12/14/2025
Dr. Nu (Part 1)
Narrator:
[Setting = Grandmother in traditional Jewish living room is sitting by fireplace with grandson, who is holding Rubik’s cube, and granddaughter in lap and reading to them:]
From the book Jewish Days:
Grandmother:
“The Zodiac sign for Kislev is Sagittarius, the Archer. In Hebrew, the symbol is called keshet, a bow. In the story of Noah and the Flood, which dominates the previous month of Heshvan, the rainbow that glows after the Flood is also called keshet. That bow symbolized G-d’s covenant and continued reconciliation with humans. The bow of Kislev is a more warlike one, the archer’s weapon, and perhaps G-d’s as well, aimed at defeating Israel’s enemies. In this month the defeated enemies are the Hellenized Syrians who sought to eliminate the Jewish religion and the highly assimilated Jews who would have allowed them to do so. The archers are Judah the Maccabee and his brothers, who saved the nation. Indeed, the prophet Zechariah is said to have foreseen the Maccabean victories when he proclaimed in G-d’s name, “I have drawn Judah taut, and applied My hand to Ephraim as to a bow” (9:13).
[Grandson, who has ADD and slight Asberger’s, gets bored and gets off lap and stands on head, still holding Rubik’s cube].
The part of the story that has a historical basis is told in the Book of Maccabees, in the Apocrypha, an assortment of works not included in the canon of the Hebrew Bible. In the year 165 B.C.E., Judah Maccabee and a band of Jewish rebels marched into Jerusalem and within a few months cleansed the Temple, which the Syrian rulers of Judea had defiled. They proclaimed the twenty-fifth of Kislev the beginning of an eight-day holiday of rededication. The festival of Hanukkah-the name comes from the Hebrew word for dedication-has been celebrated on that day ever since.The point in the story when a miracle is said to have occurred (which is not mentioned in the Book of Maccabees) is when Judah and his men began purifying the Temple they found only one unopened, uncontaminated cruse, with enough oil to light the menorah for one day. Miraculously, the oil kept the Temple lit for eight days, until new oil was prepared, and that is the reason why the holiday has been celebrated for eight days.
[Grandson sticks nearby candles up nose and continues working with cube]
The heroism of the Maccabees has been reemphasized in the modern State of Israel, where their courage has come to stand for the courage of the nation as a whole, pitted as it was for so many years against enemies on all sides. Today, Jews inside and outside of Israel tend to recognize both the national and spiritual aspects of the holiday by celebrating its story and kindling its lights. In doing so, they rejoice in the wondrous victory of the few over the many and the weak over the powerful. They also recall the many other dark periods in their long history that, like the Maccabean era, were illuminated by the determination of a small people to remain unique among the nations.”
[Grandson raises cube to show it has been solved].
