THE CHANUKKAH PUZZLE
I expect that many people will have heard that CHANUKKAH is often referred to as a minor Festival. So my first question is: Why is it called a minor Festival? The reason is because it did not originate in the days of the Torah and none of the eight days are considered holy, because on the holy days of the year, we must not do any work, whereas on Hanukkah we work as usual. Only the candles are holy, as we state in the short prayer about the candles, after the lighting. In fact, Chanukah is the very last festival which was instituted in ancient times and the only Festival which is not mentioned in the Bible at all. The events that led to it happened after the Biblical Period. They are mentioned in the Books of the Maccabees, which we find in the Apocryphal collection, which contains books which were written later. The only other minor Festival is Purim, which came into being about 300 years before Chanukah. Purim is mentioned in the Bible, but it, too, lacks any sanctity. The Book of Esther is not one of the Prophetic Books and this is the reason why it is included in the section of the Writings.
Nevertheless, despite their inferior status, both Purim and Chanukkah commemorate great deliverances in the life of the Jewish people. On Purim we were delivered from the Persians and on Chanukah we were delivered from the Greeks, who had embraced the Hellenistic culture.
But the history of Chanukkah is not straight forward; it is complicated and puzzling.
This is what we read in the First Book of the Maccabees, about its birth.
“Now, on the 25th day of the ninth month, which is called the month of Kislev, in the year 148, (an ancient count) the priests rose up in the morning, and offered the daily morning sacrifice, according to the Law, upon the new burnt offering altar, which they had constructed. They entered the Temple, on the very same date, on which the Gentiles had profaned it, three years later, and it was dedicated with songs and musical instruments. They celebrated the dedication of the altar for eight days…. Moreover, Judah the Maccabee and his four brothers, together with the whole congregation of Israel, ordained that the celebration should be observed with joy and gladness, from then on, every year, for eight days, from the 25th day of the month Kislev”. In this account, there is no reference whatsoever to the miracle of the oil.
A few centuries later, the rabbis of the Talmud asked a very simple question and its very simplicity is astonishing, because it is hard to understand why they saw any need to ask it. After all, Chanukah was already 500 years old. They asked: “What is Chanukkah? And they answered with the following tradition: “Beginning with the twenty-fifth day of the month of Kislev, there are eight days on which we are not allowed to eulogize or fast. This is because, when the Greeks entered the Temple, they defiled all the olive oil that they found there. After the Hasmonean victory, the Maccabees entered the Temple and searched for pure olive oil, and, after a long search, they discovered only one single cruse of undefiled oil, which had the seal of the High Priest. The jar had enough oil to last for a single day. But a miracle happened and it burned for eight days. The following year, it was ordained that these days should be observed as a holiday with songs and praises”. In this account the miracle of the oil occupies a prominent place, whereas the war against the Greeks is hardly mentioned at all.
These two accounts lead to the conclusion that there are two distinct strands, within the Jewish tradition, regarding the origins of Chanukkah and its meaning. The first comes from the Books of the Maccabees, and the second from the Talmud.
In the Books of the Maccabees, we have a record of the historical events that took place in Jerusalem, in the first half of the second century BCE, during the Hellenistic period, which culminated, in the year 167 BCE, with the Maccabean revolt and outstanding victories. The war between the religious Jews of the time, known as Hasidim, and the Greeks was a religious war. The Maccabees fought for religious rights, when Antiochus Epiphanies led a vicious campaign to suppress and destroy Judaism. He had embraced the concept that Hellenism should become a universal religion. The Greeks launched attacks, time and time again, and there were a number of battles in the Judah Mountains. The Maccabees hid in caves and surprised the enemy, in guerrilla warfare. After three years of fighting, they entered the Temple and rededicated the altar. The festival is called Chanukah to commemorate the dedication of the altar. The name Chanukah has, therefore, nothing to do with the Menorah. According to this account, the reason why we light the Menorah is because the Maccabees lit many lights in the courts of the Temple to demonstrate their joy, as they used to do during Sukkot. Light symbolises happiness and joy. This is what we recite in the prayer of Al Hanissim: “Afterwards, your children entered the Temple and lit lights everywhere in its court yards”. The rededication was celebrated over a period of eight days which was the accepted practice from time immemorial. In the days of Moses, the Tabernacle was also dedicated over a period of eight days, and we have a Sidra by the name of Shemini, the eighth day, to commemorate that event.
By contrast, the Talmudic tradition, which was recorded much later, stresses the miracle of the cruse of oil and hardly mentions the Maccabean wars at all. The first question is this: Why are the wars not mentioned? The second question is: Why does the Mishnah, which contains an entire tractate devoted to Purim, not mention Chanukah at all? The third question is: The Talmudic discussion which begins with the question: “What is Chanukkah?” seems to suggest that the festival was not very well known. Why was it not well known?
The theory is that, by the second century CE, our rabbis sensed that the Hasmonean victories had become irrelevant at best, and dangerous to mention, at worst. Chanukkah seems to have lost its appeal. The Maccabees also lost their good reputation. The mediaeval author, Abudraham, writes that, whilst the Hasmoneans were, initially, very great and pious people, after their victories, they acted sinfully, when they declared that there were the kings of Judah. Their action was contrary to the well-established tradition that the two offices, that of the priesthood and that of the kingship, should remain separate. The Hasmoneans were Kohanim and belong to the tribe of Levy. The kingship belongs to the tribe of Judah. Therefore, the Maccabees had no right to become Kings as well. Yet, they defied the rabbis who opposed them. Therefore, our rabbis turned against them and taught us that they were punished for their arrogance. Their punishment was that, by the time of the destruction of the Temple, their family had become completely extinct. Herod, who reigned in the latter half of the first century BCE, exterminated virtually all the Hasmoneans who were still alive during his reign. Within two hundred years, from the birth of Chanukah, the entire family had disappeared. It has been suggested, by the Chatam Sofer, that this is also the reason why Rabbi Yehudah Hanasi, the editor of the Mishnah, who was a descendant of the house of David, omitted Hanukkah from the Mishnah, for the same reason.
The victories of the Maccabees were gradually forgotten and the miracle of the oil rose to prominence. There was another reason why the wars were not mentioned any longer. After the destruction of the Temple and the defeat of Bar Kochba, at the hands of the Romans, it became dangerous for the Jews to celebrate past military victories. The Romans ruled the land and would have misinterpreted such celebrations. They would have accused the Jews of an attempted rebellion. The Jews lived in fear. The Romans were extremely harsh and ruthless.
Today, Chanukkah has regained its former glory. It is one of our greatest festivals. The military successes of the Maccabees have inspired the Zionist ideal and led to Israel’s victories in modern times. In my first 12 years, I lived in Israel and we always sang songs, at school, about the heroic Chanukah wars. The miracle of the oil, on the other hand, conveyed that eternal message of the Jewish people to the whole world, as promulgated by the Prophet Zechariah, which we read during Chanukah: “Not by might and not through power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of Hosts”. May these words bring about, one day, the cessation of all wars and the beginning of an era of universal peace.
On Chanukkah we thank God for giving us an indestructible religious spirit as well as giving us the military strength to confront all our enemies, so that we can live in peace in our land, with no one to make us afraid.