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Esther Bitya Cameron USHPIZIN FOR CHANUKAH a minidrama
Rabbi Nachman, “The Tale of the Seven Beggars”
Dramatis personae
Matityahu the Kohen Yehudah Shim’on Yochanan Yonatan Elazar Chanah The Poet
Poet (in front of the curtain) Chanukah’s coming. We’ll light the candles, sing, Spin the top and make the children rich With chocolate ducats; and we shall remember Those days, the heroism and the victory. Shall we thus silence all the grief and insult Of present days, where no solution’s seen? Alas! I am a poet and cannot Be silent. What I cannot utter, chokes me. This isn’t going to be light entertainment, Rather a battle with despair and fear And what it has to say may not please all. From the struggle with darkness may a little light Spring forth! May those who hear fight side by side With me for hope, and from the depths may counsel And comradeship arise! (And Understanding Whatever circumstance it contemplate, Contains within itself a certain gladness.)
The curtain rises. A street. Twilight. Matityahu and his sons Yehudah, Shim’on, Yochanan, Yonatan, and Elazar, and their sister Chanah.
Matityahu. Well, here we are. Our holiday’s already Begun. In front of every door Along the street, menorahs are set up, And here and there the first night’s candle glimmers. Yochanan. A national-religious neighborhood – Modest, yet well kept up. Matityahu. Indeed, my son. Yochanan. And comfortable. Perhaps too comfortable. Father, what is it we are seeking here? Matityahu. Souls, my son, souls. And hearts prepared for struggle. Yochanan. All quiet hereabouts. If there’s a war on, I wonder where’s the front. Yehudah. In many places. Where Israel borders Lebanon and Gaza, At the fence around each hilltop settlement, Between the neighborhoods of mingled cities, In the Old City’s heart, and somewhere too In cyberspace where Israel and Iran Are locked in battles that no eye can see. Yonatan: And in those offices, those lecture halls, Those restaurants, in which the politicians And diplomats and bureaucrats and who knows What other agents congregate and dicker Over the fates of this and other nations. Shim’on: And on the campuses of universities Funded by grants from nations not our friends That influence the professorial mind, While in the student body circulate Those who stir hatred up and call it justice. Yochanan. Yes, and in writers’, scholars’ conferences Where it’s imprudent to speak well of us, And on the news and on the social networks Where the crimes of those that hate us go unmentioned And we’re the only sinners. And not only Bribery proves persuasive, but the threat Raised against anyone who dares to trace The violence to its source – to that envenomed Root which the lord of all false prophets planted In the Arabian waste, to propagate Ever more rapidly its poisonous shoots To all the settlements of humankind. Shim’on. And even into many a heart among us That venom seeps, making the eye grow dim At the sight of the enemy, obscuring That sight with a mirage of peace, suggesting Accusations against those who stand firm In defense of those who blame them! Till some managed To give the reins of rule to those that hate them, Like puppets worked by a destroyer’s hand! Elazar. Yet not the poison of that root alone Assails us, O my brothers. Not alone That so-called God whose power is only Force And lust for domination and for blood, Whips up its mobs against us, but the thirst For profit, organized in corporations, Machines made out of human beings stripped Of conscience, molded to a mighty golem That has no loyalties, no conscious aim, No consciousness indeed, yet a relentless Tendency to undermine free will With ever more ingenious temptations And change the human mind, with all its talents, Its aspirations, its capacity For judgment, love, and loyalty, to a lone Body in a cubicle, riveted To screens, with all its needs and whims supplied Without recourse to any fellow-human – Refashioned in the image of the machine. And how should such a creature muster courage To fight for the good things it has already Relinquished gradually, bit by bit In exchange for comforts and addictive pleasures? For what sake could it fight, and with what faith? Shim’on. And those who turn the dials of the machine See in the call to rest one day in seven Only an obstacle to power and profit; Nor can they sympathise with those who cling To something dear to them for its own sake And not convertible to currency – The family, say, or some tract of earth Promised to them by G-d, on Whose existence Their system of causality casts doubt. Yehudah. Doubt… yes, I see the hand of Yavan here. Matityahu. You see aright, my son. Does not all flow From the retreat of faith before the worship Of human reason, limited indeed, Yet capable of finding explanations For all the miracles of G-d’s Creation, For all the good that G-d saw fit to bless! Till at last all they see is particles. Indeed the snake deceived us, and the fruits He tempted us to eat have turned the world To ash, and us, who thought to be as gods, Into the servants of our own devices! Chanah. And yet for all that, in this place there is faith. Look, here a candle’s lit, and there another… These are the homes of those that love the land, Fathers of families who study Torah, Youths to whose hands the Torah teaches battle Yet also deeds of kindness, while the women Are clothed in strength and dignity, learned in Torah, And for their kindness worthy of renown. Yehudah. It’s truth they study Torah and support Their families and generously assist The needy; but their sustenance derives, In the end, from that same great machine whose ways They do not study how to rectify. They exercise in study halls their reason On laws of sacrifice, not on the laws Of the state in which they live, and which they claim To see as the beginning of redemption! They sacrifice the blind, the lame, the sick On the altars of a temple which is not Built in their generation, nor is it planned. Elazar: And they too dance the dance of marketing Whereby the individual’s desire Is served, and not that passion of the whole That springs from an eternal Will that wills The good of the whole, in which the good of each Is held implicit. Nor can they escape Wholly the taint of a surrounding culture Which labors to profane each sacred thing. Observe their daughters: how the necklines creep Downward each year, while the hemlines creep upward! Or listen to that pandemonium, Bad for the ears, with which youth celebrates