Canadian University Ends Queries on Religion
Maccabaean Era Among Historical Periods
Discussed in 'Jews: Alexander to Herod'
Commentaries on Canonical and
extra-Canonical book, on apocry-
phal and Qumran literature, form
a major portion of a very scholarly
work, "The Jews From Alexander
to Herod," by Prof. D. S. Russell
of Northern Baptist College, Man-
chester. It is part of the New
Clarendon Bible series published
by Oxford University Press and it
uses the text of the Revised Stan-
dard Version.
In this extensively illustrated
book the eminent Christian scholar
includes among his commentaries
discussions of and annotations on
the books of Maccabees, Esther,
Canticles (Song of Songs), Zecha-
riah, Ecclesiastes, Daniel, Enoch,
Isaiah, Jubilees and the Psalms.
Assuming special significance
at this time is the volume's
thorough review of the period of
the Maccabees, of the Macca-
baean revolt, the events that
marked acquisition of indepen-
dence by Jews and its eventual
loss under the Romans.
Because of its issuance during
the Hanuka week, Dr. Russell's
historical review deserves more
than passing attention. While his
account also extends to the Dis-
persion, to the role of the Romans
and to the various Jewish exper-
iences extending over a period of
some 500 years, the data regarding
the Maccabees is primarily im-
pressive.
Thoroughly informative in its en-
tirety. the Russell volume has a
most interesting account of the
relationships between Alexander
Herod's rule, the personality of
the great but cruel king, the court
introgues, family squabbles, mur-
ders, the eventual loss of state-
hood by Jews—these form another
important part of the historical
account brilliantly analyzed by Dr.
Russell.
Dr. Russel deals most interest-
i ngly with the Dispersion. He pre-
LONDON, Ont. (JTA)—The Uni-
versity of Western Ontario here
announced Tuesday that it will
remove questions on religious be-
lief from registration verification
forms that are filled out by en-
rolling students. The announce-
ment, by university president D.
Carlton Williams, was in response
to students' complaints that the
question was an infrigement of
their civil liberties.
Dr. Williams said that the in-
formation on religion was kept for
These references point to a growing
influential population, some of
whose members were yet to play an
important role in public life, particu-
larly in the later years of the first
century A.D.
"By far the most important center
of the western Dispersion, however,
was Egypt, and especially Alexandria.
Jer. 44' records that a company of Jews
and
migrated there shortly after the fall
of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., whilst Ara-
maic papyri discovered at Elephantine
show that a Jewish military colony
was stationed there as early as the
sixth century B.C. No real cultural or
religious significance, however, attaches
to this Jewish community until the time
of Ptolemy 1, who, as we have observed,
is said to have transported there 100,-
000 Jews whom Ptolemy IL subsequently
set free."
sents illuminating sets of figures
hat deserve study regarding the
growth of the Jewish population
i n both Palestine and the Diaspora
—figures that have great merit
The section in Dr. Russell's book
comparatively in studying the re-
cent declines and what could have dealing with the religion of the
Jews,
with Judaism's foundations,
been an overwhelming Jewish pop-
is of great value in understanding
ulation.
Indicating the influence of Gen- the origin of the synagogue, the
functions of the religious centers,
tile culture and belief upon Jewry,
the Egyptian form of Hellenization the services and the manner in
which they were conducted, adher-
and other factors that affected
ence to dietary laws, hatred of
Jewish life, Dr. Russell states:
"Although t h e fundamental idolatry, etc.
This section alone and the merits
tenents of Judaism remained un-
changed, this exposure of the of the interpretive approaches to
Jews to the Gentile world—both Jewish religious ideas elevate Dr.
in the Dispersion and in Pales- Russell's work to great signifi-
tine—left a deep impression on cance. Few works of its kind eval-
their thinking and reveals itself uate synagogue worship as clearly
in not a few of the writings of as does this book.
Then there are the explanatory
this period. Many of the books
issued at this time had a polemic notes about the canonicity of the
and apologetic aim—they attack- Prophets and the excerpted sec-
ed the religions of the heathen tions from apocryphal works as
and exalted the religion of the well as the annotations that give
God of their fathers. None, how- this book great merit. "The Jews
ever, could compare in influence From Alexander to Herod" is a
with the Septuagint translation noteworthy volume, from the point
of the Scriptures, which unlocked of view of history, religion and
the treasures of the Hebrew re- biblical explorations.
the Great and the Jews. The re-
ception that was givn by the Jews
of Jerusalem when they opened the
city's gates to Alexander obviated
a possible state of war. It created
friendship. Jews retained their re-
ligion to the whole Gentile world.
This, together with the vast net-
work of synagogues in every part
of the Dispersion and the many
thousands of `God-fearers' not
yet fully committeed to the Jew-
ish faith, prepared the way as
nothing else could have done for
the advancement of Christianity
and the remarkable growth of
the early Christion Church."
Prof. Russel, in his chapter on
"The Dispersal," presents an in-
ligious freedom. It was introduc-
tory to the era of the Ptolemies
under whom Jewish scholars met
to translate the Bible into Greek,
the 70 gathered scholars in Alexan-
dria having produced the Septua-
gint.
