{"id":2386,"date":"2016-06-16T23:57:03","date_gmt":"2016-06-16T23:57:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marcmangel.net\/?page_id=2386"},"modified":"2016-06-17T00:14:46","modified_gmt":"2016-06-17T00:14:46","slug":"channukah-5763","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/?page_id=2386","title":{"rendered":"Channukah (5763)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Drash Cards for Channukah (5763)<\/strong><\/p>\n

by Marc Mangel<\/p>\n

\u2022 Here’s a long drash, to complement the longest grace after meals in the year.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Our Bible consists of the \u00a0Torah\/Nevi’im\/Ketuvim — TaNaCh as an acronym.<\/p>\n

\u2022 We know the five books of the Torah \u00a0Here are the Nevi’im: Joshua, Judges, I Samuel, II Samule, I Kings, II JKings, Isiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel; and the twelve: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi<\/p>\n

\u2022 And the Ketuvim: Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah. I Chronicles, and II Chronicles.<\/p>\n

\u2022 There are 3 books from the time of the Maccabees (~170 BCE): Daniel, Maccabees I, II. \u00a0The books of Maccabees are not in our bible (they are in the Christian Bible). \u00a0Why is this?<\/p>\n

\u2022 First some aspects of timing. \u00a0The Maccabees (successful) ~170 BCE; the revolt against Rome (unsuccessful ~ 50-70 CE), the Mishnah (~200 CE) and the Talmud (~400 CE)<\/p>\n

\u2022 The Book of Daniel ~160 CE. \u00a0The author was a pious Jew living under the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes. To encourage his suffering fellow-believers, he tells \u00a0six stories and four dream-visions of Babylon just before and after the Persian conquest, illustrating how faithful Jews loyally practicing their religion were able to triumph over their enemies<\/p>\n

\u2022 I Maccabees ~ 140 BCE with an addition after 70 CE. \u00a0There are no miraculous interventions; indeed it is a military history.<\/p>\n

\u2022 It comes down to us in Greek, probably written by a Palestinian Jew who lived in Jerusalem with a plain and straightforward style. \u00a0The victory is celebrated on the 13 of Adar (v 48-49).<\/p>\n

\u2022 Purim is 14 Adar. Coincidence? \u00a0The quote Nero Wolfe: \u00a0In a world of cause and effect, all coincidence is suspect.<\/p>\n

\u2022 II Maccabees ~100 BCE gives a theological interpretation of history. It is an abridgement of a five volume history — now lost — written by Jason of Cyrene (it is sometimes called the Book of Jason)<\/p>\n

\u2022 This is the first book that celebrates the deeds of martyrs such as Eleazar the high scribe who at 90 years old would rather die than eat pork (Ch 6, v 18-27); of Razis — one of the elders of Jerusalem — who fell on his sword rather than surrender to sinners (Ch 14, v37-44)<\/p>\n

\u2022 The time of the Roman Rebellions was considered the War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness: any war believed by the Jewish participants to be a Holy War, heavy casualties and disastrous defeat in battle would only serve to spur the believing warrior to greater heights of self-sacrifice and valor. God had abandoned his Temple, but he would never abandon his people.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Channukah is in the Mishnah at least three times — always treated as a ‘dedication’ on the same level with the Biblical holidays even though there is no justification for it in the Bible.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The Maccabees\/Hasmonean are mentioned 6 times in the Talmud.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Back to my question: why are books of Maccabees not in our Bible? \u00a0First, they are not in Hebrew. \u00a0Second, the Mishnah was codified by Jews who had to work with Romans. Third, the Rabbis are telling us that extolling martyrdom is unacceptable — this is something that has been in Jewish law since 400 CE.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Drash Cards for Channukah (5763) by Marc Mangel \u2022 Here’s a long drash, to complement the longest grace after meals in the year. \u2022 Our Bible consists of the \u00a0Torah\/Nevi’im\/Ketuvim — TaNaCh as an acronym. \u2022 We know the five books of the Torah \u00a0Here are the Nevi’im: Joshua, Judges, I Samuel, II Samule, I … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":51,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"full-width-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2386","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2386"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2390,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2386\/revisions\/2390"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/51"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}