Chanukah is the festival celebrating victory over the Greek kingdom. In our days, we anticipate victory in the war in "the land of the Philistines" (the Gaza Strip area) and against a group identified as 'Palestinians' (a transformation of the Greco-Roman concept of Palestine).
The Greeks primarily prohibited three mitzvahs: Shabbat, the declaration of the new month, and circumcision. The main decree was against circumcision, the holy covenant. The subjugation by the Greeks was primarily for the purpose of assimilation – they attempted to attract and lure the Jews through wisdom and aesthetics. The Greeks succeeded in tempting many Jews, who adopted their culture and assimilated into it. The Greek exile, which was a punishment for this assimilation, was due to these Hellenists. Indeed, the rectification of this attraction to Greek culture is to conquer its wisdom and beauty and turn them to holiness, to transform יון (Yavan, Greece) into נוי (noy, beauty, as in the Temple, "the beauty of the world"), and to fulfill "May God extend Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Shem," "the beauty of Japheth in the tents of Shem."
It turns out that there is a connection between Greece and the Philistines. It is commonly said that the Philistines originated from the Greek islands, particularly Crete, the source of Greek culture. (Despite the fact that in the portion of Noach, Yavan is from the sons of Japheth and the Philistines from the sons of Ham, but it is possible that the later Philistines are of a different origin). Thus it is said in Ezekiel, "I will stretch out My hand against the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cretites," and in Zephaniah, "Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast, the nation of the Cretites! The word of God is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines; and I will destroy you until no inhabitant is left." And in the prophecy of Amos, it is said that the Philistines came from Caphtor, which is commonly identified with the island of Crete. The Philistines invaded the Land of Israel from the sea countries and took hold of the "seacoast" (reminiscent of the horrific invasion of the cursed murderers on Simchat Torah).
Throughout the Tanach, the Philistines are the main and distinct enemy of the people of Israel in the Land of Israel, an enemy that returns again and again and is very difficult to defeat completely. Especially in the book of Samuel, the Philistines are the bitterest enemy: they take the Ark of God captive and eventually even kill King Saul. David begins his wars with victory over Goliath the Philistine, and even as king he repeatedly fights against them. They are his 'eternal enemy'.
The Philistines are like an 'eternal klipah' (husk of impurity) opposite Israel, and it seems that after they disappeared from the stage of history, the Greeks are considered their successors! For example, it appears in sources that the Greeks worshipped Dagon, the fish-like god of the Philistines (and therefore the inhabitants of the sea worship him).
Clarification of the Sparks
The struggle with Greece has not ended, as Greek culture continues to animate Western culture to this day. We must redeem and transform the sparks of Greece, in Greek wisdom and Greek beauty. This is also the inner reason why we never completely defeated the Philistines – they contain sparks of wisdom and beauty that have not been fully clarified. This is why Samson fell in love with Philistine women. There is something in them that attracted him (as he was a soul of "Mashiach of Tohu (Chaos)", sensing the powers of Tohu and wanting to clarify them, even if he himself falls).
The Philistines are a symbol of the foreskin, as David said, "this uncircumcised Philistine", "Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph." From here the sages learn that all non-Jews are called uncircumcised (as opposed to Israel who are called circumcised). Before Saul would allow David to marry his daughter, he had to bring him Philistine foreskins. The foreskin distinguishes between Israel and the nations of the world, and the attraction to the uncircumcised Philistines is a tendency towards assimilation. Both literal assimilation, intermarriage and the like, and spiritual assimilation into the Philistine-invading culture.
In the war with today's Philistines, we must achieve absolute victory in which they will surrender, acknowledge our right to the Land of Israel and give up their hope of fighting us. Indeed, internally, even such a victory is not enough. The true and complete redemption, through Mashiach ben David, depends on completing the clarification of all the sparks from Greek wisdom and Greek culture. A true and absolute victory will be when we finish rejecting all the "Torah among the nations" – their pretension to present science and culture as alternatives to the Torah of truth – and bringing close and rectifying all the "wisdom among the nations" that needs to unite with the Torah of truth.
Such a clarification will ultimately bring about the final victory over the angel of death. Therefore, alongside the 'local' victory over our enemies, the current war is also an opportunity and even a Divine call for a fundamental change in our relationship with the world – to become a beacon for all nations (the rectified among them are confused today about how to fight evil), through the 'fourth revolution' of spreading Torah to all nations.
Let us conclude with the prophecy of Ezekiel: "Thus says the God Havayah: Because the Philistines acted revengefully and took vengeance with scorn of soul to destroy with everlasting enmity, therefore thus says God Havayah: Behold, I will stretch out My hand against the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cretites and destroy the rest of the seacoast. I will execute great vengeance on them with wrathful rebukes. Then they will know that I God when I lay my vengeance upon them."
And the prophecy of Zephaniah: "For Gaza shall be deserted, and Ashkelon shall become a desolation; Ashdod's people shall be driven out at noon, and Ekron shall be uprooted. Woe to you inhabitants of the seacoast, you nation of the Cretites! The word of God is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines; and I will destroy you until no inhabitant is left. And you, O seacoast, shall be pastures, with meadows for shepherds and folds for flocks. The seacoast shall become the possession of the remnant of the house of Judah, on which they shall graze, and in the houses of Ashkelon they shall lie down at evening. For Havayah their God will be mindful of them and restore their fortunes."
