The prayer Al Hanissim which is added to the
central Shemona Esrai and Birchart Hamazon (Grace after Meals)
commemorates Purim and Chanukah as acts of Divine intervention.
Both holidays
are celebrated with joy and merriment and thanksgiving.
But I suspect little attention
is paid to how radically different the two versions are in
style, tone and content.
Structure
Al Hanissim is
actually two separate and quite different prayers which begin with a common introduction thanking God for His
miracles and interventions.
Some Israeli
siddurs such
as mid-20th century פה כל תפלת סדור and אברהם תפלת סדור add at the end of each holiday section a reminder
(in brackets) that
each was a miracle.
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After the
common introduction, each holiday has its own, one paragraph summary.
Order
The Chanukah
text is first and the Purim text second, following the annual calendar cycle as
Kislev precedes Adar.
However, of the
two events, Purim came first: some two centuries before the events of Chanukah.
As Megilat Esther makes clear, the events
of Purim took place during the era of the great Persian Empire: when King
Achashverosh ruled 127 provinces from India to Nubia
The Maccabee
revolt took place much later: long after Persia was conquered by Alexander the
Great (died 323 BCE) and his empire split between his 4 generals.
The revolt
began in 167 BCE during the reign of the Seleucid Antiochus IV, Epiphanus
(i.e., “god Manifest”) after he, in 168 BCE, imposed
bans on traditional Jewish religious practices: circumcision, kashrut, Torah study, observance of the
Sabbath and Holy Days, and monotheistic worship at the Temple in Jerusalem.
Beside outlawing traditional Judaism, Jews were required to convert to the
Greek religion and its customs.
In 165 BCE Judah Maccabee
and his followers gained control of Judea and Jerusalem, purified the Temple
and celebrated the re-dedication for eight (8) days starting Kislev 25.
As elaborated in the preceding
blogs, “Chanukah – the full story” and “Al Hanissim – the background facts”,
165 BCE was not the end of the struggle: a struggle that last some 25 years! (See more below.)
Holiday and Prayer focus
Purim
Purim celebrates
the physical
survival of the Jewish people against Haman’s planned genocide of all Jews throughout the
world Empire of Persia, an empire that stretched from the Indus valley of India
through the entire Fertile Crescent, and included Turkey, modern Israel, Egypt
and Libya ending at Nubia [called Cush].
Only the tiny
Jewish communities in Greece and Europe at the time were beyond this great
empire which was home to almost all Jews.
As Megilat Esther (Ch. 3:13) states and Al
Hanissim repeats, the entire people from infants to the elderly, male and female
were to be slaughtered – all on one day!
Never before
nor up to the mid- 20th century and Hitler had such a genocide of
the Jewish people ever been contemplated, let alone attempted.
Therefore
Haman’s defeat by Mordechai and Queen Esther and the ‘invisible hand of God’ (see
further below) is truly worthy of annual remembrance and prayer.
Chanukah
The Chanukah portion
of Al Hanissim commemorates two other,
vital aspects essential to the survival of the Jewish people.
The Maccabee
revolt, led by the priest Matityahu, was originally to restore Jewish religious freedom: something that had been outlawed by Antiochus
IV in his quest to spread Hellenization. Jewish practices of Torah study,
Shabbat and Holy Day observance, Kashrut and circumcision were outlawed and
punished by death. An Idol of Zeus and
pagan priests took over the holy Temple in Jerusalem and set up similar alters
throughout Judea forcing people to participate or die.
So the successful
Maccabee revolt, cleansing of the Temple and restoration of Temple worship and
Jewish practices in 165 BCE were essential to the survival of Judaism.
To guarantee no
other Seleucid or other Greek king would ever again impose conversion to the
Greek Gods and Greek ways, to ensure the perpetuation of Judaism, a second goal
soon emerged: Jewish political (semi-)independence.
Queen Esther and
Mordechai saved the Jewish people from genocide but they did not restore an independent
or even-semi-independent Jewish state. The Promised Land continued to be part
of one of the 127 provinces of the single ‘world state’ of Persia. At times, Jews
such as Zerubbabel of Davidic ancestry[ii]
or the royal cupbearer, Nehemiah[iii],
were the appointed local governors but never with any real autonomy and
certainly not independence.
But as a result
of the religious revolt of Matityahu and those who rose to the call: “Who is
for God, follow me!”, a Jewish state arose again. After over 400 years!
Thus Chanukah
is a celebration of not one but two achievements that are different from Purim.
Victory through battles
As noted above,
the Purim battles for Jewish survival lasted just one day in nearly all the
Persian Empire and just two days in the capital, Shushan.
In contrast, the
Maccabee struggle took some 25 years to accomplish!
In 165 BCE the Maccabees
– after 2 years of revolt and battles -- succeeded to gain control of Judea and
Jerusalem. On the 25th day of Kislev, after length repairs and
cleansing of the Temple, they celebrated for 8 days in what we now call
Chanukah.
