Assimilation a battle that needs to be fought by Jews today

When Chanukah rolls around each years, Jews around the world celebrate the fact that a small band of Jews won their fight against assimilation. However, every day in the United States--and all over the world--Jews agree to assimilate into the culture of the communities in which they live. I'm not talking about something that has happened historically; I'm talking about something happening right now--today. 

Rarely do we see anyone doing anything about this. No one fights a war to prevent it from happening, because no one group or leader tries to oppress the Jews religiously currently. Even so, Jews allow themselves to become less Jewish in their thoughts and actions all the time. 

Even I am at fault. My children's secular activities and my work run my life. I don't make it to services regularly any more because I'm busy taking them where they need to go or picking them up on Friday nights and Saturday mornings. When I plan on attending an adult Jewish education class, I typically end up not going because I have too much work. 

If I lived in Israel, this wouldn't be the case. Everything stops on Friday late afternoon or evening through Saturday evening. Jews in Israel, even secular Jews, are less likely to think and act in non-Jewish ways. That said, they may not think and behave religiously. They may not attend services or perform mitzvot.

I began thinking about this when I saw a JTA story about a Russian rabbi teaching Torah study classes in a bank. A Chabad emissary, Rabbi Yosef Hersonskie sees it as his responsibility to bring  assimilated Jews back to religion. And he does it by reaching out to Jewish in any way he can--even with study sessions in a bank. 

He's fighting his own war. He's just one man, not even a band of Maccabees. 

That's something to think about really. (And, by the way, Chabad does a great job of this all over the world.) What would happen if one Jew here and one Jew there began to fight this battle along with him (and along with the Chabad rabbis)? What if one parent made an effort to take the family to Shabbat services more often? And then another...and another...What if one Jew insisted on doing a mitzvah and explained to another Jew why? 

Maybe eventually we'd have more Jews living more Jewishly all over the world. Maybe the Chabad emisaries all over the world wouldn't have to work so hard or feel so alone in their work. 

What a mitzvah it would be for each Jew to take on--to stop Jewish assimilation in his or her own way.