1. Timeline
Both
holidays commemorate events that occurred centuries
after the time of Moses and the Chumash.
(As such, the stringencies of the Torah re: Shabbat and Yom Tov Holidays
do not apply.)
Purim
occurred during the Persian Empire period when King Achashverosh ruled 127
provinces from India to Nubia (Cush)
(Megilat Esther Ch 1:1).
The Maccabee revolt and restoration of the Temple took place centuries
later: long after Persia was conquered by Alexander the Great (died 323 BCE)
and his empire split between his 3 generals.
In 168 BCE the Seleucid Greek ruler, Antiochus IV, banned Jewish
religious worship and other practices. Matityahu and his sons rebelled in 167 BCE and
the Temple and monotheistic Jewish worship was restored in165 BCE. (The
struggle, however, did not end until 142 BCE as explained below.)
2. Holiday’s
Purpose and Heroes
Purim
Purim
celebrates the ongoing physical survival of the Jewish people. As the Passover
Hagadah states:
“In every
generation there arises someone who tries to destroy us.”
Hitler’s
genocide and the Holocaust was not the first. Haman’s plot was similar and
would have instantly, on a single day, Adar 13, endangered the lives of
every Jewish man and woman, young and old, throughout the Persian World Empire.
Salvation
was through human agents:
led by Mordechai and Queen Esther, and the Jews of the empire who prepared and defend
themselves successfully in battle.
Chanukah’s
goals
As for Chanukah,
it celebrates two other achievements: also through human agents: the Maccabees,
and also through their success on the battlefield.
For over 150
years, the Jews of Judea were exposed to -- and co-existed -- with the
dominant Greek culture first spread by Alexander the Great and which continued
after his death in 323 BCE in the empires of his successor generals ##.
During
all this time, Jews everywhere were free to practice traditional
monotheistic Judaism, and the traditional services and practices in the Temple
in Jerusalem continued uninterrupted.
The only
change was that the position of High Priest was now the de facto ‘ruler’ of Jerusalem and Judea, and an appointment by the
Seleucid king[ii].
This
powerful and lucrative position, unfortunately, became the focus of heated
completion between Onias and Simon and thereafter Jason and Menelaus as
detailed in 2 Maccabees ch 3 and 4 and Josephus’ Jewish Antiquities 12:5:1.
In
particular, Jason not only offered a great amount of silver for the post, but
also promised to build a gymnasium and arena within Jerusalem: where Jewish men
and gentiles would exercise and compete ‘the Greek way’: in the nude[iii].
Jason won,
and these Hellenistic ways became established in Jerusalem even among those
whose duty was the Temple, i.e., the Priests and Levites.[iv]
When
Jason was replaced by Menelaus, he led an army to besiege Jerusalem but was unsuccessful[v].
Antiochus
IV’s universal ban (168 BCE)
The
‘conflict’ between traditional Jewish values and Hellenistic ways that bubbled
over under Jason, is often seen as the impetus for Antiochus IV’s decrees
outlawing Judaism, its practices and monotheistic worship[vi].
But
neither the author of 1Maccabees nor 2 Maccabees saw it this way.
Nor did
Josephus, Jewish Antiquities Book
12:5:5.
Then the king wrote to
his whole kingdom that all should be one
people,
and abandon their particular customs. All the Gentiles conformed to the command of the king. And many Israelites delighted in his religion;
they sacrificed to idols and profaned the sabbath. [My red and underlining.]
The above
Maccabees passages make clear the ban
on Jewish traditional practices applied well beyond Jerusalem and the tiny
area of Judea.
Jews
living in Acre and any of the other Decapolis: the ‘10 Greek cities’ created in
the Middle East by Alexander the Great and his successors[vii],
all became subject to the ban; as would any Jewish community throughout
the Empire.
And not just Jews and Judaism. Put simply, Antiochus’ decree applied to all
peoples under his rule.
For centuries, religious pluralism
was the norm. Each land and peoples followed their own religion, deities and
cultural traditions, but under Antiochus IV’s decrees, they too must now worship
and follow the ‘Greek way’.
Then, for some reason, Antiochus
IV Epiphanes (the Living God), decided that everyone from Babylon through the
Fertile Crescent to the border of Ptolemaic Egypt had to convert to the Greek
religion and practices: especially worshipping Zeus and Dionysus, the god of wine, revelry,
fertility and theatre[viii].
Josephus, Jewish Antiquities Book 12:5:5, records how the Samaritans readily
accepted Antiochus’ decrees and converted. Ever since they were settled in the
former, northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 BCE, they had practiced a variation
of monotheistic Judaism: adopted the Jewish God of the land, adopted the
Chumash (with their own changes) as ‘holy scripture, kept the Sabbath, and
built their own temple to the monotheistic God on Mount Gerizim.
Now, in light of Antiochus’
decrees, they readily acquiesced and abandon
their religious practices. They
even approached the Seleucid king for permission to rename their temple The Temple of Zeus the Greek God
[The Temple of
Jupiter Hellenius in Jospehus’ Romanization.].