But 165 BCE and
the Temple’s rededication was not the end of the struggle.
One Seleucid
king after another sent invading armies – some almost yearly.
At times, the
Seleucid armies won and regained control of Judea and Jerusalem:
expelling the
Maccabees and forcing them to revert to guerrilla warfare as hunted
outlaws.
And each time, a
Hellenist ‘assimilator’ was imposed as High Priest and ruler.
The Seleucids briefly
regain control in 162 BCE, and after the death of Judah Maccabee in the great Jewish
defeat at Elasa in 160 BCE, the surviving Maccabees were hunted outlaws for
the next seven (7) years.
Alcimus, the
Seleucid appointed Hellenist High Priest and ‘ruler of Judea’ was in power from
162 BCE to 159 BCE whenever the
Maccabees were expelled.[iv]
In 153 BCE,
Jonathan Maccabee returned victorious to Jerusalem and acted as High Priest/ruler.
But another army led by the Seleucid claimant, Diodotus Tryphon, invaded in 142
BCE, treacherously murdered Jonathan and would have probably overrun Jerusalem
and the remaining Maccabees inside, except for a sudden snow storm.
Demetrius II,
who defeated Tryphon for the kingship, finally agreed in late 142 BCE to allow
the last Maccabee, Simon, to be ruler of Judea and High Priest of a semi-independent
Judea.
As Seleucid
armies never again invaded Judea, and Simon successful besieged the Seleucid
military citadel by the Tempe mount – a critical final step which Judah and
Jonathan had failed to do -- historians consider Simon and 142 BCE the end of
the struggle.
His formal anointment in a public ceremony in 141 BCE as High
Priest and ruler is considered the official start of the Hasmonean dynasty[v].
So the struggle
lasted some 25 years!
These facts are
missing from the Talmud Bavli and
related religious texts, and are only revealed in 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees
and Josephus’ Jewish Antiquities.
(As already
discussed in the blogs “Chanukah – the full story” and “Al Hanissim – the background facts”.)
Consequently, Purim
and Chanukah celebrate three pillars that underlie the Jewish People: our
physically survival, religious freedom and a Jewish state.
How these
achievements and historical facts -- especially re Chanukah – appear in the
prayer Al Hanissim will be discussed below.
Invisible
Hand of God
Unlike the Ten Plagues and parting
of the Sea of Reeds at the Exodus or Manna from above, Divine intervention
at Purim and Chanukah did NOT involve obvious miracles, direct Divine communication
or prophecy.
No such events are recorded in the Hebrew
Megilat Esther nor the contemporary
semi-official accounts re: the Maccabees and Chanukah: the Greek 1 Maccabees, 2
Maccabees, and Josephus’ Jewish
Antiquities.
The absence of a direct miracle or
obvious Divine intervention has long been noted re: Purim. (As discussed in the
previous blogs.)
As for Chanukah, the absence of any
‘visible’ miracle is important to stress.
Every Jewish child is taught the
story of the “miracle of oil” and its
centrality as the reason the holiday being eight (8) days long. It is also the
linchpin to the custom of lighting at home every night candles/oil pots of a
special menorah, a Chanukiah.
But this ‘miracle’ story and its related
candle/oil lighting customs were unknown to the contemporary, pious authors of 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees, and even
to Josephus, author of the history, Jewish
Antiquities: born of priestly family and raised in Judea for the first 30
years of his life until captured in 67 CE during the Great Revolt.
This ‘miracle’, its link to
Chanukah’s 8 days and home candle/oil-pot lighting is first mentioned in the c.
500 CE Talmud Bavli, Shabbat 21b, and
subsequent religious works, but is, in fact, a ‘pious fiction’.
As argued in detail in the previous
blogs, the “miracle of oil” is a post-70 CE creation and so too the custom of
lighting Chanukah lights at home.
So, both the holidays of Purim and
Chanukah mark the invisible hand of God at work: first to prevent mass, physical
extermination, and centuries later the spiritual destruction through defiling
the Temple and banning Torah laws, leading up to needed semi-independence.
By ‘Royal’
Decree (See the two earlier blogs for details and
proofs.)
Both the
celebration of Purim and Chanukah were by ‘royal’ decree rather than rabbinic
origin. This is important to note as the Talmud ignores the roles of Queen Esther
and Viceroy Mordechai in instituting Purim, its celebrations on Adar 14
or Adar 15, main customs of food gifts to friends and the poor, celebratory
dinner (Seudat Purim) and the Megilah
text itself which we read.
Similarly, the
Maccabees’ role in creating Chanukah, the original reason for its eight (8) day length (to mimic the
banned Succot-Shemini Atzert holiday) and Succot-like Temple rituals are also
obscured in the Talmud.
Key
Questions
One therefore
can ask:
1. How does the prayer, Al Hanissim address the above facts?
Is it an echo of the Talmud Bavli’s visions or the earlier sources for Purim and Chanukah?
