Of all the holidays in the Jewish calendar, probably the one that is most well known - and most practiced in Jewish homes - is Chanukah, the Festival of Lights. Most of us are aware of the two major elements that underline the celebration. We know that the lights commemorate the miracle of a single day's supply of oil lasting for eight days, and that we are celebrating a military victory of the jews over the Greeks. Which of these events was the primary impetus for the establishment of the holiday?
Some information about the events of the times is helpful to gain a better understanding of what Chanukah is about. With the conquests of Alexander the Great in the early part of the 3rd century BCE, the Jews of Eretz Yisrael, as well as much of the world - found itself under Greek political, social and cultural domination.
In Israel, the Hellenistic movement found its adherents among the upper-class of Israel -- the wealthy and those working for the government. Although the sages still enjoyed the loyalty of the majority of the population, significant challenges to their authority, both in secular matters and religious, came from the societal elite. It was during the reigns of the Syrian Seleusus IV (187-175 BCE), and especially his younger brother who succeeded him Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-163 BCE), that the Jewish Hellenists consolidated their power.
At one point, the Greek leader Antiochus appointed Jason - who had changed his name from Yeshua - to be the Kohen Gadol. Once established, he began actively promoting Greek pagan activity. Jason in turn was deposed as Kohen Gadol by Menelaus - a non-kohen - who accelerated the pace of Hellenization, and who headed a violent and repressive regime. Together with his brother, Menelaus sold off the valuable, holy vessels of the Temple
As a result of violent clashes between the competing factions of Jewish Hellenists, Antiochus led his soldiers against Jerusalem. Over the course of the next two years, he and his troops entered the Temple and pilfered the menorah and the other holy vessels; directives were issued that effectively suffocated Jewish practice, including the imposition of the death sentence on any Jew who continued to observe the Shabbat, or who circumcised his son; Torah scrolls were torn and burned, and possession of holy writing was also punishable by death. The Hellenists converted the Temple to a place of idol worship and prostitution. An idol was erected and pigs were offered as sacrifices. Jews were forced to participate in these pagan rites, and to eat non-kosher animals.
It was against this background of Jewish Hellenist extremes that the revolt led by Mattityahu the Hasmonean and his son Yehuda began. Greek royal forces entered the Modi'in area in order to coerce the local Jews into participating in pagan sacrifices.
Mattityahu staunchly refused:
And Mattityahu answered and spoke in a loud voice: Although all the nations under the king's dominion obey him, abandon the religion of their fathers, and give consent to his (King Antiochus') commands, yet will I and my sons and my brothers walk in the covenant of our fathers. Gd forbid that we should forsake the Torah and her ordinances. We will not hearken to the king's words, to flee our religion, either to the right or to the left. (I Maccabees 2:19-22).
Unable to remain in Modi'in, he and his sons took to the hills, where they were joined by many who could no longer endure the religious persecution, and who believed that the time for revolt had arrived. Initially their activities were confined to guerrilla tactics in the more rural areas of Judea, but after Mattityahu's death in 166 BCE, his son Judah took over the resistance and assembled a large fighting force. After over a year of fighting, Judah and his men took control of Jerusalem, abolished the pagan sacrifices, purified the Temple, and appointed priests from those who had remained loyal to the Torah. The full observance of Torah was once again allowed and encouraged.
It should be clear that the war of the Hasmoneans was less a revolt against Syrian-Greek political domination that it was an outright civil war against those Jews who embraced an ideology antithetical to Torah, who took control over the nation's financial resources, who claimed to be the true interpreters of Jewish values and who allied with a foreign secular government to buttress their surge to power. The Jewish Hellenists had dislodged Torah observance and Temple service as the dominant focus of the nation's attention.
Among the Jewish Hellenist elite, the most staunch adherents were found among the High priests, those entrusted with the duty of enabling communication between the Gd of Israel and the People of Israel. These reformers used the seduction of Hellenism to drive a wedge between the people and their Torah.
It was the contempt for Gd's morality in the hearts of these Jews that caused them to turn on their own, and to exploit the massive forces of Greek military and cultural influence to attain their nefarious goals. It was in the wake of this self-consumptive treachery that Antiochus Epiphanes introduced the madness of his religious persecution, forbidding Shabbat observance and circumcision. He had as his allies the very leadership of Israel - why should he refrain from destroying every last vestige of Judaism in Judea?
What is it about Hellenism that so hypnotized the world, which turned Jew against Jew?
Hellenism exemplifies appreciation of beauty, both natural and man-made. Beauty, however, is subjective and when translated into religious/philosophical thought, a doctrine of self-centeredness results. Hellenism is not a truth revealed to man, but an outlook that springs from within man, adjusted to align with his perceptions and his needs. Man is both the focus of moral behavior, and the source of its doctrine.
Belief in Gd is replaced with belief in mankind, or better, belief in an objective, law-giving Gd is replaced with a god that exists in the collective consciousness of mankind. As man perceived that his ethics have changed - as society develops - so too must the concept of Gd evolve. Morality is no longer the force that guides behavior, rather, it becomes the post-facto justification for permitting that behavior which man desires. This is rather like the archer who shoots into the side of a barn, and then proceeds to paint targets around the protruding arrows. He is sure to get a bull's eye every time!
The natural if not obvious result of such a system is the dissolution of the social unit. The same is true for the individuals within a given group. Since no one group or individual even claims to be the bearer of a universal truth, there is no legitimate method of determining right from wrong. Gd has long-since ceased to be relevant - in contemporary parlance, Gd is granted a vote but not a veto - and moral behavior becomes relative and thus minimalist. That which has long been shunned as being destructive becomes permitted, and even encouraged as free expression of one's individuality. The most crude behavior is defensible, enshrined in the doctrine of non-discrimination. The sole prerequisite for participation in society is simply non-interference with others, and even this is subject to the discretion of those who wield power.
Thus, when the Hellenists demanded pagan sacrifices to appease the gods, they were not confirming their devotion to these gods. Rather, they were demonstrating their ability to manipulate them. Humanity becomes the potter; Gd and morality are the clay to be molded.
This stands in diametric opposition to the Torah. Judaism does not spring from within man. Rather, as Rav Shimshon Rafael Hirsch writes, Judaism seeks to implant religion into man's emotions through clear cognitive and intellectual perceptions based on the recognition and acceptance of Divine truths that have been objectively documented. It expects that one and the same truth, from these premises, will mold and control both mind and emotions, body and soul, and shape all manifestations of physical existence and material endeavor.@
That which defines a behavior as moral or immoral is independent of popular political trends. Man's essence remains constant, as do the ethical challenges that confront him. The ultimate standard is objective and supernatural.
This is the Truth of Judaism, and it was for this Truth that Yehuda the Maccabee and his brothers fought. The victory was one of the few over the many. The miracle was that the doctrine of Divine, objective morality was victorious over the Hellenists. This was a result of Divine intervention, and its lesson was one relevant for all of history.
The Syrian-Greeks and their Jewish sympathizers are long gone,
yet their spiritual heirs are with us today. Our pride and responsibility
as a traditional community is to embrace and uphold authentic,
historical Judaism, and to lovingly share it with those who have
not had the opportunity to discover its beauty and depth. Only
the tradition as expressed in the daily application of the Written
and Oral Law has and will continue to guarantee meaningful Jewish
survival - the survival of our relationship with Gd, our moral
integrity, and our concept of community and the kindness that
is shown between neighbors. This is the battle that was waged
by the Hasmoneans, and this is our battle of Chanukah today.
Rabbi Efraim Davidson
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