If any other peoples and their religious leaders resisted this forced conversion and ‘assimilation’ or how the Jewish communities in Babylon and Mesopotamia responded, I do not know.
But 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees and Josephus record the responses in Judea: refusal -- leading
to martyrdom, and, ultimately, open rebellion under the Maccabees.
Here is Josephus’ quick summary re: defiance:
They every day underwent great miseries,
and bitter torments. For they were whipped with rods; and their
bodies were torn to pieces, and [they]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.
Goal #1 Preserving
Judaism and the Temple
For Jews, the ban, on penalty of death, applied to circumcision, kashrut, Torah study, observance of the Sabbath and Holy Days, and
monotheistic worship at the Temple in Jerusalem[ix].
When the Maccabees quickly revolted in 167 BCE, it was
not, as noted above, a response to Hellenization per se, but to sudden, enforced pagan religious practices
and the outlaw of monotheistic, traditional Judaism.
Matityahu’s
battle cry was – copying Moses to the faithful Levites after the Golden Calf (Exodus
32: 26) -- “Who is for God, follow me!”[x].
For the initial goal was the preservation of Judaism: its monotheism, customs and Temple worship.
In 165
BCE the Maccabees gained control of Judea and Jerusalem and cleansed the Temple
and restored traditional Jewish temple worship and other customs.
Even though
Antiochus IV died the following year,164 BCE, forced assimilation was still
Seleucid policy and goal.
In 163
BCE, a massive army led by the young new ruler, Antiochus V, and general Lysias
attacked again, defeated the Maccabees in the battle of Beth Zachariah and then
laid siege to Jerusalem and the Maccabees sheltered inside. Fortunately, Antiochus V and his army at the
last minute had to return to Antioch to defend his throne and a ‘peace
agreement’ was signed with Judah Maccabee.
The
agreement restored Jewish freedom of worship and practices everywhere, Jewish
control of the Temple and its services, and Judah Maccabee was to remain the ‘ruler’
of Jerusalem and Judea under Seleucid overlordship as High Priest. [xi]
But
Antiochus V and Lysias soon were killed by Demetrius I who again sent an army
to invade Judea in 162 BCE, forced the Maccabees to flee Jerusalem, and
placed Hellenist Alcimus as High Priest and ruler.[xii]
Maccabee successes
in guerrilla warfare triggered another massive Seleucid army invasion and
battle in 161 BCE. The Seleucid general, Nicanor was killed and his troops fled.
Judah Maccabee and his men once again had control of Judea and Jerusalem [xiii].
And Judah maccabee again resumed the role of High priest/ruler while Alcimus
was forced to flee.
But in 160 BCE, another Seleucid army invaded
to restore Alcimus as High Priest and ruler. They were victorious at the battle
of Elasa. Judah Macabee was killed in
the fighting. His remaining brothers and
forces fled and returned to guerilla warfare.[xiv]
Then, in
153 BCE, thanks to the ongoing musical chairs and ‘game of thrones’ of the
Seleucid kingship, Jonathan Maccabee was
able to manoeuver and transform from being a rebel and outlaw to the appointed
High Priest and ruler of Jerusalem and Judea. He officiated as High Priest at
the Succot festival of that year.[xv]
In 142 BCE, however, Jonathan was
treacherously captured and murdered by Diodotus Tryphon, a claimant to the
Seleucid throne who had invaded Judea. Only
a sudden heavy snowstorm saved Jerusalem and the remaining Maccabee forces from
his siege.[xvi]
On
Jonathan’s murder, Simon Maccabee, the last of the Maccabee brothers, became leader. By agreement with Demetrius II, the
successful claimant to the Seleucid throne, Simon was allowed to continue in the dual roles of High Priest and
ruler of Judea under Seleucid overlordship.
In 141
BCE, at an assembly of the entire people of Judea, Simon was officially
accepted in these roles.
1 Maccabees 14: 41-43; 46-47
(My underlining.)
1 Maccabees 13: 42
… and the
people began to write in their records and contracts, “In the first year of
Simon, great high priest, governor, and leader of the
Jews.”
(My underlining.)
Historians
consider Simon the founder of the Hasmonean dynasty[xvii].
As
Seleucid overlordship and power waned, there were no further attempts to
reconquer Judea or appoint a new Hellenist High Priest/ruler.
When we celebrate
– and teach our children about - Chanukah and the Temple’s cleansing and
restoration in 165 BCE and the Maccabees who achieved this, we
should also
remember and teach that the struggle to ensure Jewish monotheism
and
traditional Temple worship was far from
over in 165 BCE.
As shown above, the struggle was decades long: with many ups and downs –
battles won and
lost; Jerusalem recovered and then lost again; and the High
Priesthood fluctuating
between Hellenist Seleucid appointed High Priests and the Maccabees.
The ‘peace
agreement’ of 163 BCE restoring freedom of religion was great, but its
continuation was not assured; especially after the immediate murder and replacement
of Antiochus V.
Even having
appointed Hellenist Jewish High Priests was a threat to traditional Judaism and
its continuation.
