We like to think that Chanukah was the great victory of Judah the son of Mattityahu the Priest ( who iniated the resistance ) against the mighty Syrian or Seleucid Greeks over two thousand years ago. The Seleucid campaign against Judea began when Antiochus the 4th invaded in 167 BCE). He believed his culture was far superior to that of the Jews (religious arrogance). Besides they were not on his side ( political arrogance ), and he was looking for soft targets against his Ptolemy rivals. At this time Jewish merchants were beginning to rival the Greeks in the Eastern Mediterranean, so commercial rivalry was a factor too.
Judah (the name Maccabee is not mentioned in Talmudic sources) did indeed defeat some Seleucid armies and retook the Temple and purified it in 164 BCE. But in fact, the fighting went on for some five years. Although in between, the Temple did indeed function the way it did before Antiochus, nevertheless it was not a clear-cut victory. The in-fighting in the court of the Syrian Greeks, the assassination of kings and rival generals, all contributed to stale mate with Syrians still holding on to their fortress in Jerusalem. Judah was killed in the battle of Elasa in 160 BCE. Judah’s brother Jonathan was killed in 143 BCE. Only with the last brother Simon, who was recognized officially as Judea’s high priest and the head of the Judean state in 142 CE, did Judea become independent, for a while.
Judah did not establish the annual eight-day festival we have today. He did replicate the Eight Days of King Solomon’s original dedication of the first Temple when he re-took it. The late Talmudic rabbis established the ongoing eight days to commemorate the miracle of the oil not mentioned earlier. And their failure to mention Judah indicates their disapproval of the Hasmonean dynasty in general as it played out.
Was Chanukah just a matter of military conquest ? Or just cultural disagreement with the Greeks ? There were no Palestinians to be seen! In competing for markets Greeks killed Jews and Jews killed Greeks back. John Hyrcanus, Simon’s successor was particularly effective at retaliating against those who attacked Jews even beyond his territory. And even indulged in a bit of compulsory conversion of some of his victims. Jews and Greeks each sought to establish authority in a conflict between two very different worldviews and cultures.
Within the Jewish community of Judea there were huge divisions not just between the upper-class priestly Sadducees who were pro-Greek ( more American than the Americans) and the Pharisees, who were more nationalist and traditional ( and there were plenty of right ing zealots). But between those who saw Grecian society as a priority and those who were more independent minded and traditional. Some Jews even found ways to hide their circumcision to participate nude in the Olympic games. These reflected the precise divisions that exist today within the Jewish communities in Israel and the diaspora. Remember at that time the biggest Jewish community existed in Persia and Mesopotamia .
Succeeding generations could not even agree what the significance of Chanukah was. For those who fought it was a military victory that ultimately led to the establishment of regaining and re-opening the Temple and an autonomous state. Victory against superior numbers and the heroism of Judah and his brothers. For the rabbis of the Talmudic era, who were scarred by the Roman conquests, it was a celebration of the spiritual flame kept burning by the few against the many. Judah the fighter was not mentioned. Whereas the Hasmonean high priests get the credit. Some saw it as a response to the Diaspora festival of Purim. Others as the interaction between the Diaspora and Israel with both suffering from different pressures and antagonisms. What we now call antisemitism.
A lot has changed over two thousand years since then and a lot has not! Empires have come and gone, rulers have risen and died, and Jews remain a people as Bilaam says ( Numbers 23:9) “ A nation that dwells alone and is not regarded ( or valued) by the other peoples.” We have always been loners. Does this really matter? For some it does and that explains why so many Jews have always abandoned the confines of Jewish life to try to thrive in the non-Jewish world either through conversion or anonymity. And why others may call those who stay to fight or remain faithful, zealots!
We should not be surprised today to discover how many Jews are antagonistic to the Jewish people and certainly not how the non-Jewish world continues to be extremely ambivalent towards us. Both in the Middle East and in the West, communities are now no longer as monochromatic or as unified as they once were. Mass migrations have changed the complexity of many societies and divided them against themselves. And there are increasing clashes of cultures between Marxism and Capitalism, democracies and autocracies. When these sorts of things happen, polarization increases. You are either for us or against us . Either you’re good or you’re bad. The room for compromise shrinks. I hope this is not going to be a replay of the catastrophe of the Weimar Republic.
This is why the Chanukah story is so important. The only festival we have that records the military triumph of Israel against its opponents. And the survival of our tradition despite the continuous, repeated attempts to snuff us out. And a chance to celebrate without having to identify with the Jewish people or its religion too closely.
We have thrived despite it all. In our prayers every single day of the year we think of Jerusalem and returning to it in our minds if not in our bodies. This is something that much of the Tik Tock world just does not get because they are not concerned with history or facts. This is our story whichever the way the wind blows they will not snuff our lights out.
On Chanukah in our prayers we say ( abbreviated):
“In the days of Matityahu the High Priest, when our enemies rose against us, You, in Your abundant mercy, stood by them in their time of distress. You defended their cause, You delivered the numerous into the hands of the few…and may You continue to save us even in these times.”
