c. 2005 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) There are statues of both George Washington, the hero of American independence, and Judah Maccabee, the hero of the ancient Hanukkah story, at West Point, the United States Military Academy. It seems the two military leaders recently had a late night conversation with one another at the world-famous school. A friend of mine, fluent in both Hebrew and English, acted as translator during the chat, and provided me with the text of the discussion.

While skeptics may not believe the Washington-Maccabee dialogue actually happened, readers should remember this is the season of miracles for both Jews and Christians. Because of the lunar calendar, Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish festival of freedom, begins on the evening of Sunday, Dec. 25, Christmas Day.

Here is the transcript, but as a journalist, I do not intend to reveal my source’s identity.

GW: Gen. Maccabee, I believe you are the only non-American honored with a statue at West Point.

JM: That is correct, Gen. Washington. But since we’ll be together here at the Academy forever, let’s drop the formalities. Call me Yehuda, my Hebrew name, or just Judah.

GW: Fair enough. Call me George.

JM: Although our military campaigns took place about 1,940 years apart, we have a lot in common. I successfully led a guerilla war against the world’s largest army of my day, the Greco-Syrians led by a ruthless emperor, Antiochus IV. He demanded that the people in his empire totally submit to his control, and Antiochus tried to destroy Judaism by banning the observance of the Sabbath, Torah study and ritual circumcision. He even placed an idolatrous statue of Zeus inside our Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

GW: Judah, the American people of my day also had a horrible king, George III of Britain.

JM: Where’s Britain?

GW: If you sail west to the end of what you all called the “Great Sea,” and go through a narrow passage and then sail north you will reach two huge islands. Like Antiochus, George III (funny, he and I had the same name!) also ruled over a large empire backed by the world’s best army of the day.

JM: So George, we both were fighting against superior foreign forces inside our homelands, you in America, and me in the land of Israel (what you call, the land of the Bible).

GW: Well, that did make it easier since you and I knew our countries’ geography better than Antiochus or King George. But Judah, it was a tough fight for my Americans. Our war lasted from 1776 until 1781. Sometimes, I thought we might lose.

JM: George, our difficult war lasted three years. … I have heard historians here at West Point date it as 168-165 B.C. _ however, on our Jewish calendar it was around 3596, but I digress. I conducted lots of hit-and-run attacks because the Greco-Syrians were large stationary targets and we could melt back into the people of Israel after an attack.

GW: Well, I had an army of hunters, farmers and other military amateurs.

JM: My army was rag-tag as well. But, George, we can talk about the specifics of our campaigns at another time. You know why my band of amateurs defeated the big army and recaptured Jerusalem, our capital? Because we Jews were fighting to preserve our liberty, our religion and way of life, and we resisted Anotichus’ attempt to suppress and destroy Judaism.

GW: Sounds familiar, Judah. One reason we defeated the British is because my soldiers were fighting on home ground and we and our families were mistreated by George III and his unfair laws and arrogant governors. We, too, wanted our liberty.

JM: George, sometimes the struggles to achieve freedom can be about religious liberty or political liberty. I was fighting for both.

GW: Americans have never forgotten the battles I led.

JM: The same here. Every year, Jews light candles in menorahs, say prayers, and for eight days remember my success in recapturing the Holy Temple.

GW: I’ve enjoyed our talk tonight. Let’s do it again and trade some war stories.

JM: Absolutely. Shalom, George.

GW: Shalom, Judah.

MO/JL END RNS

(Rabbi Rudin, the American Jewish Committee’s senior interreligious adviser, is the author of the forthcoming book “The Baptizing of America: The Religious Right’s Plans for the Rest of Us.”)

Editors: To obtain a photo of Rabbi Rudin, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug. If searching by subject, designate “exact phrase” for best results.