Chanukah has two themes, often seen as opposites: the miracle of the oil, announced and discussed in the Talmud, and the military victory celebrated in the Al Hanisim prayer, and present in the various historical accounts in the Books of Maccabees, and Josephus. The early medieval Megillat Antiochus contains both stories. What is the connection between the two miracles?
What is war?
To the ancient Greeks, evidenced in Homer, men strove for honor. Winning on the battlefield was the greatest honor, public shame the worst thing that could happen. The battlefield was the greatest place to win honor, by killing one’s enemies. The Greek word Αγον, agon, meaning Conflict, was the core of this system. By engaging in conflict, inflicting agony on the enemy, one gained honor. War created the greatest honor, as in the Iliad, one brought honor to his city by fighting for it. War to the Greeks was an end in itself.
War, in the Jewish context, however, is a means to an end. The military wars, of the conquest of Joshua and of David, were not ends in themselves, but means to the greater end, of living in the Promised Land, of having peace so we could build a
The war of Chanukah, where the Jews, the priests, those who worshiped God in His Temple, fought off the Greek-Syrians and the Jewish Hellenists, was to an end – restoring the
This drasha was delivered by R’ Dr. Moshe Sokol
at the Yavneh Minyan of Flatbush,
Parashat Vayeshev, 5767 (
Summarized by Jonathan Baker
4 comments:
Interesting droshos.
Thanks.
Maybe you can make it a regular feature, reporting what your Rav said.
Interesting.
How come none of the early accounts (Josephus, Maccabees) mention the oil miracle though?
Etymologically, milchamah (war) would be a bread-getting activity.
It would make Marx happy...
-micha
Probably Josephus and Maccabees were writing for more Hellenized audiences. Clearly Josephus was, for a Roman audience. Why don't Chazal write about the military victory? Each has their audience, their goals.
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