‘Maoz Tzur' tells of God's redemption of the Jewish people

“Ma’oz tzur yeshu’ati lecha na’eh leshabeakh.
Tikon beit tefilati vesham todah nezaveakh.
Le’et tachin matbeakh mitsar hamnabeakh,
‘az ‘egmor beshir mizmor hanukat hamizbeakh.” — from “Maoz Tzur”

Beginning at sundown on Dec. 21 and continuing through Dec. 29, Hanukkah, the annual Jewish festival, will be celebrated for eight days.

Hanukkah, or the Festival of Rededication, celebrates the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem after its defilement by the Syrian Greeks in 164 BCE. Although it is a late addition to the Jewish liturgical calendar, the eight-day festival of Hanukkah has become a beloved and joyous holiday. It is also known as the Festival of Lights and takes place in December, at the time of year when the days are shortest in the northern hemisphere.

Much of the activity of Hanukkah takes place at home. Central to the holiday is the lighting of the menorah, an eight-branched candelabrum to which one candle is added on each day of the holiday until it is ablaze with light on the eighth day.

“We are invited to bring our menorahs from home and have a mass candle-lighting at Temple Beth Shalom, which is quite spectacular,” Robin Matheson, lay cantor at Temple Beth Shalom in Fort Walton Beach, told The Log.

“This big celebration will be on a Shabbat before the schools’ winter break. The actual Hanukah Shabbat will be much lower key, but we will light the menorah and say the special prayer of thanks.”

In commemoration of the miracle that a day’s worth of oil for the menorah lasted eight days, it is traditional to eat foods fried in oil. The most familiar Hanukkah foods are the European (Ashkenazi) potato pancakes, or latkes, and the Israeli favorite, jelly donuts, or sufganiyot.

Since Hanukkah is not biblically ordained, the liturgy for the holiday is not well developed. It is actually quite a minor festival. However, it has become one of the most beloved of Jewish holidays. People will often gather for communal celebrations and public candle lightings. At such celebrations, Hanukkah songs are sung and traditional games such as dreidel are played.

Like Pesach (Passover), Hanukkah is a holiday that celebrates the liberation from oppression. It also provides a strong argument in favor of freedom of worship and religion. In spite of the human action that is commemorated, never far from the surface is the theology that the liberation was possible only thanks to the miraculous support of the Divine.
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Without a doubt, the most popular song of Hanukkah is “Maoz Tzur,” now considered to be “traditional” in most parts of the Jewish world.

“Maoz Tzur is only sung at Hanukah, and is to Hanukkah what ‘Silent Night’ is to Christmas,” Matheson said.

Maoz Tzur, which translates from the Hebrew as “Rock of Ages,” is traditionally sung after reciting Hanukkah blessings and kindling Hanukkah lights.

“We usually sing only one or two verses, but it varies by synagogue and household,” Matheson said. “At home it may be sung after the kindling of the lights, especially on the first night, but many homes do not have this practice nowadays.”

At Temple Beth Shalom, Matheson says the song is sung during or as the finale of the Shabbat in Hanukkah, which will be held at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 26 followed by the Oneg Shabbat, after service, food and fellowship. All are welcome to attend.
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This well-known Hanukkah song, which originated in medieval Germany, summarizes historical challenges faced by the Jewish people that have been overcome with God’s help.

Composed in the 13th century by a poet only known to us through the acrostic found in the first letters of the original five stanzas of the song — Mordecai — it became the traditional hymn sung after the candlelighting in Ashkenazi homes. The familiar tune is most probably a derivation of a German Protestant church hymn or a popular folk song.

The theme of Maoz Tzur is a familiar one: God’s unfailing redemption of the people of Israel. After an opening stanza promising thanksgiving to God, now and always, the poet recalls four moments of Divine intervention in chronological order: Egypt, Babylonia, Persia, and the Greeks of the Hanukkah story.

Popular lyrics sung instead of the literal translation include:

“Rock of Ages let our song,
Praise Your saving power;
You amid the raging foes,
Were our shelt’rng tower.

Furious they assailed us,
But Your arm availed us,
And Your word broke their sword,
When our own strength failed us.
And Your word broke their sword,
When our own strength failed us.

Children of the wanderers
Whether free or fettered
Wake the echoes of the songs
Where you may be scattered

Yours the message cheering
That the time is nearing
Which will see all men free
Tyrants disappearing
Which will see all men free
Tyrants disappearing.”
 
The true meaning of Maoz Tzur serves both to remind of the harsh divergence between history and theology and to hold out the promise of ultimate redemption by the hand of God.

     Source: Myjewishlearning.com