Happy Chanukah: maybe!
The Book of Maccabees never made the cut in the TaNaCh, but did make it into the Catholic Bible.
Do you know why?
Because the Rabbis who were responsible for editing the TaNaCh were a little embarrassed about this family.
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Judah Maccabee is one of the more misunderstood leaders in Jewish history. He was not, for one thing, a paragon of tolerance. One of the contradictions of Hanukkah--an unexplored contradiction in our culture's anodyne understanding of the holiday--is that the Maccabee brothers were fighting not for the principle of religious freedom but only for their own particular religion's freedom. Their understanding of liberty did not extend even--or especially--to the Hellenized Jews of Israel's coastal plains. The Maccabees were rough Jews from the hill country of Judea.
And their descendants were some of the most ruthless leaders in the history of the Jews.
And I think today the celebration of Chanukah, at least for me, is a mixed blessing. I get depressed. (It could also be the lack of sunlight.)
Do you know why?
Because the Rabbis who were responsible for editing the TaNaCh were a little embarrassed about this family.
view link
Judah Maccabee is one of the more misunderstood leaders in Jewish history. He was not, for one thing, a paragon of tolerance. One of the contradictions of Hanukkah--an unexplored contradiction in our culture's anodyne understanding of the holiday--is that the Maccabee brothers were fighting not for the principle of religious freedom but only for their own particular religion's freedom. Their understanding of liberty did not extend even--or especially--to the Hellenized Jews of Israel's coastal plains. The Maccabees were rough Jews from the hill country of Judea.
And their descendants were some of the most ruthless leaders in the history of the Jews.
And I think today the celebration of Chanukah, at least for me, is a mixed blessing. I get depressed. (It could also be the lack of sunlight.)
