The Miracle
A retelling of the
familiar story turns
up new insights.
OZZIE NOGG SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
of Chanukah
t's Chanukah time! We all know day after Antiochus profaned it — the menorah to use until a new, kosher one
the characters and the plot. Temple was rededicated. For eight days was ready for the Temple service.)
It was up to the rabbis to bring God
Wicked Antiochus vs. the brave the people celebrated, then decreed that
Maccabees in a struggle for all Jews should keep these eight days into all these theories, and about 300
years after the Maccabean victory the
religious freedom. The victory of every year. And so ends the story.
But what's wrong with this picture? legend of the oil was born. Here's the
the few over the many. The Tem-
ple rededicated! The miraculous There is no mention of the oil! The mir- scenario, as found in the Gemarah.
"What is Chanukah?" ask the rabbis.
cruse of oil! What more can be said acle is missing!
According to the above historical ac- They answer that the Chanukah festi-
about such a familiar festival?
val starts on 25 Kislev and lasts for eight
Maybe a retelling will reveal some- count from Maccabees I and
days. They mention the Maccabees
thing new in the story of the Festival of II, Chanukah
0
and describe the discovery of the
is celebrated 0
Lights.
0 0 0
0 0 0
one pure cruse of oil and the divine
After Alexander the Great conquered for eight days
miracle that followed.
Palestine, Greek culture and customs not because a
In a few sentences, the rabbis re-
swept the land. By 176 BCE, when cruse of oil
duced the Maccabees to bit-play-
Antiochus IV became king, Hellenism miraculously
ers and made the miracle of the
was the vogue, helped in large measure burned
oil, symbolic of God's endless
by the Jewish High Priests them- longer than
wonders, the star of the show.
expected but
selves.
They reminded the people that
The priests built gymnasia, ignored because the
Judah and his men didn't win on their
their sacred duties and encouraged the Jews (who couldn't prop-
own and that nothing comes without
Jews to adopt Greek ways. Many aris- erly observe Suk k ot while
God's help.
tocrats and intellectuals were so
Scholars feel that this downplaying
seduced by Greek culture they • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
of the Maccabees reflects the rabbis'
seemed ready to give up their
distaste for the celebration of military
bout 300
Torah.
victories and their disapproval of the
There also were many Jews
years after the
later Hasmoneans as well. You see,
who resisted — students and
though Mattathias and his sons fought
teachers, farmers and peasants,
Maccabean victory the
for Jewish survival, their descendants
and a particularly pious group of
adopted Greek ways, abused their pow-
Hasmoneans. The Hasmoneans
oil was born.
er, oppressed their own people and
fought Hellenism. They also legend of the
brought dark days — again — to the
fought their Hellenized brothers.
Jews.
The priests fought one another
This year, when you light the first
for power. All in all, these were very fighting the Syrians in the hills) were
now able to observe a feast of rededi- candle, rethink the Chanukah charac-
dark days.
Meanwhile, the unification of Anti- cation patterned on Sukkot — the fes- ters and plot. Antiochus and the Mac-
ochus' polyglot kingdom was proving tival, by the way, on which both the 1st cabees certainly head the bill. But
difficult. In frustration, he turned on and 2nd Temples were originally dedi- remember the assimilated, Hellenized
Jews who played a part in the things
the Jews, determined to enforce Hel- cated.
Where, then, does the "oil story" come that befell us.
lenism. Hundreds of devout Jews were
Remember, also, the Hasmoneans,
martyred rather than betray God's com- from, and how did Chanukah become
mandments. Even some Hellenized the Festival of Lights? Here are some of who ended up fighting among them-
selves, and with other Jews, over who
Jews thought Antiochus had gone too the theories.
1. Originally, the festival marked the was more priestly, more royal and more
far.
The revolt started when Mattathias winter solstice. The Egyptians tried to right.
During the week, remember that as
the Hasmonean killed a fellow Jew who rekindle the sun by burning oil lamps
we
add each additional light we grow in
outside
their
homes
all
night,
and
the
was about to bow at a heathen altar.
Mattathias promptly headed for the hills Jews simply copied their neighbors and holiness. When the lights of Chanukah
with his five boys. They were joined by this pagan ritual wound up, centuries increase, said Hillel, the light ofJudaism
increases to dispel the darkness of the
Hasmoneans and other "zealots" and for later, as candles at Chanukah.
2. The candles are miniature versions world.
three years this rag-tag army (led by
Finally, when all the candles are blaz-
Mattathias' son, Judah the Maccabee) of the huge, flaming menorot and
ing,
remember the cruse of oil. It has
bonfires
used
in
early
Sukkot
celebra-
battled the Syrian legions.
burned far longer than eight days. De-
In 165 BCE the Maccabees tions.
3. The candles recall the eight spears spite enemies from without and enemies
recaptured Jerusalem, reclaimed the
Temple, built a new altar that the Maccabees found lying outside from within, the flame of Jewish sur-
and on 25 Kislev — three years to the the Temple. (The soldiers apparently vival has never gone out.
And that is the true miracle. II
stuck the spears in the ground, doused
Ozzie Nogg is a writer in Omaha, Neb.
them with oil and had a temporary
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