To all our Maccabee warriors
Out there in the big blue-grey world
Rest your shield and your gauntlet
If only for just a moment
Rise up from wherever you are shining
And take your bow
This is your curtain call
To all the university students
Our apprentice Maccabees
Whose campus life may be speckled with anti-Semitism
Who walk in fear and shame
For being Jewish
For loving Israel
For being bullied into feeling that they don’t belong
Take a bow, mighty Maccabee
For showing up
For being present and powerful
For you are our future leaders and creators
And our future shines because of you
To all those who are fighting their personal battles
Who get up each morning and apply their warrior masks just to face the world
Who put one foot in front of the other
And push
And push
And push
Through each minute of every day
Trying, breathing, bruising,
Repeat
Take a bow, mighty Maccabee
For you are brave, bright and bold
And you are greatly loved and needed
To all those parents who are struggling
And juggling and finding it so hard just to keep their balance and their breath
Take a bow, mighty Maccabee
Close your eyes and know
That your love and your presence is all that is enough to your little Maccabees in training
To all those who dedicate their lives to making the lives of others better
Who fight for the chained to be unchained
Who hold the hands of those who are lonely and scared and sick and pained
Who are glowing, radiant matchsticks in a world of darkness
Take a bow, mighty Maccabees
For you are our lamplighters
And your incandescent torch illuminates the souls of thousands, hundreds or perhaps one
To all those who dedicate their lives to educate our precious children
Who have looked a square peg in the eye, smiled and dug a new hole to match
You, who have made a child know that they are worthy even if their grades say differently
Those of you who laugh at the face of labels and valiantly dig deep to unlock hidden buried gifts and treasures
Those of you who lift and empower
The minds of our most prized
Stand up, Maccabees
And take a bow
For you are our leaders of leaders, our creators of creators
To all those who have sacrificed in order to protect our Israel
Who are training and sweating and bleeding and broken
Who are sleeping in the unforgiving cold and mud and rain
Who stand blistering in the hot desert sun and
Who are completely exhausted, hungry and aching for home
Stand up and take a gallant bow
For you are our modern day Maccabees
Our selfless and brazen and majestic and mighty warrior heroes
And to all the Maccabees who paved the way before us
We salute you
You who walked a million moons for the forever freedom of your family
Who flipped over the desert earth with your raw chapped hands and unveiled a promised land pink and blushing in the desert sun
To you who screamed from your burning lungs Mi LaHashem Elai, if you are with Hashem join me
Who taught us to be a beacon of light unto the nations of the world
And who ignited the fiery flames of resilience, perseverance and eternal hope for our Jewish people
And to the Maccabee warrior inside each of us
Though it may feel at times as though your light has been cloaked
Concealed deep in a clay cruse
It may be something as simple as your smile, a kind word, a loving gesture, mindfulness
That casts a warm orange glow around anyone and everyone in your radius
And sets in motion a small incipient spark spreading
Wick by wick, flame by flame
Growing, glowing and great
Stand tall mighty Maccabee
And take your bow
For you are a link on the long chain of Maccabees past, present and future
And your flame burns ever so brightly
Esti Rosen Snukal is a contributor for The Jewish Link documenting Jewish life and aliyah. She is a long-time advocate for lone soldiers and lives with her husband and four sons in Chashmonaim. Esti can be reached at [email protected]. Follow Esti on instagram @esti1818 and on Facebook.
