Be a Maccabee

Who will stand up for religious freedom this Chanukah?

Have you ever wondered what it must have felt like to be young Abraham, watching in dismay as the ENTIRE world around him bowed in blind obeisance to utter falsehood, yet he dared to stand up and speak the truth?

I have.

I've also wondered what it must have felt like to be young Matriarch Rebecca, surrounded by degeneracy, decadence, and dishonesty on all sides. How did she muster the courage to preserve her integrity and sanity against all odds?

Or what it must have felt like to be Elijah the Prophet surrounded by an entire population who fell prey to the allure of polytheistic worship and despotic monarchy, yet dared to rebuke them at great personal risk.

Or what it must have felt to be Mordechai the Jew, the only man standing amidst thousands of groveling people in prostrated submission before Haman. How did he summon the fortitude to stand out as the single Jew in the vast Persian Empire -- that encompassed nearly the entire civilized world -- who refused to bow before the world's richest and most powerful man?

I have been in lifelong awe of these Biblical ancestors, wondering how it must have felt to be a sole voice of reason in a deafening cacophony of falsehood.

Now, after all these years, I have finally experienced a glimpse of what it must have felt like.

For the past many months, I have watched in alarm as the entire world around me surrendered all reason to covid insanity. 

Facts no longer matter. A cult of fear has engulfed society. In a pandemic shrouded in deception, the public has been cynically manipulated by mislabeled deaths, wildly-unsubstantiated claims, and fraudulent testing criteria. No one is bothered by the appalling hypocrisy of inconsistent state policies and dubious hospital practices. Fear-mongering has become the order of the day.

Our once proud Jewish community has been reduced to panic-stricken, home-bound, faceless drones who grovel before the state's every dictate. Trust in G-d has been replaced with foreign worship of public health authority.

Their erstwhile Jewish dignity -- geon Yaakov -- has been masked and obscured.

It hasn't been easy, but I have endeavored to be a solitary voice of reason amidst a deafening silence of denial. Consequently, I have been threatened, marginalized, taunted.

Some individuals (including certain unscrupulous rabbis, sadly) targeted me in public smear campaigns, while others have maligned me in social media groups near and abroad. My family members have been harassed and in some cases physically attacked by Jews in Brooklyn who are incensed that I dared to call out their pitiful status quo.

At the very beginning of this extraordinary nonsense, I publicly challenged any rabbi on earth to a candid dialogue over the actual issues of covid policy vis-a-vis Judaic law. My offer was met with silence.

And here we are, nine months later, and schools are still getting shut down regularly, synagogues still imposing unreasonable restrictions on their congregants or are closed altogether, Jews still being banned or marginalized for not complying with this contemporary idol-worship...

For the first time in my life, I can finally imagine a bit of what Abraham must have felt surrounded by a world that has lost its mind.

Just a bit, because fortunately for me, I am not alone.

Blessed with many allies, most of whom are the solitary Abrahams of their own communities, I have come to realize that I was never alone.

In recent weeks, I have been heartened to discover many more rabbis like me who challenge the status quo, each in his own way. Likewise, I have become acquainted with countless other individuals worldwide who have spoken out and endeavored to make a difference.

We -- you and I -- are fighting this fight together.

Together, we represent the sole voice of Abrahamic reason in a world gone awry.

Together we reject the fabrication that is covid policy, its polytheistic and perverse values, and the misguided self-righteousness of its indoctrinated adherents.

As we now approach the Festival of Chanukah, it is our sacred duty to stand up as the sole Maccabees of our times. Though we are vastly outnumbered and outflanked by the endless resources of the other side, we shall surely prevail, since we are armed with the truth.

We have been chosen by Heaven for this hallowed mission -- not due to own worthiness or superiority -- but out of G-d's inscrutable wisdom. We are to do His bidding and state the truth boldly and unambiguously to all.

We must act now. There is no time to lose. There are children to be educated, souls to be saved, lives to be defended. Future generations are depending on us. We must purge our temples of impure dogma and protect our young and old from medical tyranny.

We must reassert control of our own schools and houses of worship.

Let's bear in mind that the vast majority of our fellow Jews and fellow Americans are simply uneducated, waiting to be enlightened and empowered... and that is our mission.

Who is to G-d rally with us. [1]

"Who is like You among the mighty, O G-d." [2]

There is a great awakening underway, and it is our awesome merit to be part of it.

Be a modern-day Maccabee.

It's time to fight for religious freedom.

Let's all stand up for truth over falsehood. Light over darkness. Freedom over tyranny.

Together, we shall witness a modern-day miracle of lights.

Notes:

[1] Exodus 32:26. Moses proclaimed these words to rally the Children of Levi when all twelve tribes of Israel had succumbed to worship of the Golden Calf. Over a millennia later, Mattathias used these same words to rally his sons to resist the tyranny of Seleucid empire.

[2] 15:11 -- מי כמוך באלים י. These four words form the acrostic: "Maccabee -- מכבי."