December 07, 2004Happy ChanukahTonight's the first night of Chanukah. Most people know the basic outline: the Maccabees, also known as the Hasmoneans, led a civil revolt against the Greeks, in this case, Greek-ruled Syrians. The Syrians had gone from attracting Jews to their culture to imposing it on an unwilling population. Naturally, this included a radical secularizing (heh), defilement of the Temple, and outlawing its use. After the rebellion was won, the Jews found only enough ritual oil to last one day. The 8-day celebration derives from the oil miraculously lasting 8 days, at which time new oil had been smuggled in from Saudi. Er, no, not that kind of oil. I used to rebel myself against the occasional rabbi who would compare Greece to America, and it's pretty clear there's not a whole lot in common between today's America and the Greece of 165 BCE. And yet, it is inescapable that there are some fairly unseemly aspects to current American culture, that calling attention to that fact is liable to get you sneered at by certain elites, and that some Jews have been all-too-eager to embrace even those qualities. Of course, Antiochus never allowed elections...
So naturally, we're sitting here watching a "Charlie Brown Christmas." Posted by joshuasharf at December 7, 2004 07:38 PM | TrackBack |
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