2. When were the two versions for
Purim and Chanukah composed?
3. How soon did they become
accepted as standard and universal?
Only a closer look at each holiday’s
section and wording can answer these questions?
PURIM
The standard Purim passage is a compact 52 words.
The standard Purim passage is a compact 52 words.
While brief, it is a masterful
summary filled with names, details and quotes
from Megilat Esther.
It mentions Esther and (her cousin) Mordechai,
the evil Haman, and even Shushan the Persian capital. It explains Haman’s plot to kill
all Jews: young and old, male and female and to pillage their wealth on the
13th of Adar. And it ends with the hanging of Haman and his (10) sons.
The text is also cleverly
‘refocuses’ the Purim events.
1.
First, it only gives the names
of Esther and Mordechai and assumes all readers know who they are; i.e., Queen
Esther of Persia and Viceroy Mordechai of
Persia, and what exactly they did during this genocidal crisis.
It
assumes that all readers are thoroughly familiar with the Purim account as
recorded in Megilat Esther and merely
listing their names will trigger ‘instant recall’ of the full roles of
Mordechai and Queen Esther.
2. If the four (4) Hebrew words: Esther, Mordechai and Shushan the capital, were somehow to be
‘omitted’, what is left, the
remaining 48 words, is a lengthy description of Haman’s plan – copied from Megilat Esther ch.3:13 – and how GOD intervened.
“But You in Your
abounding mercy, foiled his counsel and
frustrated his
intentions, and caused the evil he planned –
to recoil on his
head …”
It is this battle that is the focus of the
prayer and its view of events: the Invisible Hand of God vs Haman and
his allies.
3.
The ending: that Haman and his
henchmen sons were hanged, is a fitting close to this battle with the ‘invisible’
GOD.
Haman
and his sons did not die by a bolt of lightning, nor sudden plague nor tsunami
water, but through the human agency of public hanging: just as the human
agents Mordechai and Esther carried out GOD’s plan.
4. Not one of GOD’s various Hebrew names is ever mentioned in
Al Hanissim –
just
as they are absent in Megilat Esther.
Put simply, it is as if the same ‘mindset’ were at play in
both texts.
The closest Megilat Esther
gets to mentioning GOD is in Mordechai’s
plea to Esther to take action:
Megilat Esther Ch 4:
יד כִּי אִם-הַחֲרֵשׁ תַּחֲרִישִׁי, בָּעֵת הַזֹּאת--רֶוַח וְהַצָּלָה יַעֲמוֹד לַיְּהוּדִים מִמָּקוֹם אַחֵר,
וְאַתְּ וּבֵית-אָבִיךְ תֹּאבֵדוּ; וּמִי יוֹדֵעַ--אִם-לְעֵת כָּזֹאת,
הִגַּעַתְּ לַמַּלְכוּת.
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14 For if thou altogether holdest thy peace
at this
time, then will relief
and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place, but
thou and thy
father's house will perish; and who knoweth whether thou art not come to
royal estate for such a time as this?'
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This is a very vague reference to GOD at best, and indicates,
as do the omissions in Al Hanissim,
that both were written when professing and ‘thanking’ the GOD of Israel was dangerous.
As argued further below, re: the absence of King Achashverosh, giving credit or thanksgiving to the Jewish GOD -- in any text non-Jews could
access or
hear -- seems to have been deemed ‘unwise’.
After all, it was essential for Hadasah/Esther to hide her
ancestry (and religion) during Achashverosh’s beauty contest ( Ch 2: 10) and
for sven (7) years thereafter until the climactic diner party (Ch. 7:3 and Ch
8:1).
Again, all of the above suggest that -- like Megilat
Esther -- the Al Hanissim prayer for
Purim was composed soon after the holiday’s institution: while still under King
Achashverosh and Persian control.
Namely, in time for the celebration and prayers for the
holiday’s first anniversary.
5.
The details of Haman’s plot in Al
Hanissim are not only literally copied from Megilat Esther, Ch 3:13, but also edited and the
opening/context expunged.
This,
I believe, is part of a careful and systematic effort to avoid insulting King Achashverosh and his royal successors.
The full verse and context (verses 12-13) are:
Al
Hanissim omits the first part of verse 13;
the part which makes clear Achashverosh’s role: a role fully elaborated in verse
12.
The Al Hanissim passage, in fact, NEVER mentions the name of King Achashverosh.
If the name, “Shushan the capital” was
not included at the outset as a ‘clue’, the Persian ‘setting’ is totally
missing.
Similarly, Esther is never mentioned as Queen
(of Persia) and Mordechai's ultimate appointment as Viceroy of Persia.
Why?
After all, King Achashverosh is named numerous times throughout the
megilah and, in fact, he is its most crucial cast member.
Whatever hatred and vicious plans
Haman had, they could not have materialized without the formal consent and royal seal of King Achashverosh as
noted in the above megilah passage.
