always wins in the long term.

This isn’t to say that physical prowess is unimportant. We’re grateful every day that nations of peace and goodness such as the Jewish homeland and Western democracies have armies that can stand up to tyrants and those who wish them harm. We owe these selfless soldiers a massive debt of gratitude. Peace through strength is a Jewish value.

Yet, we know that might not coupled with spiritual tenacity and a heart of light and love won’t endure. You have to have a “why” as much as a “how” to win the existential war between good and evil that never stops. Strength alone is never enough.

There will come a day when G-d will show us His version and interpretation of history, and we will see a surprising tale. We will watch how a granny with a book of tehillim took down a dictator and saved a country. We will read of the voices of study and prayer that pierce through iron curtains and guns of steel. We will gasp at how an act of forgiveness between two feuding siblings brought the world one giant step closer to a messianic utopia.

One day, we’ll see beyond the tapestry and discover that the inner power of the spirit was the ultimate shaper of history. We will see how our Shabbos candles and tefillin created ripple effects across time, space, and the cosmos to create the world we all dream of seeing.

This message is essential when so many are anxious about the stressful news that seems to be overwhelming our social media feeds and TV screens. For a moment, we might feel powerless and terrified by the force of darkness that seems so much more potent than little me and the little mitzvah or act of kindness I’ve done.

That’s why I hold onto the Jewish story and miracle of the Maccabees. I’ll never forget the truth of life: light will win every time. Yesh tikvah – there’s hope and promise that the arc of history will bend towards the spirit.

Don’t give up. Don’t give in. Fight with light. You’re guaranteed to win.

• Rabbi Levi Avtzon is the rabbi at Linksfield Shul.