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The Hammer

Judah the Maccabee

Nearly two hundred years before Christ, in the land of Judea, there was a Syrian king, Antiochus*. He had ambitions of becoming a world ruler, like Alexander the Great, and planned to establish the Greek way of life in all his lands. The king ordered the Jewish people to reject their God, their religion, their customs and their beliefs and to worship the Greek god, Zeus. He defiled and desecrated the Temple, prohibited the Jews from keeping the Sabbath, and outlawed the Torah and practices such as circumcision. As a final insult he erected a statue of Zeus on the altar in the Temple.

There were some who did as they were told, but many refused. A priest, Mattityahu, slew one of the king's officers, and escaped with his five sons to the wilderness. There they were joined by many other Jews, who carried on a guerrilla war against the king.

The five brothers were Judah, John, Simon, Eleazer and Jonathan. When Mattityahu died, Judah, the eldest son, became leader of the rebellion. He became known as "the Maccabee", which means "the Hammerer" **. After two years of fighting, the Maccabees were finally successful in driving the Syrians out of Israel and reclaimed the Temple in Jerusalem. The Maccabees wanted to clean the building and to remove the hated Greek symbols and statues. On the 25th day of the month of Kislev, the job was finished and the Temple was rededicated.

When Judah and his followers finished cleaning the temple, they wanted to light the lamps of the great Menorah. This should be kept continually alight, and is remembered in synagogues today by the eternal light, known as the N'er Tamid. Once lit, it should never be extinguished.

When they entered the Temple, only a tiny jug of oil was found with only enough for a single day. The oil lamp was filled and lit. Then a miracle occurred as the tiny amount of oil stayed lit not for one day, but for eight days.

Jews celebrate Hanukkah to mark the victory over the Syrians and the rededication of the Jerusalem Temple. The Festival of the Lights, Hanukkah, lasts for eight days to commemorate the miracle of the oil. The word Hanukkah means "rededication".

* Antiochus IV Epiphanes ("The Illustrious) ruled from 175-163 BC)

** There is also a legend that Judah's banners bore the slogan "Mi Chamoca Ba'ElimYahweh" (Who is like you among the mighty, O Lord?), from Exodus 15:11. The initial letters of this slogan spell out the word 'Maccabee'.

At the time of the Greek conquest, there were two kinds of Jews living in Israel.

First, there were those who decided that Hellenism represented an attractive alternative to Judaism. For them, Hellenist culture was the way of the future, the way to gain acceptance into the larger Greek society, and the way to prosperity.

A Jew with ambition during the time of the Greeks had no choice but to join the local gymnasium, buy a season pass to the theater, and maybe take up writing poetry as a hobby.

Whether they abandoned Judaism altogether, or relegated it to a secondary role in their lives, they believed they belonged more to the theater and gymnasium than to the halls of Torah study and the synagogue. These Jews were the Hellenists.

Though the majority of Jews remained loyal to the Torah and Judaism, the rise of Hellenism inevitably led to internal Jewish struggles. Not only did the confrontation with Greek culture open the doors of assimilation, but it also planted the seeds of a deep schism within the Jewish people.

In the end, the Jewish war against Greece at the time of Chanukah would prove to be not only a war of Jew against Greek, but also a war between Jew and Jew – fought over the heart, soul and future of the Jewish people.

THEN CAME THE HASMONEANS

The Hasmonean family was led by Matitiyahu and his five sons: Shimon, Yochanan, Yehudah (Judah), Elazar and Yonatan. Matitiyahu was a devout man who could not bear to see Judaism crushed. He and others went into hiding in order to study and preserve the Torah. Many were tortured and murdered for their defiance. A period of darkness descended upon Israel.

Though Matitiyahu's valor provided the initial spark for the revolt against the Greeks, he died shortly after the rebellion began. The mantle of leadership passed to his son Judah, and with that the course of history was forever changed.

Judah Maccabee was a fearless leader, a brilliant battlefield tactician and a man capable of inspiring thousands to take up arms in the battle for the preservation of Judaism. He devised strategies for the Jewish forces to out maneuver the larger, better equipped Greek army.

With Judah at the helm, the Jews captured Jerusalem, rededicated the Temple and witnessed the miracle of the oil.

ALEXANDER THE GREAT

In 338 B.C.E. Philip of Macedon invaded Greece from the north and absorbed Athens and the Greek states into the Macedonian empire. Two years later Philip died and his son Alexander assumed the throne.

Alexander the Great was a conqueror unlike any other who had ever lived. His meteoric rise and seemingly invincible military prowess made him a legend even while he was still alive. The empire of Alexander the Great eventually stretched from Macedonia and Greece across the conquered Persian empire and all the way to the frontier of India. Included in this vast empire were Egypt and Israel, which was then regarded as part of Syria. When Alexander's troops reached Jerusalem, the Jewish people offered no resistance.

Alexander was enamored with Greek culture, revered Homer and was greatly influenced by the thinking of Aristotle with whom he had a personal relationship. Alexander's grand design was not only to rule vast areas of land but also to make Hellenism the preeminent cultural force in the world.

Thirteen years after coming to power, at the age of 33, Alexander the Great was dead.