December 24, 1943
DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle
2
e-gia Chanukah Reflections
By SIDNEY J. JACOBS
It is fortunate that a combina-
tion of historical and chronological
circumstances served to place the
Books of the Maccabees outside
the embrace of the Bible and in-
stead in that large body of Apo-
cryphal literature which, althoug h
highly important, was not read
by the masses of the Jews as con-
scientiously as was the Tanach.
If the story of the Hasmoneans
would have been as much a part
of the folk experience of Jewry
in the Piaspora as were the events
of the Old Testament, their reac-
tion to persecution might have
been far different from what it
was, and a Bialik would not have
had to cry out in bitterness
against the pacifism of tormented
Israel.
Hellenism and the Jews
The nationalistic and universal-
istic attitudes of mind among the
Jews during the Greek period re-
sisted or welcomed, respectively,
the influence of Hellenic thought
and culture; but it could not be
wholly resisted even by the na-
tionalists. (The historian Tarn, in
his "Hellenic Civilization," de-
fines Hellenism as "merely a con-
venient label for the civilization
of the three centuries during
which Greek culture radiated far
from the homeland.")
Greek influences upon the Jews
were exercises primarily and more
potently upon those living away
from Palestine; but in the politi-
cal and social spheres many cities
in Palestine became wholly Greek
in population and government,
thus influencing neighboring cities,
while even in many cities which
were preponderantly Jewish Greek
customs prevailed.
In the domain of literature we
have first and foremost the Sep-
tuagint, the Greek translation of
the Holy Scriptures. Outside the
Greek Canon there were various
important Jewish works written
in Greek. So far as the Jewish
religion was concerned, the funda-
mental tenets of Judaism remained
uninfluenced; but, especially among
the Jews of the Dispersion, Greek
thought profoundly affected the
religious outlook of the Jews in
various directions.
Antiochus the Third
In the year 240 Before the Com-
mon Era, peace was concluded be-
tween the empires of Egypt and
Syria. With the advent of Antio-
chus III to the Syrian throne a
new era in the history of the
Near East began.
Our knowledge of the history of
the Jews under the rule of the
Ptolemys of Egypt is scanty; some
references occur in the historical
retrospect given in the book of
Daniel, and a few other details
are to be gathered elsewhere. Upon
the whole, it was a period of
quietude for the Jews; this is
borne out by the fact that, ac-
cording to the, doubtless correct,
opinion of most scholars, the pe-
riod was one of considerable lit-
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in his endeavor to make the Jews
of the nation conform to the re-
ligion of the rest of his people.
The first step in resisting this
attempt was taken by a priest
named Mattathias, the head of a
family living in the village of Mo-
dein. He slew the king's emis-
sary who had come to o:er sacri-
fice on a heathen altar, and then
called upon all those who were
faithful to the Law to follow him
into the mountainous districts and
organize resistance. His call was
widely responded to. But as Mat-
tathias was now an old man, he
delegated the leadership of the
revolt to his son, Judah.
The Lesson from History
If the venerable Mattathias had
not lent a militant ring to his
call, "Whosoever is for the Lord,
follow me," the congregation of
Israel might have followed him,
indeed, but merely into the syna-
gogue to sit, fasting and weep-
ing, on the bare floor, reading an
earlier counterpart of Lamenta-
ing Hellenistic customs was clue
to this party, but in the first in-
stance the religious question did
not arise. The conflict between
the houses of Onias and Tobias
was a contributory, though in-
direct, cause of the revolt.
The primary direct entry of
Antiochus Epiphanes (who suc-
ceeded his father, Antiochus III,
to the Syrian throne in the sum-
mer of 175 B. C. E.) into Jewish
affairs was due to the refusal of
the Orthodox party among the
Jews to recognize the right of
their suzerain to appoint the High-
priest. This culminated in the at-
tempt to drive out Menelaus from
the High-priesthood, to which he
had been appointed, in place of
Jason, by Antiochus.
The Hellenistic party among the
Jews encouraged Antiochus in his
attempt to stamp out Judaism; so
that the Maccabean revolt was
largely due to what was, in ef-
fect, an alliance between Antio-
chus and the Hellenistic Jews
against the orthodox party.
Thus fortified, Antiochus went
to work with the utmost energy
See REFLECTIONS—Page 6
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erary activity.
In the summer of 221 B. C. E.,
Antiochus III made an attempt to
invade Coele-Syria, which included
Jewish Palestine. It failed on ac-
count of the well-defended fort-
resses of the Lebanon, which were
under the care of Theodotus, the
commander-in-chief of the Egyp-
tion army in Syria. Trouble in
other parts of his empire com-
pelled Antiochus to withdraw his
army. In 219 B. C. E. he made
another attempt; this began by
being successful; but a four
months' truce gave an opportun-
ity for the Egyptian army to be
reorganized. Nevertheless, during
the year 218 B. C. E. Antiochus
continued a successful career
southwards, and it was not until
the next year that the results of
the careful reorganization of the
Egyptian army bore fruit; for in
June, 217, the army under Antio-
chus was severely defeated at the
battle of Raphia by the Egyptians,
under the command of Ptolemy IV,
Philopator; Antiochus was driven
out of Syria and for a number of
years he made no further attempt
to conquer the land. It is probable
that some passages in Zechariah
9.14 contain references to this
period of history, as is clearly
the case in the book of Daniel.
In 203 B. C. E, Ptolemy IV
died, and the serious troubles in
Egypt which arose during the
minority of his son offered Antio-
chus another chance of conquering
Syria. The task was not an easy
one; but at the battle of Panium
(198 B. C. E.) he gained an over-
whelming victory, and Syria
passed finally into the possession
of the Seleuci dynasty.
Antiochus III (not the Antio-
chus of the Chanukah story, but
his father) treated the Jews who
thus came under his control fa-
vorably! but the internal affairs
of the Jewish people, owing to the
rivalry of the two ruling, houses
of Onias and Tobias, were des-
tined to be difficult.
Antiochus Epiphanes
We must remember that one of
causes of the Maccabean revolt
was the existence of the Helleniz-
ing party among the Jews them-
selves. The initiative in introduc-
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DETROIT
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