In brief,
then, the Maccabee victory and control of Judea and Jerusalem which allowed for
the redecoration of the Temple in 165 BCE was not the end of the religious
struggle to end Antiochus IV’s outright ban on all Jewish rituals and
religious practices everywhere.
Yes, thanks to the ‘peace agreement’ negotiated by
Judah Maccabee in 163 BCE Jews
throughout the Seleucid Empire were once again free to follow traditional
Jewish religious customs and rituals.
And no succeeding Seleucid ruler ever again
initiated forced conversion, i.e., to abrogate the ‘peace agreement’.
But the Seleucid kings did continue to try – again
and again -- to impose a Hellenist High Priest/ruler on Judea: an effort that
involved repeated invasions and Maccabee battles.
Put simply, the Temple and Judaic practices and
traditions were never safe or assured until 142 BCE -- some 25 years!
Goal #2 Self-rule
As should
be clear from the above, it must have soon become evident to the Maccabees that the perpetuation of
Judaism and Temple worship could not be left to
the whim of a Seleucid or
other Greek ruler nor an appointed Hellenist High Priest/ruler.
Only some
form of Jewish self-rule would do so.
So a second
goal soon emerged.
In 586
BCE, the Kingdom of Judea, the last remnant of King David and King Solomon’s
Jewish state and self-rule ended with the Babylonian Exile.
Under
Persian rule, even under a Queen Esther and a Viceroy Mordechai, no such
autonomy was re-stored. Judea remained part
of a larger Persian province administrated by an appointed governor.
And this
‘structure’ continued under Alexander the Great and his generals and their
heirs.
It took 25
years of Maccabee struggle, to 142 BCE, for this second goal
to (permanently) materialize.
The
Hasmonean dynasty, starting with Simon, continued to rule Judea and
Jerusalem (and
annexed territories) for 103 years[xviii].
Thereafter
Herod and his heirs continued the semi-independence of Judea and Jerusalem to 6
CE as client kings under Roman control[xix].
Only in
1948 -- after almost 2000 years – did Jewish self-rule and independence
return:
with the creation of the State of Israel.
3. Holidays by ‘royal’ decree
Both Purim
and Chanukah were initiated/created by ‘royal’ decree rather than rabbinic
origin – though with the assent of the people[xx].
The holiday of Purim was established by Queen
Esther and Viceroy Mordechai as stated in Megilat
Esther Ch 9:17-32, and Chanukah by the victorious Maccabees on
the
purification and rededication of the Temple on 25th of Kislev, 165
B.C.E. (as recorded in the contemporary documents: 1 Maccabees ch 4:36- 59 and
2
Maccabees 10: 8 and as found in Josephus’ Jewish Antiquities 12:7:6-7).
That Purim was not ‘imposed’ upon the Jewish people
but involved their ‘consent’
is also stressed in the sources:
Purim:
כז קִיְּמוּ וקבל (וְקִבְּלוּ) הַיְּהוּדִים עֲלֵיהֶם
וְעַל-זַרְעָם וְעַל כָּל-הַנִּלְוִים עֲלֵיהֶם, וְלֹא
יַעֲבוֹר--לִהְיוֹת עֹשִׂים אֵת שְׁנֵי הַיָּמִים הָאֵלֶּה, כִּכְתָבָם
וְכִזְמַנָּם: בְּכָל-שָׁנָה, וְשָׁנָה.
|
27 the Jews ordained, and took
upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto
them, so as it should not fail, that they would keep these two days
according to the writing thereof, and according to the appointed time
thereof, every year;
|
The same democratic principle applied to Chanukah
as well.
1 Maccabees ch 4:59, referring to the
165 BCE celebrations, states:
(My BOLD, underlining and yellow highlighting.)
In the semi-official letter at the start of 2 Maccabees ch 1:10, asking the Jews of
Egypt to also celebrate the holiday on its first anniversary, 164 BCE, it
specifies:
Letter 2: 164
B.C. 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 BOLD and yellow
highlighting.)
And the assent
of the people is again mentioned in 2
Maccabees Ch 10:8
Talmud
Bavli ‘amnesia”
It is
important to stress the royal origin of Purim, its customs and rituals. All
aspects
were initiated and decreed by Persian Queen Esther and Persian Viceroy
Mordechai: something the rabbis of the Talmud
Bavli (c. 500 CE) – even with Megilat
Esther in
hand – ignored.
Talmud Bavli Megillah
2a states plainly:
The Gemara explains: This is what we said, i.e., this is
what we meant when we
asked the question: Now, all of these days when the Megilla may be read were enacted
by the members of the Great Assembly when they established the
holiday of Purim itself.
As, if
it enters your mind to say that
the members of the Great Assembly enacted only the
fourteenth and fifteenth as days for reading the Megilla, is
it possible that the later Sages
came and uprooted an ordinance that was
enacted by the members of the Great Assembly?
https://www.sefaria.org/Megillah.2a.6?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en
In
contrast, Megilat Esther makes clear
Persian Queen Esther and Persian Viceroy Mordechai’s key roles in
establishing the holiday and its customs in Ch 9:17-32,
and in particular
verses 31-32.
