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Posted on 12/14/2020 10:43:47 AM PST by SJackson
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Why did Hanukkah irk everyone from the late Christopher Hitchens, who memorably derided it as a “celebration of tribal Jewish backwardness,” to author Sarah Prager, who took to the pages of The New York Times recently to explain that she won’t be teaching her kids about it?
Well, because Hanukkah is about as out of step with the contemporary elite consensus as any religious tradition can be.
If you haven’t reviewed the story in a while, here’s how it goes. One fine day in 167 BC, a crowd of Jews was gathered in the town square of Modi’in, a suburb of Jerusalem.
They were there because the Seleucid Empire — the successors of Alexander the Great’s expansive dynasty — had recently moved into town. The conquerors believed that their Greek culture was the only path to enlightenment. The Seleucids had resolved to Hellenize this peculiarly stubborn people, the Jews, and they sought out the right kind of Jewish collaborator — you know, those who weren’t too bearded or too weird — to persuade the rest of the locals to abandon their backward mountain God and primitive laws.
And then, just as one of those Hellenizing Jews stepped up to sacrifice to almighty Zeus, out came a priest named Mattathias. Having precisely zero patience for idolatry, the fiery-eyed zealot killed not only the Jewish collaborator but the Seleucid governor, as well. Mattathias thus launched a war — partly an internal Jewish conflict, partly a rebellion against Greek imperial power — that would end with that well-publicized victory of the priest and his sons, the Maccabees, aided by one miraculous vat of oil.
So what’s Hanukkah truly about?
Simple: It’s about the rootedness of tradition against the imperialism of cosmopolitanism.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
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With thanks to edwinland for the article. I'm surprised de Blasio hasn't painted a BLM message on the street.
Because they rejected the Greek fags and their hedonism for God and his Commandments.
A message there for anyone wishing to keep the American dream alive for our descendents. Neither Presicent Xi Jinping nor President Putin would approve. Joe, come on man.
Clinging to their swords and religion. Two millenia later, it’s guns and religion that are despised by the elites.
Thank you for posting.
I’d guess the biggest opponents of Hannukah are liberal Jews. Liberalism trumps every other faith for liberals.
Thanks. It’s a superb article. I love the word “rootedness”. It makes the the story of Hanukka and the thought in the article elemental and universal.
I think it’s the opposite...the only excitement I see for Hanukkah is from the mainstream media reminding everyone about it. The rest of us don’t care. It’s a minor holiday in Judaism and only gets noticed because it coincidentally falls around the same time as Christmas.
That is why I consider the month of December the season of hope and miracles.
“…when the evil Syrian-Greek regime arose against Your people Israel in an attempt to make them forget Your Torah and violate Your decrees, You, in Your great mercy, stood by them in the time of their distress. You waged battle for them, You defended their rights, and You avenged the wrongs that had been done to them. You delivered the strong into the hands of the weak, the many into the hands of the few, the impure into the hands of the pure, the evil into the hands of the righteous, and the sinful into the hands of those who occupy themselves with Your Torah…”
Just as the Jews of that time were engaged in a battle for their lives as Jews and not forcibly converted Greeks, we are now engaged in a battle for integrity and to retain our American way of life and its freedoms. May G-d grant us the strength and His blessing to prevail against what seems an impossible enemy to vanquish: corruption and handing our country away to the CCP.
Thankyou.
The “cultural elite” hate the truly Christian, gun toting, bible believing rubes, with equal intensity.
The “cultural elite” hate the truly Christian, gun toting, bible believing rubes, with equal intensity.
Evangelicals see this as the only Jewish holiday that is not mentioned in the Old Covenant but is in the New Covenant . Evangelicals call it the Feast of Dedication . We also believe that this will repeat itself . Prophecy is pattern and the enemies of the Jewish people are always the same.
Daniel’s 70th week .The last gentile kingdom in the King of Babylon’s dream of the golden statue . We believe there will be a second abomination of desolation because the New Covenant has a warning to those in Judea to flee and not even go back into their houses to get anything when they see the abomination of desolation. The prophet Daniel’s little horn , the one the prophet Micha calls the Assyrian . We call him the antichrist ( the anti messiah ) The last beast kingdom ——> leopard + bear + lion . History repeats itself and Israel’s enemies are always the same.
The mistake the Maccabees made was the priest were never supposed to become kings , the kings were supposed to come from David’s line .
Elijah is coming is coming back and he will be warning the people (not the Maccabees this time ) I’m sure you have heard of the Jerusalem syndrome where people start talking like they are Elijah and the police remove them and send them home ? Well they will not be able to remove the real Elijah cause he will not be moved until his time is up right before the abomination . He will be warning the people and he will have all of Elijah power .
May the G-d of Abraham , Issac and Jacob bless you .
And yet the 1st Book of Maccabeees, which relates the TRUE story of Maccabees and the "biblical origin" for the holiday of Hannukah, is rejected as sacred scripture by both Jews and protestants, who claim it doesn't "count" as God's word.
Sorry, they can't have it both ways (although Jews at least have the excuse that they don't promote "solo scriptura" theology like protestants do, so its okay for them to have "unbiblical" holy days)
Either the story of Maccabees is biblical, or it isn't.
The events of Maccabees and the creation of Hanukkah as a holy day date to around 164 B.C., so by definition, it originated in the Old Covenant, not the New. If it came from the New Covenant, Jews simply would not recognize it as a religious holiday, as they reject the New Testament entirely. The events were also originally written in Hebrew like other Old Testaments books, not in Greek or Aramaic.
The fact Hanukkah is vaguely referenced in the New Testament is just proof that the Book of Maccabees was still considered sacred scripture during Jesus' time and the era of Second Temple Judaism.
It’s not mentioned in the Old even though the Old technically ended at John the Baptist according to Jesus . Maccabees is not inspired so it is not scripture and never will be . It’s historical -—> big difference
The only place it is mentioned in scripture is the New
Ah, that’s where you’re wrong, Maccabees was considered sacred scripture until the protestant reformation. The early Christians all considered it canon, as did Jews during Jesus’s time. It was not considered to be a mere historical text.
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