His total ‘absence’ in the prayer
suggests that its composer and those who allowed its inclusion in the Shemona Esrai central prayer and Grace
after Meals had a major concern or ‘fear’ of stressing the King’s role in this
mass pogrom.
This itself attests to its Persian
era composition and that it was created immediately and probably recited from
the first anniversary of Purim’s celebration onward. I.e., while Achashverosh continued to be
king[vi].
So, it was both politically correct
and prudent not to insult or trigger retaliation from a Persian King, let alone
one so ‘impulsive’ as King Achashverosh.
And it was both politically correct
and prudent not to insult the dominant religion of Persia and its kings by
proclaiming it was the God of Israel who is to be thanked.
Put simply, to ensure immediate and future
Persian government officials would allow Al
Hanissim for Purim to be read publically and aloud; three (3) times a day in the Amida and at Grace after Meals, required tact.
The Common Formula
Before examining the section for
Chanukah, it is important to note that the Chanukah section copies the format
and structure of the centuries older Purim passage and its key words.
Step 1 – Begin with “In
the days of …” בּיִמּיִ
Step 2 – Name the key heroes but NOT
what they actually did. I.e., assume the
reader is fully familiar with the story’s details and their roles from some
common written account or oral tradition.
Step 3 – Name the villain and
describe in some detail the evil plan using the word “EVIL” ﬣﬧשׁﬠﬣ - ﬣﬧשׁﬠ followed by the verb
“PREPARED/STARTED” ﬤשׁﬠמּﬢﬣ
Step 4 – Highlight how the Invisible
Hand of God intervened. Starting with the phrase “You in your abounding
mercy” יִﬦﬣרב יִךברכמ וֹאּתּﬣ
Step 5 – Close with the outcome/resolution that was carried out by human
agents.
Step 6 - Never name the King involved.
Step 7 – Never ever use any of the
Hebrew names for GOD.
Chanukah
translation:
In the days of Matityahu, the
son of Yochanan the High Priest, the Hasmonean and his sons, when the wicked
Hellenic government rose up against Your people Israel to
make them forget Your Torah and
violate the decrees of Your will. But You, in Your abounding mercies, stood by
them in the time of their distress. You waged their battles, defended their
rights, and avenged the wrong done to them. You delivered the mighty into the
hands of the weak, the many into the hands of the few, the impure into the
hands of the pure, the wicked into the hands of the righteous, and the wanton
sinners into the hands of those who occupy themselves with Your Torah. You made
a great and holy name for Yourself in Your world, and effected a great
deliverance and redemption for Your people Israel to this very day. Then Your
children entered the shrine of Your House, cleansed Your Temple, purified Your Sanctuary, kindled lights in
Your holy courtyards, and instituted these eight days of Chanukah to give thanks and praise to Your great
Name.
General
Observations:
The text for Chanukah, while
following the above rules of the Purim passage,
is very different.
- The Chanukah paragraph, at 92 words, is almost double the
length of the Purim
commemoration.[vii]
- The text is very vague and
uses general phrases and ideas.
- The text is highly poetic.
- The text was composed after the 165 BCE rededication of the Temple, as it ends with the post-facto decision to make Chanukah an annual holiday.
It was first recited starting in 164 BCE.
The Talmud Bavli, Shabbat 231b:10
specifically states:
The next year the Sages instituted those days and
made them holidays with the recitation of hallel and
special thanksgiving in prayer and blessings [i.e. Al Hanissim].[viii]
But it is
very important to note that contrary to the Talmud’s views, the Sages of the
Sanhedrim did not make any of the
above decisions alone.
...
Then Judas
and his brothers and the
entire assembly of Israel decreed that every year for eight days, from the
twenty-fifth day of the month Kislev, the days of the dedication of the altar should be
observed with joy and gladness on the anniversary. [My yellow highlighting.]
2
Maccabees Ch 1: 10 similarly stresses the Sanhedrin did not have
the authority
to act alone. The letter sent to Egypt asking
the Jews there to also celebrate Chanukah on its first anniversary, 164 BCE, opens:
“The people of Jerusalem and Judea,
the senate
[Sanhedrin], and Judas
[Maccabee] send greetings and good wishes to Aristobulus, teacher of King
Ptolemy and member of the family of the anointed priests, and to the Jews in Egypt.” [My yellow highlighting.] http://www.usccb.org/bible/2maccabees
So, the prayer of thanksgiving, Al Hanissim for Chanukah, may well have
been commissioned by Judah and the Maccabees, and certainly it must have
received
final authorization by Judah Maccabee
and his family: as the civil rulers of the country and with Judah Maccabee also
being High Priest.
Detailed Analysis
A.
The text leaves out many, many names
of those key to the Chanukah story.
Some of these decisions seem to be
interrelated and reflect a common mindset, so they will be discussed together
at the end.
1.
Matityahu
alone is named and the focus is on his pedigree:
he was a son of Yochanan who had once been High Priest, and of the famous
Hasmonean line of Priests[ix].
