Chanuka: A Contest Between Two Civilizations

December 12, 2012 by Yitzchok Adlerstein

Continued from Page 1

Arnold started down a road of Indo-European supremacy. Those who continued on the road found a different name for Indo-European stock, calling it "Aryan," especially in regard to Nordic peoples like Swedes.

That road led straight to Majdanek, and took the lives of millions—both Jews who were targeted, and modern-day Greeks who resisted it.

The ancient Greeks wonderfully enriched the world with their contributions to drama and art. In the millennia since then, the aesthetic, as well as the desire to throw off the shackles of conscience, often runs amok, sometimes into depravity. Chanuka assures the world that Man will have limits and insight restraining him from abandoning decency and principle. At times and places, those limits either fail or are shut out—as in the art gallery in Lund. Chanuka's message, however, will remain around to illuminate the world well after that Swedish artist is forgotten.

Happy Chanuka, World!

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About Yitzchok Adlerstein

Yitzchok Adlerstein is an Orthodox rabbi who directs interfaith affairs for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, and chairs Jewish Law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. He is hopelessly addicted to the serious study of Torah texts.

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