The greatest challenge facing Diaspora Jewry today is the steady advance of a universal culture (modernity/post-modernity) to which more and more Jews are voluntarily assimilating. This is reminiscent of Maccabean times, when many Jews assimilated to Hellenism, threatening the continuity of the Jewish way of life. True, the competitive culture then turned violent and domineering, which has not happened in our time—yet. Perhaps a reanalysis of the successful religio-political response then that led to the triumph of Hanukkah, even though fleeting, can inform our strategy going forward.

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