From: CHANUKAH 2008 GUIDE FOR THE PERPLEXED,
Yoram Ettinger, December 23, 2008
Appropriate to today
Shimon the Maccabee - who succeeded Judah and Yonatan the Maccabees - responded to an ultimatum by the Syrian/Greek Emperor Antiochus (Book of Maccabees A, Chapter 15, verse 33): "We have not occupied a foreign land; We have not ruled a foreign land; We have liberated the land of our forefathers from foreign occupation." Thus responded Simon the Maccabee to Emperor Antiochus' ultimatum to end "occupation" of Jaffa, Jerusalem, Gezer, Ekron and Gaza.
It's much easier to follow "practical" policies and retreat from long-term (eternal) vision and historical and traditional values – for the sake of short term diplomatic convenience – than to adhere to them. However, history has documented that roots constitute the prerequisite for long term blossoming. From Abraham to the Maccabees – until Theodore Herzl and other Founding Fathers of the Jewish State – the politically-incorrect leaders have been vindicated.
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