While going through my father’s collection, I have just stumbled across a
Megilat Chanukah booklet by A. Hyman, published by the Hebrew Publishing Company some time in the late 1940s.
Megilat Chanukah booklet by A. Hyman, published by the Hebrew Publishing Company some time in the late 1940s.
The booklet ends with standard candle lighting
prayers, Chanukah songs and poems in Hebrew and Yiddish: both familiar and many
that are new to me.
It includes a nine (9) stanza version of Ha Tikvah
(the Zionist Anthem) that
I have never before seen, and ends with a music sheet reduced version for choral singing.
I have never before seen, and ends with a music sheet reduced version for choral singing.
The booklet's core megilah text is also noteworthy and
should have been added to Chanukah synagogue services among modern Orthodox and
other denominations, but it does not seem to be the case. I could not even find it on the internet or
in the Hebrew Publishing Co. lists.
The text, Hebrew with English translation, by A. Hyman,
is a condensed version of 1 Maccabees Ch. 1: 11
through Ch 4: 59.
Tangential material and long speeches are removed. Only the bare minim of Matityahu’s deathbed
speech (Ch 2: 49-69) to his sons is included; namely, a call to continue the
struggle and his blessings for each of his five sons. The only other noteworthy
omission is any references to the double Maccabee victory over the army of Gorgias
(Ch 4: 1-27).
Hyman has also added some interesting interpolations.
Two sections are copied from the dubious and error
filled medieval text variously called Megilat
Antiochus/Maccabees/Hasmoneans/Chanukah.
1. Part
of the opening verse which introduces Antiochus, with a new addition so it
mimics Megilat Esther’s opening.
“It happened in the days of Antiochus, the
Greek King, who was king over
many countries and also Judeah.”
[This is my
literal translation of the Hebrew. Hyman’s
English is not an exact translation.]
2. Hyman
inserts into the section on the Temple’s
purification (Ch 4: 37-59) the ‘miracle of oil’ story taken word for word from Megilat Antiochus/Maccabees/Hasmoneans/Chanukah.
וַיְבַקְשׁוּ
שֶֽׁמֶן זַיִת זָךְ לְהַדְלִיק הַמְּנוֺרָה וְלֺא מָצְאוּ
כִּי־אִם
צְלוֺחִית אַחַת אֲשֶׁר הַיְתָה חֲתוּמָה בְּטַבַּֽעַת הַכֹּהֵן הַגָּדוֺל
וַיֵּדְעוּ
כִּי הָיְתָה טָהוֺר
וְהָיָה בָהּ כְּשִׁיעוּר הַדְלָקַת יוֺם אֶחָד׃
And they sought pure olive oil with which to light the Menorah, but they found only one little vessel
sealed with the seal of the High-Priest
and they knew it to be pure. And it contained but sufficient oil for one day.
וֵאלֹהֵי הַשָּׁמַֽיִם אֲשֶׁר שִׁכֵּן שְׁמוֺ
שָׁם
בְּרָכָה וְהִדְלִֽיקוּ מִמֶּֽנָּה שְׁמוֺנָה
יָמִים׃ נָתַן
But the God of Heaven Who caused His presence to dwell in the Sanctuary,
gave His blessing and it sufficed to light the Menorah eight days.
He used this instead of the other and differently
worded accounts found in the Scholion to Megilat Tannit for Kislev 25[i] and Talmud
Bavli Shabbat 21b:10.[ii]
3.
Lastly, Hyman explicitly inserted twice the requirement to
light lights at
home: something never mentioned in 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Josephus’ Jewish Antiquities Book 12:7:7 , the Scholion for Kislev 25 or even Megilat
Antiochus.
Put simply, Hyman
expands the text to fit the Talmud
Bavli’s position in Shabbat 21b:
5 that lighting home lights is an essential component from the very start of
the holiday.
"The Sages taught in a baraita: The basic mitzva of Hanukkah is each day to have
a light kindled by a person, the head of the household,
for himself and his household. And the mehadrin, i.e., those
who are meticulous in the performance of mitzvot, kindle a light for each and every one in the
household..."
