This Hanukkah, just as in years past, we follow the holiday tradition of lighting the Hanukkiah, or candelabra, in commemoration of two major events: the national political freedom of a People, obtained through a war of the few against the many led by the Maccabees against the Greeks, and the spiritual revival and cleansing of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.  While we rejoice in the powerful symbolism of the Hanukkiah and all it represents, we cannot help but be saddened as well as we contemplate the darkness that has befallen the State of Israel. How ironic, that just as we remember the triumph of the Jewish People, we are also witness to the political machinations by those who seek to lead, which threaten to destroy the social fabric of a country.

If ever there was the need to be imbued with the great fighting spirit of the Maccabees, that time has come. Now more than ever, it is essential that we find our inner strength and determination to confront the Jihadists like Hamas and Hezbollah, and, yes, even Fatah’s Al-Aqsa and Tanzeem militias. Instead, we see in Israel a leadership embroiled in an election campaign that shows no clear direction for the future.

The Labour Party, which at one time had nearly absolute control of Israeli society, is all but shattered, surviving under a leadership composed of yesterday’s chiefs and burdened by their overwhelming failures.  Ehud Barak, the man whose folly in southern Lebanon initiated a unilateral withdrawal that created the de facto Hezbollah State, is leading a party which will perhaps end up in fourth or fifth place in the Knesset.

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