His role in starting and leading the
revolt is totally absent and the prayer, as with Purim, assumes every
reader is fully familiar with the revolt and Matityahu’s role.
2.
His (five) sons – all heroes in the revolt – are never named; not even Judah the Maccabee (hammer). Judah
became the leader after Matityah’s death in 166 BCE, and led the Maccabees to
glorious victory and the rededication of the Temple in 165 BCE. He was not only
the ruler of Judea and Jerusalem, but also the High Priest[x]
during its eight (8) day celebrations and Temple services, and until his death
in battle in 160 BCE[xi].
The other famous sons and heroes are
Yochanan, Eleazer, and the two who
succeeded Judah as leader/ruler and High Priest: Jonathan and Simon.
Also, the prayer omits any mention of Judah or
his brothers at the passages final achievement: the Temple’s restoration, rededication
ceremonies and the institution of Chanukah as an annual holiday.
It prefers to be vague:
“Then Your children entered the shrine of Your House, cleansed
Your Temple, purified Your Sanctuary … and
instituted these eight days
of Chanukah to give thanks and praise
to Your great Name.”
The failure to name Judah Maccabee or the Maccabees in these
actions is truly odd as every Jewish source from the contemporary 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Josephus, the Scholion
for Kislev 25, medieval Megilat Antiochus and even the Talmud Bavli Shabbat 21b:10 all acknowledge
their roles: by either specifically naming Judah or the Maccabees (as a group)
as the ones who arranged for the Temple’s purification and oversaw its
rededication ceremonies.
And their key role in institutionalizing Chanukah as an
annual holiday is acknowledge – except for the Talmud Bavli, as noted above.
So for Al Hanissim’s text, to ignore
the Maccabees in the Temple’s purification, rededication and holiday’s institutionalization
is bizarre.
After all, the prayer was composed while
Judah Maccabee was alive and ruler/High Priest.
3.
The arch-villain, Antiochus IV, is never named. Not only was he the reigning
Seleucid king, but also the Haman-like person
who initiated the laws banning all Jewish practices on pain of death, who
vandalized the Temple, rededicated it to Zeus, and assigned pagan priests to
carry out pig sacrifices.
(See previous blogs.)
The prayer’s only blames "an
evil Greek kingdom".
Again, the contemporary 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees and thereafter Josephus (Jewish Antiquities Book 12:5:4) all blame Antiochus himself and his sudden ‘whim’ to
force all local groups in the entire empire to worship and follow
Greek ways. (See previous blog for
Josephus’ example of the Samaritans.)
The medieval Megilat Antiochus blames him as well though it erroneously calls
him the King of Greece in its opening
verse.
It is the Talmud Bavli, Shabbat 21b:10 that first refers to the Temple’s
defilement as “by Greeks”; a view copied by the later Scholion for Kislev 25 (v.8)
4. No
martyrs are named nor the details of their deaths mentioned.
All that the prayer says is: ”You
avenged the wrongs done to them.”
The Hebrew is compact: נקמתם את תקמת
The
great martyrdoms were so well known and so impressed the contemporary authors
of 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees and Josephus who lived in
the first century CE that they gave them a place
of honour in their accounts of the 3 years before the Maccabee victory.
· Eleazer the old scribe and the 7 sons and their mother (2 Maccabees ch 6:18-31 and ch 7.)
· Mothers and their recently circumcised infants publically
executed ( 2 Maccabees, Ch. 6:9; 1 Maccabees ch 1: 60–61; Josephus J.A. Book 12: 5:4)
· Pious families who hid in caves only to be discovered and
attacked on Shabbat. They were slaughtered
en masse as they refused to fight
back on Shabbat! (2 Maccabees Ch 6:
11; 1 Maccabees ch 4: 29-31)
Consequently Matityahu and his ‘friends’ decreed that in future Jews must
defend themselves on Shabbat so that there will still be pious Jews in the
future. (1Maccabee 2:41)
· Possession of a Torah was punished by death. (I Maccabees 1:
57; Josephus – see below)
· Daily public tortures and executions of those who refused
(Josephus, see below)
To quote Josephus’ summary: Jewish Antiquities Book 12:5:4 https://penelope.uchicago.edu/josephus/ant-12.html
“For
they were whipped with rods; and their bodies were torn to pieces, and were crucified, while they were
still alive, and breathed. They also strangled those women and their sons whom
they had circumcised, as the King had appointed: hanging their sons about their
necks as they were upon the crosses. And if there were any sacred book, or the
law found, it was destroyed: and those with whom they were found miserably
perished also.”
5. There is no mention of
the ‘miracle of oil story’ nor its link
to Chanukah being 8 days long.
The only mention in the prayer regarding ‘lights’ is:
“[They] kindled
lights in Your holy courtyards.”
I.e., No mention of the Menorah deep inside the
Temple; just the wall lamps or torches
which illuminated the enclosed courtyards where the people assembled.
