Posted by: Joe Yudin | December 14, 2009

Each and every Hanukkah, Jewish people all over the world celebrate the Jewish victory of the first war for religious freedom, led by Judah the Maccabee and his brothers against the larger Syrian-Greek army which controlled a large portion of the known world. But this victory over our oppressors is greatly overshadowed by the giant "miracle" of the holy olive oil which had been blessed by the High Priest (Cohen haGadol) lasting a whole eight days rather than the expected one day. This is a miracle because it takes a whole week to produce the extra virgin olive oil that was need to light the Menorah that stood outside the rededicated Temple of God in Jerusalem. Why does this miracle overshadow the real story of Hanukkah which was a decade long struggle against all odds for our very survival and religious freedom? Isn't the "Miracle of Lights" just a minor miracle compared to the great wonders God performed for the Jewish people in the times of the Hebrew Bible? How do we explain this?

By the early 2nd century B.C.E. we find two separate and distinct groups in Judea: devout Jews called 'Hasidim' resisting Hellenism, and assimilated Jews who have embraced it. These two Jewish groups were forced into confrontation that played out in the Books of Maccabees and other sources. The Greek culture, called 'Hellenism', if embraced fully by all Jews in the Land of Israel would have meant the end of the Jewish nation and the Hasidim resisted it. In this singular event of the 'Hannukah' rebellion we can see that the Torah, as it had been handed down over the years since the Babylonian exile, had become the center of being for Jews of this particular sect.[1] Their victory over the Syrian-Greek forces wrought an age of freedom and independence (albeit with ties to Egypt, Persia and Rome) to Judea for almost 100 years.
Be deliberate in judgment, raise up many disciples, and make a fence around the Torah.[2]

By the time John Hyrcanus, a Maccabbean (Hasmonean) king, ascended to the throne of Judea (135-105 B.C.E.), the Sanhedrin had become "a composite body of priests (Cohanim) and laymen, presided over by the High Priest."[3] It was during this century that the previous split between the Hassidim and Hellenist Jews reemerged with a twist. Two sects: the 'Sadducees' and the 'Pharisees' had been developing and in the twilight years of the rule of John Hyrcanus the split became more profound. Hyrcanus was an expansionist king, conquering Israel's border cities and incorporating other nations into his own. Not only was he king and High Priest, but he was also considered a recipient of the Heavenly Voice בת קול)).[4]
At the commencement of his rule he maintained close relations with the Pharisees, who also recognized his religious authority. Later rabbinic tradition depicts him as having been "righteous originally" (Ber. 29a)…The Mishnah (Sot. 9:10) ascribes certain regulations with regard to the Temple and the priestly portions to him. In the course of time, however, the authoritarian and secularist character of his administration began to show itself – a fact which also found expression in the recruitment of a force of foreign mercenaries from Asia Minor. The high priest came closer to the Sadducees and in his last years a breach occurred between him and the Pharisees. According to rabbinic tradition "Johanan officiated in the high priesthood for 80 years and in the end became a Sadducee" (Ber. 29a; Jos., Ant., 13:288ff.).[5]

According to the 1st century C.E. Jewish general turned Roman historian Josephus Flavius, John Hyrcanus switched over to the Sadducees as a result of a lenient Pharisaic ruling against one of the King's perceived enemies.[6] As the Romans come into picture with Pompeii's invasion in the year 63 B.C., Herod and his Roman allies found willing allies in the Sadducees while the Pharisees separated themselves from all things Hellenistic.

The latter Maccabean kings had become the very thing that their forefathers had fought against: corrupt rulers assimilating into Greek culture and rejecting the oral traditions of the Pharisaic sect. When one of the last of the line of the Maccabee married King Herod, a ruthless, murderous tyrant allied with Rome and hated by the vast majority of the Jews, the split was final. As the oral traditions were being put down on paper in the Talmud, the festival of Hanukkah's essence is hijacked by the Pharisees, and the glory of the Maccabean uprising against the Greeks is minimized in the Talmud and for the first time the story of the "Miracle of Lights" appears. Basically the Pharisee's are trying to steal the Sadducee's thunder by minimizing the importance of the Maccabee's and giving the golry to God where it belongs, or another take on it would be political: No it was the Maccabees, i.e. the Sadducees, who defeated our enemies but God who allowed us to defeat our enemies because of our righteousness at the time. Questions? E-mail me at joe@touringisrael.com.


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[1] Cohen, Abraham, Everyman's Talmud: the Major Teachings of the Rabbinic Sages, Shocken Books, New York, 1949 p. xxxv-xxxvi.
[2] Talmudic Tractate, Avot 1:1
[3] Cohen, A., p. xxxix.
[4] Stern, Menahem. "Hyrcanus, John." Encyclopedia Judaica. Eds. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik. Vol. 9. 2nd ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007. 653-654. 22 vols. Gale Virtual Reference Library.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Josephus (Flavius), Jewish Antiquities, Book 13, Chapter 10, Section 6, translated by Whitson, William, Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, MI, 1999.