{"id":504,"date":"2014-04-10T01:11:50","date_gmt":"2014-04-10T01:11:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marcmangel.net\/?page_id=504"},"modified":"2014-04-10T01:11:50","modified_gmt":"2014-04-10T01:11:50","slug":"shabbat-chanukah-5767-2006","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/?page_id=504","title":{"rendered":"Shabbat Chanukah 5767 (2006)"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Drash for Shabbat<\/strong>\u00a0Chanukah 5767<\/strong><\/p>\n

by Marc Mangel<\/p>\n

Today I want to drash on Channukah, rather than the portion.<\/p>\n

Two factoids:<\/p>\n

1)\u00a0\u00a0 The black power fist is actually in Maoz Tzur<\/p>\n

2)\u00a0\u00a0 Herod is 6 generations removed from Matathias.<\/p>\n

Our bible consists of Torah\/Neviim\/Ketuvim.<\/span><\/p>\n

Neviim:\u00a0 Joshua, Judges,\u00a0 Samuel I, II, Kings I,II, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel; Hosea Joel, Amos, Obadiah,\u00a0 Jonah, Micagh, Nahum, Habkkuk, Zephaniah, Haggia, Zechariah, Malachi<\/span><\/p>\n

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

There are 3\u00a0 books from the time of the Macabees:\u00a0 Daniel and Macabees I, II \u2013 but the latter are not included in our Bible (but are in the Christian Bible)\u2014Why is this?<\/span><\/p>\n

Some Matters of Timing<\/span><\/p>\n

Macabees:170 BCE<\/p>\n

Revolt against Rome: 50-70 CE\u00a0 (220-250 years after Macabees)<\/p>\n

Mishnah\u00a0 200 CE<\/p>\n

Talmust\u00a0\u00a0 400 CE<\/p>\n

Book of\u00a0 Daniel,\u00a0 about 160 BCE \u2013 this is the latest book in our Bible<\/span><\/p>\n

Daniel was a pious Jew living under the persecution of Antiochus \u2013 he tells six stories, set in the time of Babylon just after the Persian conquest of Israel, to illustrate how faithful Jews, loyal to their religion, are able to succeed.<\/p>\n

Macabee I, about 140 BCE, with an addition just after 70 CE<\/span><\/p>\n

No miraculous interventions .\u00a0 It comes down to us in Greek, probably written by a Palestinian Jew who lived in Jerusalem. It is plain and straightforward and an excellent historical source.<\/p>\n

It is a military history starting with\u00a0 Alexander the Great (~350 BCE) and going to Antiochus \u2013 who lead the first outright religious persecution of Jews). It ends with the defeat of Nicanor, the last great battle won by Judah Macabee and includes a decree that we should celebrate the vanquishing of enemis on the 13th<\/sup> of Adar (Purim is the 14th<\/sup> of Adar)<\/p>\n

Macabees II, also called the book of Jason, is about 100 BCE.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It is a theological interpretation of history.\u00a0\u00a0 It is an abridgment of a five volume history, now lost, written by Jason of Cyrene. One of his favorite themes is the sanctity of the temple. It includes the reminder to keep the Feast of Booths in the month of Kislev.<\/p>\n

He is the first writer known to us who celebrates the deeds of martyrs\u00a0 (although foreshadowed in the Book of Daniel). The book includes the story of Eleazar, the high scribe, 90 years old and who would rather die than eat a morsel of pork, of a woman who proudly watched her 7 sons die in one day (indeed, encouraging the last two towards martyrdom) and the story of Razis, an elder of Jerusalem who fell on his sword rather than surrender<\/span><\/p>\n

At the time of the Roman rebellion, it was seen as the war of the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness\u2014a holy war believed by the Jewish participants to mean that heavy casualties and disastrous defeat in battle would only serve to spur the believing warrior to greater heights of self-sacrifice and valor<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Back to the question:<\/span><\/p>\n

Chanukah is mentioned in the Mishnah at least three times \u2013 always treated in the context\u00a0 as a \u2018dedication\u2019 and on the same level as Biblical holidays \u2013 it alone has survived through the centuries without justification in the Bible.<\/p>\n

The Macabees (Hasmoneans) are mentioned 6 times in the Talmud.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why are Macabees I, II not in our Bible?<\/span><\/p>\n

1)\u00a0\u00a0 They are not in Hebrew, the holy tongue.<\/p>\n

2)\u00a0\u00a0 The Misnhah was codified by Jews who had to work with the Romans and the inclusion of Macabees would have been difficult \u2013 celebrating military victories.\u00a0 And indeed, until the rise of the state of Israel, Hannukah was rarely seen as (to quote Daniel Garnick) the first uprising of an Eastern people against a western oppressor<\/span><\/p>\n

3) The Rabbis are telling us, through this act of omission, that extolling martyrdom is unacceptable. This is an important lesson for the world today<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Drash for Shabbat\u00a0Chanukah 5767 by Marc Mangel Today I want to drash on Channukah, rather than the portion. Two factoids: 1)\u00a0\u00a0 The black power fist is actually in Maoz Tzur 2)\u00a0\u00a0 Herod is 6 generations removed from Matathias. Our bible consists of Torah\/Neviim\/Ketuvim. Neviim:\u00a0 Joshua, Judges,\u00a0 Samuel I, II, Kings I,II, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel; … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":53,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"full-width-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-504","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/504","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=504"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/504\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":505,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/504\/revisions\/505"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/53"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}