As argued in previous blogs and noted at the start, the ‘miracle of oil’ story was a pious fiction created
after the destruction of the 2nd Temple in 70 CE.
And the holiday was from the start set at eight (8) days because for three (3) years the fall festival of
Succot-Shemini Atzeret had been banned and missed.
Again, as noted previously, the holiday was called “the festival of
Booths in Kislev” i n 164 BC and
even 40 years later (124 BCE).
So the
prayer’s simple statement is correct:
“and [they] instituted these
eight days of Chanukah to give thanks
and praise to Your great Name.”
NOTE #1:
It is to the credit of the rabbis of the Talmudic era that they did NOT
alter the original Al Hanissim wording and insert a ‘miracle of oil’ twist or that
lights were to be lit nightly at home.
Put simply, the Talmud Bavli,
Shabbat 21b:10 refers to the Al Hanissim prayer, but ignores its conflict
with the then accepted view (by c. 500 CE) that there had been a “miracle of
oil” leading to the 8 day holiday (21b:10) and that the “basic mitzvah” was
lighting candles/oil-pots at home (21b:5)
NOTE #2:
Unfortunately, an ‘expanded’ and largely reworded version of the Al
Hanissim for Chanukah has been produced by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (died
2014)[xii]
and is readily available on line[xiii].
He incorrectly
identifies Matityahu as “High Priest”, names Antiochus as the villain, ignores
the Greek/forced conversion element, gives some details and, most of all, adds the ‘miracle of oil’ story and the requirement to light candles/oil-pots at
home as the 3rd stanza.
I mention this
because those unfamiliar with the original prayer from the siddur may assume
this is the ‘proper’ version.
Beware!
So
why key omissions?
I
offer the following suggestions:
a. The stress on Matityahu’s
High Priest lineage and ancestry
Matityahu
himself was never the High Priest before the revolt[xiv]
and died before Judah Maccabee and his brother’s gained control of Judea and
purified the Temple.
The
stress on his High priest linage, it seems to me, is for two reasons:
1.
It would have been comforting to
stress that when Antiochus IV sought to abolish Judaism, the resistance and
revolt was led -- appropriately -- by someone(s) from the line of High Priests:
the official religious leaders of Judaism and the Jewish people.
2.
The stress on lineage also gave legitimacy
to Judah Maccabee and after him brothers Jonathan and Simon and their
descendants.
The family were not descendants of
King David and consequently their position as ‘rulers’ was a breach of Jewish
tradition.
As well, historically, the High
Priesthood went to someone who like
Aaron, was a man of peace rather than one soaked in the blood of battle. Only
Phincas[xv],
had ever been the exception till now.
And the merging of the two roles, ruler/High
Priest, initiated by the alien Seleucid kings, was a violating of Judaism’s
separation of “Church and State”.
So any legitimacy Judah Maccabee and
his brothers and their line had to lead the people was through their priestly –
High Priest -- lineage.
Put simply, Jewish tradition was
altered and ‘bent’, but the High
Priesthood offered a link to the past.
b.
Omission of
Antiochus IV as arch villain but not the ‘internal enemy’
As suggested earlier re: common
formula, it is possible there was concern about insulting the Seleucid king
Antiochus IV (died sometime in 164 BCE) or antagonizing his successors: just as
the Purim passage never mentions King Achashverosh.
The official Seleucid ‘ban’ on
Jewish religion throughout the Empire was not removed until the ‘peace
agreement’ signed with Judah Maccabee in 163 BCE. (See previous blogs.)
So there may have been good reasons
to avoid antagonizing the still powerful king and his royal successors whose Empire
included Mesopotamia and Babylon: the home of most Jews.
While Judah Maccabee, as ruler and
High Priest, would have had ‘final say’ over the prayer, he may well have taken
such considerations into account in
approving the prayer’s wording.
Especially as there was an official
effort to get Jews outside of Judea to also celebrate Chanukah - as evidenced
by the letters to Egypt in 164 BCE and again in 124 BCE[xvi].
The internal enemy
More importantly, the text correctly
sees the conflict to be between the GOD of Israel and Judaism versus imposed
Greek religion and culture.
After all, Antiochus’ goal was to
make everyone ‘Greek’.
It is therefore noteworthy that the
prayer acknowledges – if briefly – that some Jews embraced Greek ways and Greek
religion.
Al Hanissim calls them זידם
“ZADIM” and contrasts them with “those who study and follow Your
Torah”.
While English translations use words
such as “wanton sinners” or “arrogant sinners”, the proper translation in this
context is heretics: those who have abandoned the faith.
1 Maccabees
and 2 Maccabees and Josephus attest
that many, many Jews -- including Kohanim and Levites -- adopted Greek ways
(including surgery to reverse circumcision), many eagerly followed Antiochus’
ban and participated in pagan sacrifices and revelry, and as collaborators
assisted in exposing the faithful pious to public punishment and death[xvii].