א לְקַיֵּם אֶת-יְמֵי הַפֻּרִים הָאֵלֶּה בִּזְמַנֵּיהֶם, כַּאֲשֶׁר קִיַּם
עֲלֵיהֶם מָרְדֳּכַי הַיְּהוּדִי וְאֶסְתֵּר הַמַּלְכָּה, וְכַאֲשֶׁר קִיְּמוּ
עַל-נַפְשָׁם, וְעַל-זַרְעָם: דִּבְרֵי הַצּוֹמוֹת, וְזַעֲקָתָם.
|
31 to confirm these days of Purim in their
appointed times, according
as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had enjoined them, and as
they had ordained for themselves and for their seed, the matters of the
fastings and their cry.
|
לב וּמַאֲמַר אֶסְתֵּר--קִיַּם, דִּבְרֵי הַפֻּרִים הָאֵלֶּה; וְנִכְתָּב,
בַּסֵּפֶר. {ס}
|
32 And the commandment of
Esther confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was written in the
book. {S}
|
The
Megilah’s texts quoted above refute such a singular, all powerful Sanhedrin
role.
Put
simply, any suggestion that Purim was instituted by the Sanhedrin/Great
Assembly
alone -- in far off Jerusalem -- by their rabbinic decree, is untenable.
Similarly,
the ‘royal’ origin for Chanukah is important to note as the rabbis of the Talmud Bavli (c. 500 CE) seem to have
been unaware of -- or tried to ignore -- the role of the Maccabees and their
authority in creating Chanukah.
Talmud Bavli, Shabbat 21b states that the holiday was instituted by the Sages --
i.e.,
the Sanhedrin -- alone:
The Gemara asks: What is Hanukkah, and why are lights kindled on Hanukkah? The
Gemara answers: The Sages taught
in Megillat Ta’anit: On
the twenty-fifth of Kislev, the days of Hanukkah are eight. One may not
eulogize on them and one may not fast on them. What is the reason? When the Greeks entered the Sanctuary they
defiled all the oils that were in the Sanctuary by touching them. And when the Hasmonean monarchy overcame
them and emerged victorious over them,
they searched and found only one cruse of oil that was placed with the seal of
the High Priest, undisturbed by the Greeks. And there was sufficient oil there to light the candelabrum for only one day. A miracle occurred and they lit the candelabrum from it eight days. The next year the Sages instituted
those days and made them holidays with
recitation of hallel and special thanksgiving in prayer and blessings.
Again,
the evidence of the contemporary, semi-official 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees
already cited above – written by pious, Orthodox Jews -- refute such a claim.
4. Name of the
holiday
Purim has always been the sole name for this holiday. It
was derived from the
lottery (Persian pur)
of Haman as stated in Megilat Esther,
ch 9: 24 and 26.
In
contrast, Chanukah was originally
called the “Festival of Booths in Kislev” for at
least the first 40 years. (See
below.) Josephus, raised in Judea and of
priestly
descent, only knew the holiday as “Festival of Lights” (Jewish Antiquities Book 12:
ch.
7:7). (He makes no mention of any
Chanukah menorah or any lighting of
oil/candles at home as the reason for this
name; but rather speculates it was
symbolic
of the temple’s restoration)
(Josephus was a commander in the Great revolt and
captured and taken to Rome
in 67 CE –3 years before the Temple’s destruction in
70 CE.)
The name Chanukah
– which mean ‘dedication’ and refers to the Temple -- first
appears n the late first century CE
list of special days called Megilat
Tannit.
Thereafter it is the name used in the Mishnah (c. 200 CE), Talmud
Bavli (c.500 CE),
the Scholion
commentary added to Megilat Tannit
centuries later[xxi],
and the dubious,
error filled medieval effort to create an account comparable
to Purim’s Megilat Esther: variously called Megilat Antiochus/Hasmoneans/Maccabees/
Chanukah.[xxii]
As argued in the previous blog, “Chanukah – the
full story “, the swwitch to the name Chanukah (i.e., ‘dedication’) was probably instituted
after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE as a Zachar L’Mikdash.
And in the hope a Third Temple would soon arise.
5. Customs and
practices
The main customs and practices for Purim are
prescribed by Queen Esther and
Viceroy Mordechai in chapter 9 of Megillat Esther. Namely, a celebratory family or communal meal
(Seudat Purim) on Adar 14 and in
ancient walled cities on Adar 15 (Shushan
Purim); exchanging gifts of food and drink with friends in advance of the
above meal; giving gifts of food and drink to the poor for their Purim meal (v.
22).
Even the Fast of Esther beforehand is of royal origin (ch 9:31). Finally,
the very scroll
we read I synagogues on this holiday, Megilat Esther, was produced by Queen
Esther and Viceroy Mordechai (ch.9:9
and 32).
