Festivals |
Chanukah
In which Mattathias hates his state and enjoys his family:
Part Two
This section opened with an autobiographical
piece by Mattathias, the elderly father of a priestly
family in the small country-town of Modi'in, north-west of
Jerusalem. The perspective was his thoughts immediately prior
to the great historical events in which he was not only a
witness but a major participant. When the rumours that were
circulating about the intention of the Seleucid monarch, Antiochus
IV, to outlaw the Jewish religion and to impose the compulsory
worship of the Greek gods, were proved to be founded in fact,
a revolt broke out. This of course was the Maccabee revolt
that Mattathias himself led initially, that revolt whose ultimate
success we celebrate every Chanukah.
The first Book of Maccabees tells the story. Here is its description
of the outbreak of the revolt.
Then the king's officers who were forcing the people to
give up their religion, came to the town of Modi'in, to
make them offer sacrifice. And many Israelites went to
them, and Mattathias and his sons gathered together to
offer sacrifice as the king commanded, on the altar in
Modi'in. And Mattathias saw him and was filled with zeal,
and his heart was stirred, and he was very properly roused
to anger, and ran up and slaughtered him upon the altar.
At the same time he killed the king's officer who was
trying to compel them to sacrifice, and he tore down the
altar. Thus he showed his zeal for the Law...
Then Mattathias cried out in a loud voice in the town and
said; "Let everybody who is zealous for the Law and stands
by the agreement come out after me." And he and his sons
fled to the mountains and left all they possessed in the
town.
Then many seekers for uprightness and justice went down
into the wilderness to settle, with their sons and their
wives and their cattle, because their hardships had become
so severe. And news reached the king's agents and the
forces that were in Jerusalem, in the City of David, that
men who had disregarded the king's order had gone down
to the hiding-places in the wilderness. And they pursued
them in force and overtook them, and pitched their camp
against them and prepared to attack them.
1 Maccabees ch. 2
The revolt and subsequent war had several phases and it took
a full generation until full independence had been gained
and Seleucid influence was formally ousted from Judah.
The first and most famous stage took some three years from
the time of the initial revolt to the rededication of the
Temple (167 b.c.e. - 164 b.c.e.). It is this latter act that
is the focal point of the Chanukah celebration. It is then
that we remember the revolt and victory of the Hasmonean forces
under the leadership of Judah Maccabee, the senior of the
five Hasmonean brothers who succeeded their father, Mattathias,
after the initial outbreak of revolt.
The three years were filled with a number of different victories
against the Syrian-Greek forces and their Jewish sympathisers,
the last and greatest of which, at Emmaus, just north-west
of Jerusalem, opened up the way through to the city that had
served as a stronghold of Seleucid troops over the past three
years. During these years, the Temple had been turned into
a pagan Temple with sacrifices being made to the principal
Greek gods, while a large statue of Zeus, the head of the
Greek pantheon of gods was stood near the altar, apparently
bearing a decided resemblance to the Seleucid king Antiochus
Epiphanes.
It was after retaking the majority of the city, that the Maccabees
and their supporters could rip down the idol and cleanse and
purify the Temple area. They now offered sacrifices to God.
Thus ended the first phase of the rebellion.
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We suggest here an exercise in journalistic perspectives.
- To start with, the story needs to be told. For older groups
the two books of Maccabee might be worth studying (look
for the version in "The Apocrypha" edited by Edgar Goodspeed,
and choose parts of the first four chapters of the first
book, and from chapters six to ten of the second book).
For younger groups, or less textually comfortable groups,
we suggest preparing six particaipants to represent Mattathias
and his five sons. Between them they should tell the story
from the background to the revolt (draw on the autobiographical
piece at the beginning of this section) down to the rededication
of the Temple. The suggestion is to keep to the historical
story as recounted in the books of Maccabee and flesh
this out with 'personal reminiscence'rather than to concentrate
on the 'miracle of the oil' story which appears in the
later Talmudic literature.
In either case, the participants should be told to keep
careful notes on everything that is said or read.
- After this, the group should be divided into a number
of sub-groups each representing a different newspaper.
The task of each group is to prepare part of a newspaper
on the subject of the events that they have just been
told.
The suggested groups from which the groups should be chosen
are:
- A Secular Nationalist Pro-Maccabee Jewish Newspaper
- A Religious nationalist Pro-Maccabee Jewish Newspaper
- A Hellenistic Anti-Maccabee Jewish Newspaper
- A Diaspora "Zionist" Jewish Newspaper
- A Seleucid Nationalist Newspaper
- A Liberal Western Secular Newspaper
- A Hardline Socialist Newspaper An International
Sports Newspaper
- The groups should be given considerable time for their
task and should stick to their task but use as much imagination
as possible. Each of their newspapers can of course have
different sections and different correspondents. The proceedings
can be enlivened by particular people involved (the Maccabee
brothers, Antiochus or his generals, some of the Jewish
martyrs, Menelaus the high priest - all of whom would
have to be prepared beforehand) giving open press conferences.
- At the end of the proceedings, each newspaper should present
its product, reading parts in front of everyone, and explaining
its general view of the whole Maccabee rebellion.
- The products should then be hung up so that everyone can
go round for a few minutes and compare results.
- There should now be a general discussion about perspectives
in the press and how important it is to understand 'where
a newspaper is coming from' before you swallow its opinion
and its interpretation of events.
Two alternative extra endings
First Alternative
- One extra possibility, having gone through the previous
exercise, is to compare the reports in the major Jewish
sources that deal with the events surrounding the Chanukah
story, namely the first and second books of Maccabees.
Suggested texts; First Maccabees selections from
ch.4
Second Maccabees selections from ch.8;+ ch.10 vv
1-9
A close reading of the text will reveal that in First
Maccabees (which appears to be an eye-witness report
by people involved in the events in Judah) the historical
style is what might be called rational secular history
reporting on a religious/national revolt.
Opposed to that we have Second Maccabees (which
states itself to be an abridgement of a longer diaspora
account of the revolt written by a man called Jason from
Cyrenaica in North Africa) and here the historical style
is very different. Here, in addition to all the other
protagonists from First Maccabees we have an active part
played all along the line by God, which creates a totally
different literary flavour.
- Read both accounts and try to get the group to be aware
of the distinctions in the works and to account for the
difference. What were the purposes of the two authors?
Were they both eye-witness accounts? Is one likely to
be more the product of diaspora? etc.
Second Alternative
Having concluded the first activity on newspapers, progress
to an analysis of 'Israel coverage' in the local Jewish
and non-Jewish press.
- Compare the coverage of a particular event in Israel
in a whole range of different papers. Using the insights
gleaned from the previous activity, try and examine
the question of perspectives and biases pro and anti
Israel in the local press.
- Maybe bring in a media specialist to examine with
the group the same question.
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Enquiries and Feedback: pedagog@jajz-ed.org.il
Chapter Five of "Jerusalem
Journeys", Dreams, Dilemmas and Decisions of Jewish
Leaders by Steve Israel,
Published by the Division for Overseas Training and
Educational Material, Youth and Hechalutz Department,
The Education Department of the Jewish Agency for
Israel,
Jerusalem, 1995.