Such
apostates
are the subject of the 1st
century CE[xviii],
19th prayer added to the
daily Shemona Esrai.
And for slanderers
may there be no hope; and may all wickedness be destroyed instantly and may all
Your enemies be cut down quickly. Quickly uproot, smash, and cast down the arrogant sinners and
humble them quickly in our days. Blessed are You, O Lord, Who breaks enemies
and humbles arrogant
sinners[xix].
https://www.sefaria.org/Siddur_Ashkenaz%2C_Weekday%2C_Shacharit%2C_Amidah%2C_Against_Enemies?lang=bi
c.
Omission of heroes
Juidah Macabee and his brothers
The omission of the name Judah Maccabee and his
brothers was also designed to avoid ‘problems’. To highlight the Maccabees and
their successful rebellion in the prayer was like throwing gasoline
on a fire.
Unlike the Purim
passage, which would have had the support of the Persian King, his Jewish queen
and Jewish viceroy now that the evil villain, Haman, was hanged and the crisis
thankfully over, the Chanukah passage had to deal with a far different and still
dangerous reality.
Yes, the Maccabees gained control of Judea,
Jerusalem and the Temple in 165 BCE
and still controlled the area in 164 BC, but the Maccabees, the religious leaders and the entire
people would have been delusional to believe the crisis was over.
No empire allows even the tiniest area such as
Judea to rebel successfully. It could encourage other rebellions across the
great empire and was therefore ‘intolerable’.
Seleucid kings spent most of their time
defending their empires against expansionism by adjoining empires: e.g.
Ptolemaic Egypt or the western Parthians; themselves invading neighbours, e.g.
Ptolemaic Egypt or the western Parthians; battling internally for the throne at
times; and always crushing rebellions.
To have hallmarked Judah and his brothers for breaking
the control of the mighty Empire and its “manifest god” King, was
not good politics, simply dangerous and even suicidal.
This was the reality well known to the
Maccabees and the entire people: the
‘rules’ by which great empires had survived from time immoral.
So while Antiochus IV was busy elsewhere in
late 165 BCE and 164 BCE, his successors in 163 BCE and 162 BCE and most
successfully in 160 BCE, again invaded Judea, and the Maccabees were hunted
outlaws for another seven years (7) until 153 BCE.
This predictable and ‘ongoing threat’—and
possible ramifications for the large Jewish communities still under Seleucid
control -- would have tempered highlighting the Maccabees in the prayer:
whether by its composer, his editor(s); review by leading rabbis and, finally,
by the Maccabee rulers themselves.
Put simply, I believe Judah Maccabee
and his brothers agreed to minimize their ‘presence’ in the prayer: to merely
appear as Matityahu’s “sons” at the start, and as “Your children” at the
Temple’s purification at the end.
‘Maximum tact’ was
needed.
d.
Omission of the
numerous and famous martyrdoms
The prayer seems to assume everyone in 164 BCE still had the
martyrdoms from 168 BCE to 165 BCE still fresh in their memories, and so there
was no need to insert them into Al Hanissim.
They were so well known that over 200 years later Josephus
could still recount them.[xx]
Also, the focus of the prayer is on God and his intervention
and ultimate deliverance:
“But You, in Your abounding mercies, stood by them in the time of
their distress. You waged their
battles, defended their rights, and avenged the wrong done to them.”
B.
Prayer’s focus
1.
The text, just like that of Purim, sees the
‘real’ struggle as between the GOD of Israel and the evil “Hellenic” force and
its powerful armies.
Of its 92 Hebrew words, 60 are about
this struggle: the efforts of the evil Greeks to force Jews to convert
to their pagan religion versus the ‘invisible’ GOD of Israel who
ultimately wins.
2.
That Divine victory is the prayer’s
ending and culmination: the purification and rededication of the Holy Temple
with an eight (8) day festival, and its institution as an annual holiday.
C. Prayer’s Tone
The 60 word main section is a long, slow
moving and often sad in tone elegy.
It refers in general terms FOUR times to
the people’s sufferings.
Your
abounding mercies:
·
stood by them in the time of their distress.
·
You waged their battles,
·
defended their rights,
·
and avenged the wrong done to them.
It refers in general terms FOUR times to the
Maccabee’s military struggle:
You delivered:
·
the mighty into the hands of the weak,
·
the many into the hands of the few,
·
the impure into the hands of the pure,
·
the wicked into the hands of the righteous,
And
it refers to the heretics and apostates, the זידם, ONCE at the end:
“ and the wanton sinners [ זידם ] into the
hands of those who occupy themselves with Your Torah.”
Such a lengthy description’ is truly
appropriate.
·
Numerous individuals and families who
resisted were tortured and killed; men,
women and infants. (As noted above.)
·
The
military resistance: started by Matityahu and his sons, was only successful in
165 BCE: after two (2) years of mostly guerrilla warfare while hiding and “living like wild animals in the mountains and in
caves”[xxi].
