Posted on 12/14/2017 1:58:51 AM PST by jjotto
...There were many people who, enthralled by the appealing lifestyle of the Greeks, sought to discard their Jewishness and embrace the new customs: they were the Hellenists, in whose eyes all of the traditional practices were impractically archaic.
To perform circumcision or refrain from eating pork could only further the Jewish particularity and distinctiveness, which was what the Hellenists were fleeing from. For them, the solution was to proclaim all of the Jewish customs unbinding and irrelevant...
t the other extreme were a group of people led by the Maccabees, whose only concern was defending their heritage. Their indignation was aroused by the apostate Jews more than by the Greeks.
If the heathens did not want to recognize the truth of the Jewish faith, that was their own concern. However, when Jews opposed the practices, it was a horrific incident. Irked by the blatant dismissal of Jewish values, they set out to battle those renegade Jews. The result was a civil war.
Caught in a violent clash, the Hellenist camp petitioned Antiochus for help. The king, pleased with their effort to join his culture, agreed to implement the unparalleled measures which they suggested.
It was not Antiochus who had devised the cruel decrees; it was the Hellenist Jews. Unfortunately, the story seems familiar: sometimes the Jews' worst enemies are their fellow Jews...
[Partial. More points at link.]
bump for later
The Maccabees Were on the Wrong Side of History — So Why Do We Still Celebrate Hanukkah?
... I feel more in tune with the bad guys of Hanukkah, the Hellenizers, than with the story’s traditional heroes, the Maccabees.
But if I’m on the wrong side, it’s a crowded one. “I think 90% of American Jewry would be with you,” said Rabbi Max Weiss, my rabbi at Oak Park Temple, outside Chicago, who acknowledges his own Hanukkah issues...
Circumcision & pork are not truth.
Violent war over circumcision & pork is stupidity.
Joining those two terms makes you gag.
The question is whether one believes God commanded the Jews concerning those things, and what one would do to support such belief.
Doin' it in the butt!
This makes me think of Adam Sandler’s Chanukah Song:
Put on your yarmulke
Here comes Chanukah
So much funukah
To celebrate Chanukah
Chanukah is the festival of lights
Instead of one day of presents, we have eight crazy nights
When you feel like the only kid in town without a Christmas tree
Here’s a list of people who are Jewish just like you and me
David Lee Roth lights the menorah
So do James Caan, Kirk Douglas, and the late Dinah Shore-ah
Guess who eats together at the Carnegie Deli
Bowser from Sha Na Na and Arthur Fonzerelli
Paul Newman’s half Jewish, Goldie Hawn’s half too
Put them together, what a fine lookin’ Jew
You don’t need “Deck The Halls” or “Jingle Bell Rock”
‘Cause you can spin a dreidel with Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock- both Jewish
Put on your yarmulke
It’s time for Chanukah
The owner of the Seattle Supersonicahs
Celebrates Chanukah
O.J. Simpson, not a Jew
But guess who is? Hall of famer Rod Carew- he converted
We got Ann Landers and her sister Dear Abby
Harrison Ford’s a quarter Jewish- not too shabby
Some people think that Ebenezer Scrooge is
Well he’s not, but guess who is
All three Stooges
So many Jews are in showbiz
Tom Cruise isn’t, but I heard his agent is
Tell your friend Veronica
It’s time to celebrate Chanukah
I hope I get a harmonicah
Oh this lovely, lovely Chanukah
So drink your gin and tonicah
And smoke your marijuanikah
If you really, really wannakah
Have a happy, happy, happy, happy Chanukah
Happy Chanukah
I think theologically, Yeshua would have felt more at home with the Maccabees than the Hellenists. Tradition was not merely about pork and circumcision, those are the mere surface things. Yet all the apologists for the Hellenists always lift up the surface things and ignore all the rest of the faith the Greeks and Hellenists sought to extinguish.
Although theGreeksCommunists faced resistance wherever they went, they had become adept at taming those countries' natives by merging their culture with local customs. InJerusalemAmerica, however, they were not successful in enlightening the residents; something inherently obstinate about their religious adherence forced them to reject a foreign power. Recognizing that religion was the problem, theGreek commanders and troopsCommunist community organizers set out on a campaign to abolish theJewishJudeo-Christian faith.
Yep. That’s it exactly.
Today’s Hellenist-Leftists aren’t going to stop until they force Christians to accept and practice depravity like they do.
“Today’s Hellenist-Leftists aren’t going to stop until they force Christians AND JEWS to accept and practice depravity like they do.”
/fixed it.
This is a little disjointed, (and I used to post it here every Chanukah) but I think you’ll get the gist.
http://www.freeman.org/m_online/jan01/kahane.htm
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