The covenant of marriage, or the attainment Of that age when the boy or girl assumes Manhood or womanhood and the obligation To hear the Lord’s command! And if no outcry Is raised against the damage to our hearing, How shall our conscience fortify itself Against the pressure to grant tolerance To everything, until the heart is deafened To the weeping of the victims of a creed Of cruelty – and of the golem’s message Of G-dlessness that justifies whatever Can undermine the covenant between The two halves of G-d’s image, and the home – Foundation of our life, nest of our future – Which founders when that covenant is broken. No one now counts the tears of the forsaken, Of the child whose future hangs upon a whim – And those whose longings turn toward their own sex Demand not tolerance and understanding Alone, but all the encouragement and honor With which the love of bride and groom is crowned – Nay, we are asked to praise their pride, as if Pride were not warned against by all our teachers, Nor are they satisfied till they have wrested Approval of the gelding of mere children Persuaded by a media-craze to fancy Themselves not of the sex which G-d assigned them! Shim’on. Be careful, Elazar! Don’t get yourself Reincarnated in this generation: With such opinions you’d be banned and shunned, Or at least cause discomfort to your hearers, Which comes to much the same thing nowadays. Yochanan: Alas! I see how the two enemies Of us and of all humankind converge – Though it would seem that not much love is lost Between a fanatic creed that knows no mercy And an unlimited greed that has no values – To work against us. For the media Make pets of the unrighteously indignant, And if the desecration of G-d’s image Provokes no outcry, how can much resistance Be roused against encroachment on the land? Woe’s me! Before my mind’s eye pass processions Of those who walk and weep, nor do I know If these are visions of the past – or future! Matityahu. My children, you have rightly seen, and rightly Lamented. With your insight you have lit The field of struggle, you have dissipated Illusions, and marked the enemy’s positions. You’ve diagnosed the illness; but we shall not Do well, unless we also can propose A strategy, and offer hope of cure. Not to disseminate despair we came here. Now, children, who’ll point out a source of hope?
A prolonged silence. In the background a song by Naomi Shemer – “Mi yadlik ner atik (who will light an ancient candle)” – is heard.
Chanah. Despite all falsehood and all desecration, On every human being the Divine Image is stamped, and in each Jewish heart Is hidden, like the jar of oil still pure, The knowledge that our souls are truly part Of G-d; and over all of us the spirit Of Knesset Israel, our mother, hovers. Will not some hand reach for that jar of oil And strike a light? Before my mind’s eye rises The vision of a host that is all flames Of souls recruited to defend the heart’s Temple, the holy land of Israel The hope of all the humans on this earth! Elazar. If so, then it would seem the front is here: In the heart of every one of Israel, Wherever and whenever truth and falsehood Come face to face. Yochanan. Who will recruit those souls? Who will supply weapons to them, and armor? Matityahu. These shall be fashioned. Though the guile of Greece, Fruit of the tree of knowledge, has contrived To weaken in the world the fear of G-d, Removing some of its external props, Within the heart the still small voice has never Ceased to sound. The soul still knows itself, Can still bear witness to its own Creator And recognize its foes. Chanah. And it will surely Rise up, tear off the veils of self-deception, As I once tore my garments, and demand Help from all powers of the human being Against its desecration. It will seize The instrument of reason to illumine All various fields of knowledge and of action And show to every one his or her task, So that the bnei binah, the sons and daughters Of Understanding, may reveal themselves, Here in this neighborhood, and in the dwellings Of cousins, inlaws, friends throughout the land, Until the hearts, wherever they may be, Shall see and gather strength. Matityahu. May it be so. May it be your will, Lord of all souls, That in response to our arousal flow From the highest Crown a power of wisdom, Understanding, knowledge, magnanimity, Strength, compassion, resolution, and Acknowledgment, to fortify and guide us! And you, my children, bearers of the light That will not bow to darkness – go now, stand Beside the Chanukah menorahs, as Invisible ushpizin, whispering Counsel and strategy to every one According to their natures and their gifts! And as on that day long ago I blessed Each of you – now each of you bless them! Yehudah. I bless them with the legislator’s insight, That they may sort and rectify the laws Of this their present state, and afterward Give to the nations laws in keeping with That Justice upon whose eternal tablets Jerusalem is inscribed, and no less deeply The Sabbath, that keeps watch over us all. Shim’on. I bless them with the courage to recognize Their enemies, and love whoever stands Against them – never to disown, for instance, Those youths who keep their vigil on the hills Lest the complacent cities be besieged. Yochanan. I for my part bless them with the awareness That they’re at war, and each one must join up, Cease to rely on leaders chosen not By them, but by the golem with its media – That they must organize to find the leaders Who’ll lead them on the path of life and strength. Yonatan. I bless them with fidelity to friends, With the courage to speak truth, the humility To hear it, and with love that overcomes All jealousy, and praises without stint Whatever gifts G-d’s wisdom has bestowed Upon a comrade, for the sake of all. Elazar. I bless them with the courage to uphold The covenant of love and loyalty Between a man and woman, though it be Not easy, and the bond of generations Which rests on that foundation; and I bless Whoever helps to make between those two A true and loving peace. Chanah. And above all, My brothers, let us bless them with an ear And heart attuned to the beating of the heart Of Knesset Israel, into whose keeping Heaven gave the seed of hope for humankind. All (sing). Once again our foes arise, And seem as strong as ever: Creed of force and corporate lies To drive us out endeavor. But our light won’t fail us, Torah will avail us, Firm we’ll stand Till every land For our truth will hail us.
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