History: Who were the Greeks?

The Greek Empire briefly took control over the Kingdom of Judea (the Jews), until the death of Alexander the Great of Greece in 323 BCE led to the breakup of the Greek empire. Between 319 and 302 BCE, Jerusalem changed hands seven times. This was finally settled in 198 BCE when Syrio-Greek hero Antiochus III conquered the land.

Initially, Antiochus III continued to allow the Jews autonomy, but eventually he began a program of Hellenization that threatened to force the Jews to abandon their monotheism for the Greeks' paganism. Hellenism encompassed more than a pragmatic relationship between the ruler and local economic elites; it also represented an “enlightened” worldview considered by many to be the way of the future. 

Ultimately, Antiochus IV outlawed parts of Judaism such as the Sabbath and circumcision, and defiled the holy Temple by erecting an altar to Zeus, allowing the sacrifice of pigs, and opening the shrine to non-Jews.

History: Who were the Maccabees?

Though many Jews had interest in Hellenism, the extreme measures adopted by Antiochus alienated many. When a Greek official tried to force a priest named Matisyahu (Mattathias) to make a Greek sacrifice, he murdered the official leading to the 167 BCE Jewish revolt, led  by Matisyahu and his five sons .

Matisyahu and his family became known as the Maccabees, likely from the Hebrew word for "hammer," because they were said to strike hammer blows against their enemies. Jews refer to the Maccabees, but the family is more commonly known as the Hasmoneans. They were not merely fighting for political or national freedom. They saw themselves as fighting for G!d.

It took more than two decades of fighting before the Maccabees forced retreat from the Land of Israel. By this time Antiochus had died and his successor allowed the Kingdom of Judea independence. In the year 142 BCE, after more than 500 years of subjugation, the people were under Jewish control. The Hasmoneans claimed the throne of Judah, and also the post of High Priest.

Crash Theory!!

Crash Theory, which I learned from Rabbi Beney Lappe, posits that througout Jewish history, the Jews have experienced "crashes" - challenges to how we understand our own story and thus our identity. 

There are three categories of possible responses to a crash:

Option One:

denying that a crash has occurred and reverting to your story and hanging on for dear life—and people tend to build walls around that old story to make sure that nothing interferes or threatens it again.

Option Two:

accepting that your story has crashed, completely rejecting that old story, and jumping off into a completely new story and self-understanding. 

Option Three:

accepting that the story has crashed, but instead of abandoning the story, you stay in it, reinterpreting it through the lens of the crash, and building a new story from the amalgamation of the original story the crash material and the reinterpretation.

The Maccabees experienced a crash when Antichus tried to force assimilation and hellenism.

Crash Theory and Hanukkah

If we use the methodology of Crash theory for Hanukkah history, here are Jewish responses:

Option One:

denying that a crash has occurred: In many ways, this is what the Maccabees did. They clung to Jewish traditions and laws and were overwhelmingly unwilling to compromise, and eventually were able to bring about a Jewish Theocracy again.

 Option Two:

complete assimilation: acceptance of hellenism and the Greek tradition. Because of the benefits of the Greek culture, which included economic integration between all of the Greek states, and the pressure of regime, many Jews accepted Hellenism.

Option Three:

accepting that the story has crashed, but staying in the story: there were Jewish Hellenists wanted to move beyond separatism and assimilate the positive aspects of Greek culture into Judaism. These folks wanted preserve aspects of Judaism that fit with Greek ideals, like a universal G!d, but remove those parts of Jewish practice that separated Jews from others (dietary laws, Shabbat, circumcision). Essentially, they wanted to assimilate to a degree while maintaining parts of their tribal identity.

Maccabean Power Politics

In addition to a crisis of faith, the political history of the Hasmonians points to a crisis of power.

The Maccabean struggle was partly driven by issues of social class. Because only the wealthy (urban ruling class, large landowners, priests) were citizens, the “democracy” of the Hellenized Jerusalem polis oppressed the vast majority of Jews, who were powerless. Even before forced Hellenization, social antagonisms existed between the zealots of the traditional faith (the urban craftspeople and village dwellers) and the free-thinking Hellenizers, suggesting that the Maccabees may have been liberators, but that they were also driven by some degree of self-interest.

Although Mattathias saw himself as acting in a situation of conflict between an earthly power and the law of G!d, his violence against Hellenist Jews could be viewed as an act of political terrorism. He had committed murder for the sake of what he perceived to be a greater good. Judah continued the fight begun by Mattathias by actively attacking apostasy — destroying idolatrous altars, compelling observance of Torah by force, circumcising newborn infants, and killing apostate violators of Torah law.

During the war, the Maccabean self-interest also led them to reinterpret Torah law so that the Jews hiding with them in the wilderness could defend themselves from government attack on the Sabbath. By interpreting the law on their own authority, the Maccabees were setting themselves up as an opposition government, infringing on the prerogatives of the sitting High Priest.

Sources:

wikipedia

jewishvirtuallibrary.org

myjewishlearning.com

Chabad.com

haaretz

sefaria.org