Hanukkah commemorates the victory of the Jews over the Greeks during the Second Temple period. The identity of the victors is clear. They were religious Jews fighting under the high priest Mattisyahu and his five sons. The most important one was Judah Maccabee. Maccabee means hammer and Judah was the hammer that crushed the enemies of religion. It is also an acronym for the Hebrew expression, “Who among the powers is like You Hashem?” (מי כמוכה באלים יי).
The identity of enemy is garbled. One component was the Jews who had embraced Greek culture, who were known as Hellenists. Another component was King Antiochus. He was a descendant of a major general of Alexander the Great and like him from Macedonia.
The Greeks themselves were not involved. However, the Greek approach to knowledge especially nature and science, was the foundation of the war. Essentially they said that there is a natural explanation for everything. The Jewish position was, “the head of wisdom is fear of Hashem”, (Psalm 111:10). In other words when dealing with any subject, especially at a high level, one will see the hand of G-d, the truth of the Tanach, and the obligation to live according to its precepts. This is particularly true of the sciences. Nature is to G-d what clothing and tools are to a man. In addition at some point this becomes clear and to deny it requires at least intellectual dishonesty and at worst blatant fraud. It is not difficult to see how strong adherents would find each other's point of view to be extremely offensive.
Ritual purity became a strong issue and the Hellenists would specifically defile the Temple. This infuriated Yochanan the grandson of the Cohen Gadol who proceeded to murder Nicanor, the viceroy of the emperor Antiochus, over it. A war ensued and against all odds, what amounts to a small number of hasidim militarily defeated the greatest empire of the time.
After the war the Maccabees purified the Temple. When the went to ceremonially light the menorah, they only found a one day supply of pure oil. It would take eight days to produce more oil. Even so they lit it and a miracle occurred when this oil lasted eight days. However, thoughtful people said the real miracle was that they won the war. A festival was declared. They called it Hanukkah, which is a form of the Hebrew word, dedication, because the Temple was rededicated.
The middle of Hanukkah tends to fall on the winter solstice. The Talmud in book dealing with idolatry talks about ancient holidays falling at this time. It explains that when Adam the first man saw that the days were getting shorter he feared that because of his sin the world was reverting to desolation and chaos. When at the solstice the days started getting longer, he realized that this was the nature of the world, and declared this period as an eight day holiday. Adam intended the holiday for the sake of heaven, but in later generations it degenerated into an idolatrous disgrace.
Adam saw the hand of G-d in nature, but this insight degenerated. With the Hanukkah victory the idea that G-d can be seen in nature was publicized and continued to gain strength. Therefore Hanukkah can also be seen as the rededication of what may be mankind's first holiday.
לע"נ הסבא אהרן בן יוסף ז"ל נלב"ע כז טבת תשכו
העלון ניתן לקבל בדואר אלקטרוני וגם באתר http://dyschreiber.blogspot.com
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