Monday, December 22, 2008

Implications of Hanukah

It's now Hanukah for the next eight days. One interesting thing about Hanukah is that there is nothing about it in the Hebrew Bible. Strangely the Books of The Maccabees (there are 4 of them but only 2 are included) are found exclusively in the Catholic Bible (they are in the Apocrypha in the Protestant Bible). But, even in those Books nothing is mentioned about a miracle of the burning of one lamp's worth of oil for the whole 8 days. By the way, it took Solomon 8 days to cleanse and dedicate the first Temple.
So where does it come from this miracle and this Jewish festival? Clearly the defeat of the Seleucid Syrian Greeks in ca. 165 bce by Judah Maccabee (his name means "hammer") and his Jewish army, who defeated the armies of this pagan Empire over and over again against great odds, and then captured Jerusalem and cleansed and rededicated the Temple, was a story of great spiritual as well as historical meaning and seemed like a miracle. But, for some reason the Rabbis did not add it to the older canonical Bible that had been compiled mostly by the Prophet Ezra when he returned from the Babylonian exile around ca. 538 bce. Perhaps the tale of Jewish fighting and so much blood was not considered appropriate for the Bible, or more likely it was too new then to be simply added, not "holy" enough.
But, the Church fathers in the time of the converted Emperor Constantine in ca. 300 ce , when they came to compile the Christian Bible decided that the Book of Maccabees would be added to their version of the Old Testament. The reasons are quite obvious. The Christians had been fighting against a similarly oppressive Empire, the Roman one, and they saw the fight for religious freedom as a basic tenet of their faith. Further, it is debatable whether or not Jesus Christ would have existed historically or carried out his mission or St. Paul would have spread the word of that mission thru the Roman Empire, if the Maccabees had not successfully defeated the Seleucids and ensured the continuation of Judaism and monotheism. For Christianity it was an act of faith that the struggle and success of the Maccabees was a prelude to their Messiah's story. In other words, no Christmas without Hanukah!
We do not know whether or not Judah Maccabee was regarded as a Messiah by his own people in his day. But, his military capabilities were obviously of a high order, and there are stories in the Book of Maccabees of angels sent by God coming to his aid in battle. Sometime between 165 bce and around 200 ce the story of the miracle was apparently adopted by the Rabbis as an appropriate way to commemorate the festival of lights, religious freedom and the rededication of the Temple.
Unfortunately, the Romans would not tolerate an independent Jewish State in its Empire, and so they sent their legions that crushed the Jewish revolt and from 70 ce Jewish sovereignty ceased for 1,878 years, until the birth of the modern State of Israel in 1948.
But, while Jewish independence in this land was crushed, its offshoot Christianity bored deep into the heart of Roman culture, until its Emperors too adopted it. Then they stopped all repression against Christians, but not against Jews, that continued unabated from the pagan to the Christian Roman Empire. They seemed to have forgotten the message of the Maccabees and of Jesus himself.
In my opinion, it is a great pity that the Book of Maccabees was not included in the Jewish Bible and did not become more familiar to all Jews. Because it tells an epic story of Jewish resistance against great odds to achieve Jewish independence and religious freedom. Who knows if it had been included, maybe there would have been greater resistance in the past to the many repressions against the Jews by Christians and Muslims. But, then again, at least the festival of Hanukah was born that has enlightened our way for centuries.
Happy Hanukah to all my readers!

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