In the times of Matisyahu and his sons, it was a small group of men who decided to turn their backs. They rose up against their ancestral tradition, rejecting that life in Eretz Yisrael continue on along the path followed by Jews in previous generations. They refused to be `primitive' and decided to import `enlightened Hellenism'. They turned their backs on the source of living waters to hew broken cisterns for themselves. They considered themselves `progressive' and looked down upon Torah-true Jewry with disdain. Why did they need the old fashioned Jewish culture which no longer had any relevance? They duplicated the Hellenist appearance, embraced their culture and all it entailed, and adapted their mind-set to the spirit of the times. Concurrently, they adopted all of the gods of the times and kowtowed to them, while not officially assimilating, but merely adjusted Judaism to their philosophy and attempted to infiltrate the Beis Hamikdash and its extended area, defiling it with their new style of worship. They fought so that Jerusalem resemble Athens.
Is this an event from ancient history or is it a current reality, or perhaps a future phenomenon?
The Jewish people is still suffering under Greek captivity, even though it be Israeli-style. The blue-white of the Greek flag has not changed; it has merely added a Star of David. Nor has anything changed from within. Whoever believes that guarding and defending the walls is a historical battle has not hearkened to the sound of tender Jewish cheder children or the animated sounds of study emanating from yeshiva halls - the caves of our times. The sound of Torah bursting forth from there in its purity resembles the sound of the pouring of pure oil.
Whoever is under the impression that the battle is over and that the Jewish people have laid their weapons aside, did not hear the voices of Bais Yaakov principals nor seen the devotion of its graduates. Whoever believes that this is a mere reminder or thinks that it is a thing of the past, let them look at the windows facing the street outside where the candles burn and dance. The light shall continue to burn; the voice shall continue to reverberate.
And whoever thinks that they can defeat Torah-true Jewry is advised to read the lists of gatherings of the wall builders. The `few' are already very many and the mighty ones stand firmly against their `many' with a firm faith and knowledge that Hashem shall deliver the wicked into the hands of the worthy, and the impure into the hands of the pure.
This call of "Mi laShem Elai" from those days continues to echo in these times as well, and it issues forth from the words of encouragement and guidance of the Prince of Torah, HaRav Chaim Kanievsky, to "Warn the girls not to seek pasture in foreign fields, in the academic institutions which are totally disastrous." Similarly are the words of reinforcement and guidance from HaRav Gershon Eidelstein, "Nothing must be changed from the curriculum without consulting daas Torah."
We must heed the voice of the `eyes of the community', of the Chashmonaim of our times, not to set aside the ammunition of our Torah leadership until the Mikdash is purified.
In those days in this time.
