CHANUKAH.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 9, 11 January 1940, Page 11

CHANUKAH.

A JEWISH RALLY.

INSPIRATION TO FINLAND.

The festival of Chanukah, commemorating the victory 2000 years ago of the Jewish people, led by the Macca- '•***> over Antiochue, the Syrian tyrant, was observed in temples and synagogues throughout the tlnited States last month. Rabbis compared the actions of Antiochus, who attempted to root out Judaism and install paganism in Palestine as a means for unifying the kingdom, with the actions of present-day totalitarian rulers in oppressing Jews •nd other minority groups. Dr. Israel Goldstein, New York, said that while "the- forces of darkness in our time are mighty and widespread," Jews may find hope in the faet that when the Maccabees fought against Antiochiis there were no liberal nations to the United States, England, France, Holland or Belgium, who could be counted on as the laet bulwark of humanity nnd decency." Rabbi Louis I. Newman said that "the patriots of Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland nnd Finland can discover the Story of 111 <• i r own problems in the Marcabean record, and can maintain their valour in the face of seemingly insupora i,| ( . obstacles."

Itabbi .1, Howard Knlbag said: "The fata of Kin In nil is but one instance of the tragic state of affair* which the present bloody wnr will bring in its wake if godless fanaticism is permitted to endure."