It introduced a period of syna- teresting set of population figures,
indicating among other facts the
gogue-building and of the estab- following:
ment of a large Alexandrian
"Attempts hare been made to assess
colony. Dr. Russel explains in the total population of the Jews in the
aatf itglzuerebzin, ningto of ig
thhet
retalion to the Septuagint that it Roman
C hris tia n
was "for the benefit of the millions often being given. The len-
Alexandrian Jews who were no li te eRa credof fig tzit' r e„so Trzi arl■ e is ' gg gZf„ gar:sact;i
longer able to read Hebrew and ment a hazardous undertaking. Jo-
for example, suggests that there
for whom the translations in the sephus, touttl
Gali-
ft ree . million
s in Cali-
synagogue services were quite lee alone fr
ar III. iii . 2), whilst
Philo
reckons
that there were a million
inadequate."
in Alexandria, comprising one-eighth
and occupying
Thus it was a period of Ilelleni- of the total imputation
city
ire
Dr. Russell draws extensively
upon Josephus, although he indi-
cates that the Jewish historian
of the 1st Century often was in
error. He presents a thorough
account of the jealousies among
the Maccabaean ruler s, the
search for power, the resort to
friendship with Rome in order
to over Syrian influences and
Hellenistic power. That is how
Rome gained a foothold and
eventual control of Palestine.
passage he tells of Jews living in Mace-
donia, Greece. and the Mediterranean
Islands. In Cyrennica, to, and in places
much further to the west, Jewish COnt-
munities had been known from Ptole-
maic times. limner and Cicero indicate,
moreover, that across the sea in ROM°
there were Jews to be found during
the first century 13.C., whilst Philo re-
cords that in the time of Augustus
there was in that sante city a consider-
able Jewish community of freed-men
who possessed their Ot•71 synagogues
(cf Embassy to Gains xxIll. 155 ff.).
Later, still, after the death of Herod,
It is reported that a Jewish deputation
to Rome was met there by more than
men (cf
8,000 Jews, presumably W
ar I;
U. vi.
Antiquities roll. xi.
eciJe212,
Jeeettifte-
the convenience of others, espec-
ially chaplains and was not used
by the university. The university's
Murry 8G Shirlee Koblin
Ben-Shari-Carolyn-Richard
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, December 29, 1967-5
U.S.ScienceBookExhibit
Appeals to Israel Youth
JERUSALEM—Noting the inter-
est in science books among young
people in Israel, John A. Congleton,
U.S. cultural attache, said at the
opening of a U.S. Science and
Technology Book Exhibition at the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
that this accounted for the fact
that a large part of the exhibition
was of elementary and secondary
school level.
The exhibition is presented by
the U.S. Information Service in co-
operation with 54 contributing
American publishers and includes
850 volumes published in the U.S.
during the last 2-3 years.
zation. But the emergence of the t(7,. gaecthiL
43i. There can tb'ee
not as
oppressions. Soon the period of doubt that the Jews, though
prolific as these figures suggest, were
religious freedom ended and: "The nevertheless very numerous and in cer-
tactics of Antiochus made it clear tain countries made up a fair propor- 1
to many of the faithful in Israel tio.! rir i ' Sreth ea'S'' n "I lnit-' „T"„wish commun-
Mesopotamia, for
that the antagonism between Hel- . ity in Babylonia and
example, tracing back its origins to
lenism and Judaism was not the deportations front Judaea in 586
II, who
R.C.
(cf.
Antiquities
merely a matter of social standing
a well-organ iced community
or culture: where their religion formed
close contact with Palestine. The Book
is that
background
and their Law were concerned it of Esther, whose
iDispersion ,
was from now on a matter of life aq le t he t " Tarut I
t11
ac titT
a " te
of the Jewish community in these ports
and death."
Thus there soon began the strug-
gle against persecutions by the however, until the emergence of the
Babylonian Talmud about the begin-
Syrian rulers and the subsequent ning of the Sixth Century A.D. In Syria ,
strong,
triumph of the Maccabees. Helen- too the Jews were numerically
especially in Antioch and Damascus. As
ism had made inroads in Jewish Ire have seen. Onins III lived there for
tradition,
time
and.
according
to
one
a
life. The domination of Antiochus
A ti
t
ne ,ant./1 ,near
met
IV who called himself Epiphanes-
s u gg es t s,
"Tile
reference is to be taken literally,
the God-manifest — and who was the
en4Lm.
or
branded by many of his people that Cen tr"y B.C, members of the Qum-
migrated to Damascus.
who despised him as Ei ) i lll anes- ran eornmunity
, ictligty.to,,ocItoi ,Inly Jiejt y :Lerebul:latiltst z
rd
2i,,Ageor,
the mad, sought the total destruc-
where,
tion of the Jewish faith. This is in and Asia Minor
xless
i
where the Maccabees, Mattathias to-f.
;3141.
to
the(' 4tac sr ex .1."2T5',2s
1: 1 1 ‘ , ■
t
the
end
of the
Dine
(forwards
the
From
sons,
stepped
in
to
and his five
prevent defilement of faith. It was g't!eradt "L"p":;gtend C.2.000n S= "Pa';:ilinees
to Lydia and Plirygia to serve in his
the beginning of an era of rulers army
their numbers_ grew rapidly. As
who, in turn, sought domination, Philo remarks, 'as far as Bithynia ad
the Jew-
resorted to cruelties, were guilty the remotest parts of Polity.'
m-
ish people were to be found (cf
of misdemeanors.
bossy to Gains xx.r•l. MIL In the same
faculty club announced that it
would hold no official functions on
the grounds of clubs that were dis-
criminatory in membership policies.
'68s
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