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A Call For Maccabees

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Behind the fable of miracle oil lies a struggle
for Jewish unity

IRVING GREENBERG SPECIAL TO THE JEW! SH NEWS

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n Oct. 16, in the year ingness to resort to armed revolt.
164 B.C.E. the victo-
The Maccabees' acculturation
rious
Maccabees of elements of Hellenistic culture
rededicated the puri- (without assimilating) enabled
fied Jerusalem Temple, thus them both to rule and to reach
launching the checkered history out and engage other Jews who
of Chanukah, the Feast of Dedi- were drawn into the orbit of Hel-
cation.
lenism.
Ironically, three or four years
The Maccabee coalition
earlier, the widespread Jewish Hasmoneans in alliance with
unrest seemed to be an ineffec- some activist Chasidim, some ac-
tive rebellion going nowhere. And c ulturating Jews and some re-
in less than four years, the tri- c laimed Hellenizers — won the
umphant reversal of 164 itself b attle for supremacy in Judea.
seemed to have petered out into
Nevertheless, the coalition
a failed revolution. Judah was c ould not close the religious gap
dead and the Hasmoneans were b etween the Maccabees and the
retreating into crushed passivi- C hasidim. The Chasidim "went
ty.
h ome" after the rededication of
Seventeen years later, the the Temple, satisfied to live their
Maccabees were back in the sad- r eligion and fearful of the cor-
dle, ruling a virtually indepen- ruption in exercising political
dent Judea. Judah's brother, rule.
Simon, was in full command as
This separation weakened Ju-
prince and high priest. Sixty d ah and his a associates. The
years later, the expanded Has- G reeks and their Hellenizing
monean empire was racked by J ewish allies looked for support
internal distress and civil war.
among the divided Jews. In 160
During the next century, a cas- B .C.E., the shrunken Maccabee
cade of religious conflict, assimi- fo rtes were crushed by a resur -
lating sovereigns and failed ge nt Greek army and Judah was
power politics set the Hasmonean kill ed.
line on its final downswing. The
Over the course of the next
situation culminated in a Roman de cades, the Maccabees came
takeover. A futile Jewish upris- ba ck. In their victories, they had
ing led to a crushing destruction th e advantage of rallying Jews
of Temple and kingdom in the ag ainst military invasion and on
year 70 C.E.
be half of self-rule and lower tax-
The lessons of the up-and- ati on.
down career of Chanukah and
But this limited coalition could
the Maccabees are worth pon- no t cure the religious split of the
dering.
Je wish people. The Hasmonean
The uprising was begun by d ynasty was weakened by reli-
traditional Jews who rebelled gin us isolationism and critique
against the growing Helleniza- fro m the right, and by assimila-
lion of Judea, both voluntary and do n to Hellenism and the loss of
imposed.
va lues that plagued its own
But the revolt was going ranks.
nowhere because the Chasidim
The inability to raise Has-
of those days were reluctant to mo nean royal families fortified
fight or engage in political action. by Jewish faith and practices suf-
They were also culturally sepa- fici ent to resist the corruptions of
rated from the majority of Jews int ernational politics and the
who were Hellenizing, more or tem ptations of Hellenism con-
less.
tin uously weakened the later
The Maccabees changed the gen erations. Religion was some-
balance of power by their will- tim es used to justify the family's
fac
platy onal fighting over power and
Irving Greenberg is president of
ce. Polarization prevented ef-
CLAL — The National Jewish
fee tive employment of Torah to
Center for Learning and
the ck the lusting after Greek —
Leadership and author of The
the n Roman — assimilation. The
Jewish Way (New York:
eve ntual outcome was civil war
Summit Books). This article
and a Roman takeover.
was supplied by the Jewish
Only in dependency and exile,
Telegraphic Agency.
did a renewed Jewish religion