And if the prayer had been composed a
few years later its lament would have certainly be greater. Brother Eliezer’s died in defeat at the Battle
of Beth Zechariah (162 BCE), Judah Maccabee died in the great defeat in 160 BCE
at Elasa, and for the next seven (7) years
Seleucid control and rule returned: with remaining Maccabees and their followers
hunted outlaws.
D. Poetic style
The central ‘struggle’ is composed
in the poetic style of Biblical Hebrew so familiar from the Psalms.
It abounds with parallelism in
wording/ideas and metre/beat.
It abounds in juxtaposition.
The Hebrew also abounds with
alliteration and mixed rhyme. As all plurals in Hebrew present/ongoing tense have
the same ending EM -- יﬦ,
end rhyme is constant.
Here
is the above English translation properly scansioned, and with the most obvious poetic rhymes highlighted;
In the days of Matityahu,
the son of Yochanan the High Priest,
the Hasmonean and his sons,
when the wicked Hellenic
government
rose up against Your people Israel
to make them forget Your Torah
and violate the decrees of Your will.
But You, in Your abounding mercies,
stood by them in the time of their distress.
You waged their battles, Hebrew:
Ravta et Rivam
defended their rights, Hebrew: Danta et Deenam
and avenged the wrong done to them. Hebrew: Nikmata et Nikmatam
You delivered the mighty into the hands of
the weak, Juxtaposition
the many into the hands of the few Juxtaposition
the impure into the hands of the pure, Juxtaposition
the wicked into the hands of the righteous, Juxtaposition
and the wanton sinners into the hands Juxtaposition
of those who occupy themselves with Your
Torah.
You made a great and holy name for Yourself
in Your world,
and effected a great deliverance
and redemption for Your people Israel
to this very day.
Then Your children entered the shrine of Your
House,
cleansed Your Temple,
purified Your Sanctuary,
kindled lights in Your holy courtyards,
and instituted these eight days of Chanukah
to give thanks
and praise to Your great Name.
CONCLUSION
The Al Hanissim prayers for Purim and
Chanukah are similar yet radically different.
Each was commissioned
immediately after the Holiday’s events so that the text would be available for
the next year’s celebrations.
The texts would certainly
have needed ‘lead time’ so that they could be reviewed, edited as needed, and
approved by both rabbinic and government authorities, (and copies hand printed):
to ensure the wording would not trigger retaliation immediately and in
generations to follow from ruling great kings and the religious leaders of the predominant,
non-Jewish religion.
And this careful
wording was not only to protect the Jews of Judea and Jerusalem from ‘negative
consequences’, but all Jews living throughout the great Empire of the
day: first the Persian Empire and later
the Seleucid Empire.
The first text, for
Purim, is compact and filled with names and details. The author did not have to look far for his
words as he had a copy of Megilat Esther
in hand – and cut and pasted from it.
His challenge and
great achievement was to reimage the events into a struggle between the Invisible
Hand of the God of Israel against the evil Haman and his followers.
His second challenge was
to use wording that would not immediately or in the future trigger retaliation
from an insulted Persian World ruler or Persian religious authorities who worshiped different gods.
The 7
Step Formula he created was followed centuries later by the composer of
the Al Hanissim for Chanukah.
He, however, did not
have on hand a megilah covering the events.
So he chose to follow
the path of the Psalms, with a poetic
prayer which in its length and general, repeated phrases, echoed the years of
suffering and military struggle: with the Invisible Hand of God as the central
defender of the faithful.
Again, following the
formula, he avoided insulting the Seleucid monarch and his successors who
stilled reigned over Mesopotamia and Babylon – where most Jews lived. And to be tactful tried to minimize directly
insulting Greek pagan religion.
Finally, the names of
Judah Maccabee and his brothers were carefully omitted to hopefully avoid a new
blaze of invasions.
It is a tribute to the
skill of these composers that the Al Hanissim
prayers have for centuries roused memories of those crises, their human heroes
and the Invisible Hand of God at work.
[vi]
Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz in his introduction to the
annotated The Steinsalt Tanakh: Esther ,
(Koren Publishers, Jerusalem) 2019, page 8, notes the megilah’s
‘neutral’ approach to King Achashverosh dispite his partying, excessive
drinking and his key role in the royal edict for Jewish mass genocide. He concludes that any criticism would have
been unacceptable (and possibly trigger repercussions by Antiochus while still
on the throne or his ‘insulted’ royal successors).
[vii]
Both the Hebrew and English are from https://www.chabad.org/holidays/chanukah/article_cdo/aid/597182/jewish/Val-Hanissim.htm
[xv]
Bamidbar/Numbers, 25:7-12.
[xvii]
1 Maccabees ch 1:11-15; ch 2:15-23; ch 2:31-38;
on Hellenist High Priest Jason and his followers see 2 Maccabees ch 4: 7-20; Jewish Antiquities Book 12:5:1 and 4; Ch
6:1.
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