Hyman’s wording, inserted into the 1 Maccabees text is printed in RED capitals below. It is also his megilah’s closing.
“… and sacrificed a
sacrifice of deliverance and praises. AND THEY LIT CANDLES
IN ALL THE HOUSES, AND ALL THE WINDOWS, AND IN ALL THE STREETS OF THE CITY. And Judas and his brethren, and the whole congregation
of Israel, ordained that the days of the dedication of the alter should be kept
in their seasons from year to year by the space of eight days, from the five
and twentieth day of the month of Chislev, with gladness and joy, AND TO KINDLE LIGHTS IN ALL THE HOUSES.
The rabbis of the Talmud Bavli would certainly have been pleased with this
and if Hyman’s Megilat Chanukah had
been available to them, they almost certainly would advocated for its adoption
and addition to Chanukah’s synagogue reading – just like Megilat Esther.
I for one would have
preferred that Hyman had instead inserted condensed versions the following authentic pieces from the contemporary and pious 2 Maccabees:
Ch 6: 18-31 The
martyrdom of the 90 year old scribe Eleazer[iii]
Ch 7: 1-41
The martyrdom of the 7 sons and
their mother.[iv]
Ch 10: 6-7 The real reason Chanukah is eight (8) days.
“The Jews
celebrated joyfully for eight days as on the feast of Booths [Succot + Shemini Atzeret], remembering how, a
little while before, they had spent the feast of Booths living like wild
animals in the mountains and in caves. Carrying rods
entwined with leaves, beautiful branches and palms, they
sang hymns of grateful praise to him who had successfully brought about the
purification of his own place.”[v]
Ch 1: 18 The
original name for this holiday.
“Since we shall be
celebrating the purification of the temple
on the
twenty-fifth day of the month Kislev, we thought it right to inform you,
that you too may celebrate the feast of Booths [in Kislev].
Ch 1: 9 From the letter sent to the Jews of Egypt (124 BCE)
Finally, as Philip Birnbaum’s popular Hasiddur Hashalem (1949) has long been published by the Hebrew Publishing
Company, it would have been worthwhile for the siddur to include Hyman’s megilah
instead of the discredited, error filled medieval Megilat Antiochus/Maccabees/Hasmonean/Chanukah.
The siddur to this day does not forewarn the reader of Megilat Antiochus’ numerous historical
errors and fictitious pieces re: the Maccabees
and their revolt. [vii]
And any author who ends his ‘history’ with the claim the Maccabees were
still in power at the destruction of the Temple in 70 BCE (verse 77[viii]) has
never heard of King Herod or Pontius Pilot.
Far better to incorporate into this popular siddur Hyman’s 1 Maccabees text -- even with his Talmud Bavli insertions.
[vi] http://www.usccb.org/bible/2maccabees/1
[vii] Most notably is the fictitious account of Matityahu’s son Jochanan killing general Nicanor in his home: copied from Judges ch 3:12-30 story of Ehud. Nicanor died in in the great Jewish victory at the Battle of Asada on Adar 13 in 161 BCE at the hands of Judah Maccabee’s army. It was celebrated as an annual national holiday and continued so for centuries as recorded in the 1st century CE Megilat Tannit. Other obvious errors: Matityah was never the High Priest (v. 14), Judah Maccabee did not die before his father (v. 59 - 62). The invasions and battles are all with general Bagris (Bacchides) (v. 29-58). But he was sent by Antiochus’ successor, King Demetrius, and the author was unaware that much of the battles he attributes to Bagris were with general Gorgias, Nicanor and Lysias (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacchides_(general)
Also, Antiochus was never “king of Greece”(v. 1) but the Seleucid ruler from Turkey to Egypt and up to Babylon. He did not build Antioch the capital (v. 4) as it was built by his grandfather and is not a coast city (v. 4) [The Sefaria English translation “ by the river’ is not accurate.]
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