Search our Archives:

The Torch Of Chanukah On The Silver Screen

By Wendy Luterman
Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archives

Chanukah, also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight day festival commencing on the 25^th of Kislev and commemorates the restoration and rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. At the time Judea was part of the Seleucid Empire. In 167 BCE, the Emperor Antiochus ordered an altar to Zeus erected in the Second Temple in Jerusalem; the Temple was looted and Judaism outlawed. His actions provoked a revolt led by the priest Matityahu and his five sons. The forces led by Matityahu’s eldest son Judah liberated and rededicated the Temple; and therefore emphasizes the motifs of national sovereignty, political independence and religious freedom, motifs which were adopted by the Zionist movement and thus the Maccabean fighters are looked upon as historical role models. Some of the customs associated with the festival include the kindling of the Menorah and the singing of the hymn Maoz Tzur, playing with a dreidel, eating foods fried in oil and the torch relay. This short article will examine how Chanukah is marked in Israel and how the patriotic message of Chanukah is portrayed in some of the archival films preserved by The Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive.

A widespread custom since 1944 has been the torch relay on Chanukah. Originally the relay took place in the Modi’in area adjacent to the Tombs of the Maccabeans, but after the establishment of the State, the custom spread across the country. Many films document this unique relay. In Hadassah’s film Tomorrow’s A Wonderful Day(1949), the relay race takes place from Modi’in to the nearby Ben Shemen Youth Village. Teenage Holocaust survivor Benjamin is chosen as one of the torch bearers. In a dramatic climax to the film, the relay facilitates his emotional rehabilitation from the horrors of the concentration camp. He and his classmates bring the torches into the village where the entire community is gathered for the lighting of the menorah and the singing of the hymn Maoz Tzur. In the last scene, Benjamin joins in the singing, thus completing his integration. In the original Adamah (1947), this scene is in the middle of the film and represents one of the major turning points in his integration so that he is able to consummate his relationship with the land. The torch relay also forms the climax of the film Jerusalem My City(1951). Hundreds of children from all over Israel carry lit torches and participate in a Chanukah parade in Jerusalem to celebrate its centrality as Israel’s eternal capital. The film As Long As I Live (1961), which surveys the celebration of Shabbat and Jewish festivals, concludes with a depiction of a torch parade and the lighting of the Chanukiah.

Many kibbutzim adopted the tradition of the torch relay. For example, Kibbutz Beit Ha’Emek near Nahariya holds an annual torch relay during Chanukah for bar and bat mitzvah aged kibbutz children. The children, accompanied by their teacher, run a few kilometers with a lit torch and once they enter the kibbutz run along a short candle-lit path to the center of the kibbutz where they take turns lighting the huge chanukiah before the whole kibbutz. This custom symbolizes their path from childhood into adulthood. Kibbutz members then congregate in the kibbutz dining room for further Chanukah celebrations.

As stated above, Chanukah commemorates the miracle of the rededication of the Second Temple and the bravery of the fighters in the Maccabean Revolt. At least two films in the Spielberg film vaults compare this miracle with the modern miracle of the capture of the Old City of Jerusalem by the IDF during the Six Day War and the consequent reunification of Jerusalem. For example, in the French film, Hanouca 1977, newly elected Prime Minister Menachem Begin delivers an address in which he compares the two battles and emphasizes Israel’s sovereignty. Scenes of paratroopers entering the Old City walls are shown. The film Chag Chanukah describes various aspects and customs associated with the festival and also compares the two historic events. In an especially poignant scene, an IDF veteran blinded during the Six Day War lights a torch in Modi’in in a Hello Jerusalem series Chanukah special in the 1980s.

In 1989, the Israel Broadcasting Authority co-produced together with the Information Department of the World Zionist Organization a Chanukah series Kolet Otcha in which television personality Yaron London hosted new immigrants every night during the festival. The program included lighting the chanukiah, musical presentations by immigrant musicians and immigrants relating their personal stories and talking about their immigration and absorption experiences. This series has been recently digitized from u-matic to mpeg4 by the Archive. Filmmaker Chaim Hoizman produced a similar series featuring Chanukah on IDF bases in 1998 as seen in his collection (not Archive copyright) deposited at the Archive.

In the Keren Hayesod film Honoring The Commitment (1990), new immigrants from Ethiopia and Russia celebrate Chanukah together with IDF soldiers. It is important to note here that neither group had a tradition of celebrating Chanukah in their countries of birth: Soviet Jews as a result of persecution and assimilation and Ethiopian Jews since the community were separated from normative Jewry before the events commemorating Chanukah occurred. Chanukah was first introduced to the Ethiopian community by Jewish Agency emissaries sent to Ethiopia. Despite this, Kes Menashe, one of the community’s most revered spiritual leaders delivered a Chanukah message in Amharic in 1991 following Operation Solomon during which over 14,400 Jews were airlifted to Israel. This event is accompanied by singing and dancing with yeshiva students.

Finally, the vaults contain a number of films in which the festival is portrayed through art. In By The Light of Candles (not Archive copyright) (1950), the story of the Maccabees is narrated through paintings and religious ornaments. In Hayom HaShemini (The Eighth Day), the Gesher theatrical company, which was founded by immigrants from the CIS performs a play by the same name. Actor Eliahu Goldberg performs the Chanuka play Dmei Chanuka (not Archive copyright) for children based on a Shalom Aleichem story and in the animated film A Sevivon Looks For A Friend (not Archive copyright) in easy Hebrew, a dreidel looks for a friend with whom to celebrate the festival.

Photos: scenes from the Chanukah ceremony in Tomorrow's A Wonderful Day

Please let us know if you see something unsavory on the Google Ads and we will have them removed. Email us with the offensive URL (www.something.com)