(Hamentachen pastries -- as their
Germanic/Yiddish name indicates -- are of late medieval origin. Dreidels with their four sides and markings
are gambling devices; possibly of Greek or Roman origin or a much later
Irish/English invention which
became popular in Germany.[xxiii]
However, the customs of Chanukah that we practice today, and for centuries before
us:
lighting candles/oil at home, using a special Chanukah menorah, eating oil
cooked potato latkes and jelly donuts and the story of the ‘miracle of oil’ –--
all evolved
post-70 CE, i.e.,
after the destruction of the 2nd Temple. (As argued in the previous blog, “Chanukah -
the full story”.)
They are rabbinic and/or
folk culture in origin.
The first rededication celebrations by the
Maccabees and people were all about restoring normal Temple services. The 8 day length of the holiday, the
procession
with palm branches through the streets and sacrifices[xxiv]
were all copied from the
fall harvest festival, Succot/Shemini Atzeret - which
had been banned for at least two years by Antiochus (2 Maccabees Ch
1:6-7). The new holiday, in fact was
called “the festival of Booths [Succot] in Kislev” in 164 BCE and still so 40
years later in 124 BCE (2 Maccabees ch 1:18 and 9).
(See previous blog “Chanukah – the full story” for
more details.)
6. Date of
Holiday
Purim celebrations are held on Adar 14 and in ancient
walled cities on Adar 15, with
the Fast of Esther preceding. All because the Adar
13 was the day chosen by
Haman’s lottery for the mass extermination of all
Jews. Thanks to the interventions
by Mordechai and Queen Esther, the plot was
defeated. The Jews around the
Empire successfully defended themselves on Adar
13 and in the capital Shushan,
the fighting lasted for two days.
Chanukah
Why start 25th Kislev?
According to
the contemporary and semi-official books
of the Maccabees, the
Temple’s rededication
took place on the exact same day (or anniversary of) when Antiochus first defiled
the Temple with a pagan pig sacrifice two years beforehand:
the 25th of Kislav .
(1 Maccabees 4:54; 2
Maccabees 10: 3, 5)
1 Maccabees 1: 54 and 59 note that Antiochus had pagan
alters set up as well throughout Judea
and forced all Jews to make pagan sacrifices monthly on the 25th
of
the month – which 2 Maccabees 6: 7
adds -- was his birth day.]
(NOTE: The later, 1st century CE historian
Josephus, in his Jewish Antiquities
ch 12: 7:6 says it was dedicated on the same day Antiochus had left it abandoned
3 years earlier[xxv].)
7. Holiday
length
Purim is celebrated for one day as noted above with
a preceding fast day. All is
detailed in Megilat
Esther, ch. 9.
As to why Chanukah is 8 days long, the contemporary
and semi-official sources --preserved in the Greek Septuagint – make clear it is to emulate the banned
celebrations
for eight (8) days of Succot/Shemini Atzeret.
2
Maccabees ch.10:6-7 states:
As Antiochus had banned all Jewish holiday services
and celebrations, including
the 8 day Succot/Shemini Atzeret harvest festival,
the Maccabees chose to revive
that missed celebration and mimic it: in length, the
lulav procession (listed above
and following Leviticus 23:40) and Temple
sacrifices.
It is also probably why the annual Chanukah
festival was called “the feast of Booths
in the month of Kislev” for at least 40 years. I.e., In the letter to the Jew of Egypt
in 164
BCE (2 Maccabees 1: 18) and 40 years
later in a second letter to Egypt dated 124 BCE (2 Maccabees 1:9)
(NOTE: The later, 1st century CE historian
Josephus, in his Jewish Antiquities
12:7: 7 simply states the holiday was made in perpetuity 8 days long.[xxvi])
The claim in the Talmud Bavli, Shabbat 21b, that Chanukah is eight (8) days long to
commemorate a “miracle of oil’, is, as argued in the previous blog, is simply a
‘pious fiction’.
It is post-70 CE in origin and was totally unknown
to the contemporary and pious
authors of 1 and 2 Maccabees, and even Josephus:
born Yosef ben Matityahu, in Jerusalem, to a
priestly family, and captured at age 30 and taken to Rome in 67 CE[xxvii].
8. Divine role?
It has long been noted that in Megilat Esther, the detailed account of the Purim story, God
seems to be absent. None of the
Hebrew names for the Divine ever appear nor
is there any prophet to forewarn
nor ‘vision from Above’ nor any ‘obvious’ and highlighted ‘miracle’ in the
Purim’s account.
The closest one comes to this is in Mordechai’s
message to Esther:Ch 4:13-14
“Do not imagine
that you, of all the Jews, will escape with your life by being
in the king’s
palace.
On the contrary, if you keep silent in this crisis,
relief and deliverance
will come
o the Jews from another quarter, while you and your father’s
house will perish.
And who knows, perhaps you have attained to royal position
for just such a crisis.”
This is, at best, a very vague reference to God and invokes the
principal that God often causes events and actions from the ‘background’ -- so
His involvement seems invisible.
However, it is noteworthy that the entire megilah uses Vav Hahefuch: which converts
future
tense verbs into past tense in meaning and past tense verbs into future
meaning.
As I have argued in past blogs, this device is used throughout the Chumash to affirm the Divine nature
of the text, its eternal validity, and as the dictation to Moses of a God
whose proper name is the Eternal. (The Tetragrammaton of four
(4) letters is a conflation of the Hebrew verb TO BE’s tenses of FUTURE-PRESENT-PAST -- in this specific order.)
