Hanukkah Light in the Darkness - Day 1

We need more light in the darkness.?

The following essays are my inner thoughts in these dark days, published for the celebration of Hanukkah, the holiday we, Jewish people, celebrate for the past 2187 years (yes, in 164 BCE the Jewish people, in the Land of Israel, also known as Zion, were able to yet again have their religion freedom in the temple).

Day one - Why am I alive?

The reason I am alive today, my entire existence, is due in part to some of my ancestors’ foresight to leave Poland before it became too bad.

My paternal grandfather had a large family. They had everything they needed in a town not far from Warsaw, with a large Jewish population. The family ran a business, selling lumber. His father passed away, but he had brothers who married and raised children. His mother was surrounded by her beautiful family.

But only my grandfather survived. His entire family stayed behind until it was too late. He left in the mid 1930s, to Palestine. Not because he was Palestinian, or because he was Muslim. Back then, Palestine was the area of land controlled by the British Mandate. And they kept the name that the area received from the Romans when they conquered the land almost 2000 years prior.

My grandfather moved to Palestine because its original name was Zion. And another name it was known for was Eretz Israel, the Land of Israel. My grandfather was a religious man. He believed in God, the God of the Jewish people. The same God that later the Christian adopted as the Father, and the Muslims adopted as Allah. And because he was religious, he prayed three times a day. In his prayers, he mentioned the Land of Israel. In his prayers, he mentioned Zion. In his prayers, he mentioned peace and prosperity. In his prayers, he asked God to deliver his people, the Jewish people, to the same land they were thrown out of. The same land that so many other empires and nations took over, colonized, claimed it as their own.

So when my grandfather saw what was happening in Germany - a western, “woke” country for it’s time, democratic country, science driven country - and how it affects the lives of all Jews, not just in Germany but across Europe, he decided to not just pray for God, but to act on his believes. He packed his things, he left his beloved family, and he moved to what was then called Palestine. But it was also called Eretz Israel.

My paternal grandmother had even a better chance. Not only did she leave Warsaw early enough. Her parents, two sisters and one brother all left together. Also, just like my grandfather, and about the same time, they all moved to Palestine. The only land where Jews felt they should be. Not because they were Muslims. Not because they were colonizers. No one sent them there. But because their ancient ancestors came from that land. Their ancient ancestors prayed three times a day to return, and gave their hopes and prayers to their children. And their children gave it to their children. And the same prayers held the Jewish people with the hope, wherever they were, that one day, they would be back to Eretz Israel. Zion.

They prayed when the land was still conquered by the Romans and renamed Palestine by the Romans. They prayed when the land was later conquered by the Muslims, and Christians, and Turks, and many others. And it was always the same prayer. They wanted to go back to the land of their nation. The Jewish nation who comes from Zion.

I am named after my paternal grandfather.

His name was Moshe Mikanovsky. And I am proud to carry his name.

I am proud to be Jewish.