It is used thereafter throughout the Tanach
and Holy Scripture as emblematic of the Divine origin of events and deeds. (Its
special use by King David in Psalm 34 is an earlier blog.)
Consequently, its use throughout Megilat
Esther --from the very first word -- is an acknowledgement of the Invisible hand of God at work.
As for Chanukah, the same attitude applies: that the events of history
are God’s will and
the outcome of His ‘invisible hand’.
There were no ‘Divine visions’ and no ‘miracles’ recorded in 1 Maccabees and
2 Maccabees re: the Maccabee revolt and victory. Nor in Josephus’s account.
But references to God and God’s role in history are
found repeatedly in 1 Maccabees
and 2 Maccabees and even Josephus (Jewish Antiquities, 12:7:6-7).
All are testament to the enduring faith of the Maccabees,
their followers and the nation
as a whole.
I emphasize “enduring” for unlike Purim and its one to two days of
fighting; a quick
victory by any standards, the fight against Antiochus IV’s
ban on Judaism and Jewish temple services was far from quick. The rededication in 165 BCE was far from the
end
of the struggle which, in fact lasted
for some 25 years as explained below.
Yes, Temple services and Jewish holidays and practices were restored in 165
BCE,
a mere 2 years after Mariyah began the revolt, but this was not guaranteed.
Forced
conversion of all the Empire’s local peoples and their religions to the
Greek
Gods and Hellenic culture was enforced until 163 BCE – even after
Antiochus IV’s death
in 164 BCE. And Antiochus iv’s successors continued to send
armies -- at times
year after year -- against the Maccabees to regain direct control
of Judea, Jerusalem
and the Temple and impose a Hellenist High
Priest/ruler.
Only in 142 BCE: some
25 years on, did this stop.
In that year the Seleucid king, Demetrius II, finally give up on
reconquering Judea
and agreed that Simon Maccabee (the last surviving brother)
and his descendants
be High Priest and rulers of Judea and Jerusalem under his
overlordship.
The accounts of 1 Maccabees
and 2 Maccabees are long and detailed
and filled with martyrdoms: the 7 sons and their mother, the old scribe
Eliezer, and many more. Even Josephus recounts the brutality, Jewish defiance
and mass martyrdoms[xxviii].
But no clear Divine miracle – not even of a pot of oil (see below).
Of the Maccabees themselves, Matityahu died quietly, but Eliezer died in
battle, crushed
by an elephant. Judah Maccabee died in the great Jewish
defeat in the battle of Elasa
(160 BCE). Jonathan, his successor, was
murdered when tricked to a meeting with
Seleucid claimant to the throne,
Diodotus Tryphon (143 BCE). And,
finally, Simon,
the last brother and leader after Jonathan, considered the
founder of the Hasmonean Dynasty, was himself treacherously murdered (in 135
BCE) along with two of his sons
at a banquet by his own son-in-law,
Ptolemy, son of Abubus.
2
Maccabees only records events down to Judah Maccabee’s last victory in 161BCE
over Syrian general Nicanor; a surprise victory that was made thereafter an
annual
national holiday on – YES – Adar 13. (See Megilat
Tannit.)
The full story down to Simon’s death is recorded in 1 Maccabees.
Again, the ‘miracle of oil’ story was unknown to the contemporary, pious
authors of the
two Maccabee accounts and Josephus. As noted above and detailed in the previous
blog: ”Chanukah – the full story”, it was created post-70 CE: after the destruction
of the Second Temple’s and the removal to Rome of all of its gold vessels and
the great Temple menorah.
Put simply, no extraordinary ‘visible miracle’ occurred during the 25
year struggle of the Maccabees.
Consequently, when we Jews celebrate the holidays of Purim and Chanukah and their different customs and distinct
‘mitzvahs’: each so different from the other in many ways,
we do so
acknowledging the ’Invisible hand of God’ at work.
9.
Universal acceptance
Purim was essentially from the start a universal Jewish holiday.
As noted in the first verse of Megilat Esther,
א וַיְהִי,
בִּימֵי אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ: הוּא אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ, הַמֹּלֵךְ מֵהֹדּוּ
וְעַד-כּוּשׁ--שֶׁבַע וְעֶשְׂרִים וּמֵאָה, מְדִינָה.
|
1 Now it came to pass in
the days of
Ahasuerus--this is Ahasuerus who reigned,
from India even unto
Ethiopia, [actually Nubia] over a hundred and seven and twenty provinces--
|
As the great Persian Empire extended from the Indus
Valley through Mesopotamia
and the Fertile Crescent through Egypt to Nubia, it included
nearly all Jewish communities except the few that may have settled in Greece
and Italy.
Consequently, Purim’s acceptance as a Jewish celebration
among all Jews was
not hard to achieve.
Chanukah, on the other hand, celebrates the rededication
of the Temple in Jerusalem, instituted by the Maccabees, and restoration of
(semi-) independence. Both applied only to the small area of Judea and Jerusalem
under Maccabee control.
As mentioned previously, it was not celebrated in
Egypt in 164 BCE nor in 124 BCE.
And as for
Babylon and Mesopotamia – where most Jews were living after the Babylonian
Exile – the Talmud Bavli is our only
source.
Chanukah is
discussed in the volume Shabbat. Regarding
candle/oil lamp lighting
and placement on pages 21a-b, 22a-b, 23a-b, and regarding
additional, special
prayers on 21b and 24a.
21 b The Gemara asks: What
is Hanukkah, and why are lights kindled on Hanukkah? The
Gemara answers: The Sages taught in Megillat Ta’anit: On the twenty-fifth of Kislev, the days
of
Hanukkah are eight. One may not eulogize on them and one may not fast on them.
What
is the reason? When the Greeks
entered the Sanctuary they defiled all the oils that were in
the Sanctuary
by touching them. And when the Hasmonean
monarchy overcame them and
emerged victorious over them, they searched and found only one cruse of oil
that was placed
with the seal of the High Priest, undisturbed by the Greeks. And there was sufficient
oil there ]
to light the
candelabrum for only one day. A miracle occurred and they lit the candelabrum
from it eight days. The next year the Sages instituted those days and made them holidays
with recitation
of hallel and special thanksgiving in prayer and blessings.
24a A dilemma was raised before
the Sages: What is the ruling
with regard to the obligation
to mention Hanukkah in Grace after Meals? The dilemma is: Since it is merely an obligation
by rabbinic law, do we not mention it? Or, perhaps due to publicity of the miracle, we mention it.
Rava said that Rav Seḥora said that Rav Huna said: One does not mention
it. And if, nevertheless,
he comes to mention it, he mentions it in the blessing of thanksgiving. The Gemara relates that
Rav Huna bar Yehuda happened by Rava’s house
on Hanukkah. When, after eating, he came
to recite Grace after Meals, he thought to mention Hanukkah in the blessing: Who builds
Jerusalem. Rav Sheshet said to
the yeshiva students: One mentions Hanukkah in Grace after
Meals just as he does in the Amida prayer. Just as in the Amida prayer one mentions Hanukkah
in the blessing of thanksgiving, so too, in Grace after Meals
on mentions Hanukkah in the
blessing of thanksgiving. (My
yellow highlighting.)
Put simply, according
to the Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 21b and 24a:
1. Chanukah was instituted in 164 BCE by the Sages
of the Great Assembly/
Sanhedrin alone.
2. Chanukah and its eight (8) days are
celebrated because of the ‘miracle of oil’.
3. All the additional prayers: saying hallel and the special Chanukah
‘thanksgiving’
prayer (i,e., Al Hanissim)
were set by the above Sages of
the Sanhedrin in 164 BCE.
The only
matter under dispute was if Al Hanissim should be added to Grace after
Meals, and, if yes, at
which section.
Rav Huna, the
Head of the Sura academy (died 290/297 BCE)[xxix] did not include
it at all, Rav Huna bar Yehuda did include it with the section on Jerusalem and
Rav
Sheshet told his yeshiva students to include it in the blessing of
thanksgiving.
As such, these Talmud Bavli passages assert
that all Jews: even those beyond tiny Judea, celebrated Chanukah by
rabbinic/Sanhedrin decree from 164 BCE onward.
As noted
above, this was not the case with the Jews of Egypt.
And the claim
the Jews in Babylon and Mesopotamia did so from 164 BCE onward
is dubious.
Babylon and
nearby Sura and Pumbedita were under Seleucid
rule for almost another 40 years.
For Seleucid
rulers to allow Jews anywhere in the Empire to celebrate Chanukah and the
Maccabees’ rebellion would have been unthinkable.
They banned
Judaism (and other local religions) until late 163 BCE, and thereafter again
and again invaded Judea, laid siege to Jerusalem in efforts to impose a Hellenist High Priest/ruler: who would be the Head of the Sanhedrin[xxx].
Alcimus, the
Hellenist High priest/ruler imposed by the Seleucids, would have been Head of
the Sanhedrin for most of the time between 162 BCE and his death in 159 BCE, i.e.,
whenever Judah Maccabee and his followers were forced out from Jerusalem[xxxi].
Only c. 127
BCE did Seleucid rule over ancient Babylonia end, as Parthia took
over control[xxxii].
Also, the
Talmud’s ‘reason’ for the holiday and its eight (8) day duration is incorrect.
The ‘oil miracle’ story is of post -70 CE creation and totally unknown to the
contemporary Orthodox authors of 1
Maccabees and 2 Maccabees, and
even unknown to Josephus, who was of priestly family, and lived in Judea until
age 30.
So too the Chanukah
customs discussed in the Talmud re: any candle/oil lighting or special
Chanukiah menorah; they were also unknown to the early, contemporary sources
and even Josephus. Again, most likely post-70
CE innovations.
(See for detailed arguments the blog “Chanukah – the full
story”.)
Consequently,
whether Jews in areas outside Judea, who were still under Seleucid rule to at
least c. 127 BCE, celebrated Chanukah and the Maccabees’ rebellion is questionable.
And the emphasis on the ‘miracle of oil’
and home oil lights and Chanukiah are certainly post-70 CE.
CONCLUSION
Researching
Purim and Chanukah as preliminary background information for a better
understanding of my original focus: the two versions of the prayer, Al Hanissim, have uncovered many surprises.
Thanks to the
inclusion of Megilat Esther in the
Hebrew Canon, the story of Purim,
its Mordechai and Queen Esther heroes, and
detailed events have long been known
to every Jew: both adult and child.
However, that
has not been the case with Chanukah.
The Talmud Bavli’s texts represent later, evolved
ideas and customs: re: the
‘miracle of oil’ and home lights and Chanukiah, the instant ‘universality’ of
Chanukah, and a monolithic belief that both Purim and
Chanukah were instituted by the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem – alone.
All of this
is in conflict with the two contemporary Maccabees
sources: recorded by pious Jews, and even Josephus, of priestly
family, who lived in Judea until 67 CE.
Put simply, the
veils of times long past, lack of access to contemporary sources and ‘pious blinkered thinking’ have led to the
Talmud’s inaccuracies.
Also, as
noted in the previous blog “Chanukah – the full story”, the Scholion for Megilat Tannit for Kislev 25 and the discredited and error filled Megilat Antiochus/Maccabees/ Hasmoneans/ Chanukah– have only muddied the waters
further.
It
is unfortunate 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees, the true story of the Maccabees
and Chanukah, did not end up in the Hebrew Canon, and have for millennia been
unknown to Jewish rabbis, scholars and the Jewish general public.
Similarly Josephus’
Jewish Antiquities.
Fortunately,
the Jews of Egypt have had access to the Maccabees
text ever since the
3rd century BCE Greek Septuagint translation which included them as Holy Scripture.
Christians have also had access to the two Maccabees
for well over a millennium and a half: ever since Jerome’s translation of the Hebrew Tanach, the Latin Vuglate
(c.405 CE) also included the additional texts found in the Septuagint.
1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees have consequently been available
to this day (in Latin, Greek and various vernacular translations) to all
Catholics and Eastern Greek Orthodox Christians in their bibles, and were long
included in many Protestant translations, especially the landmark King James Bible (1611) and its offspring.[xxxiv]
We Jews alone
have been denied the ‘full story’ of Chanukah, and have too long relied on the
Talmud Bavli and related religious sources for Chanukah -- and even Purim-- and
their ‘pious, blinkered thinking’.
_______________________________________________________________________________
# # As a side note, Hellenism, the culture of ancient Greece -- first spread
by Alexander the Great and his conquest -- became the intellectual and scientific
foundation of every society and culture it touched.
The indebtedness of Western culture --
even today -- to those ancient Greeks is enormous.
Direct democracy from Athens [Representative democracy came from the early Roman
Republic], the Olympic games and sports
in general, theatre[1] and its offsprings: film
and TV, literature (Homer) life-like sculpture
in marble and bronze, realistic painting,
architecture and engineering, and the systematic study
of Science (Aristotle), medicine
(Hypocrates), mathematics and geometry
(Pythagoras), geography and anthropology (Herodotus),
philosophy and political science (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle) and history (Thucydides).
Their inventiveness and ideas overwhelmed the lands
conquered by Alexander the Great, were quickly adopted by the Romans, the Arab
world after 622 CE and only 'rediscovered' in Europe during the truly
appropriate label: Renaissance.
Josephus' Jewish Antiquities
and even 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees follow in Thucydides’
footsteps.
[iii] Briefly mentioned in 1 Maccabees
1:11-14 and in much detail in 2 Maccabees Ch. 4:7-20 and Josephus, Jewish Antiquities
Book 12:5:1
[v] 2 Maccabees ch. 5:5-7
[ix] 1 Maccabees ch 1: 41-64; 2 Maccabees
Ch 6-7; Josephus’ Jewish Antiquities, book 12 ch. 5:4
[x] Josephus, Jewish Antiquities Book12:
ch. 5:4 and ch 6: 2
[xv] 1 Maccabees ch 10, especially verse
21.
[xx]
While some of the Hasmonean coinage inscriptions refer
to the Hasmoneans as absolute kings,
e.g., “Yehonatan the King” and “Yehonatan
the King”, other coinage have a more
‘modest’ and ‘democratic’ tone: “ Yehochanan the High Priest, Head of the Council of the Jews”
and “Matityahu the High Priest, Council
of the Jews”. See Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasmonean_coinage
[xxiv]
See 1 Maccabees 4: 50-53 and http://www.usccb.org/bible/2maccabees/1 footnote there to verse 9.
There is an interesting mention of Chanukah’s Succot-like sacrifices of
bulls in Talmud Bavli, Shabbat 21b re:
dispute of two elders in Sidon.
[xxx] M
ishnah Sanhedrin 4:2 notes the Great
Assembly was to be made up mainly of priests and Levites. Under the
Maccabees/Hasmoneans, their family ruler/leaders acted as the Heads of the
Sanhedrin. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanhedrin
