Am Yisrael sings 7: The contribution of the Maccabees to music in the Temple

The music customs in the temple during the Maccabean and Hasmonean times are under Greek influence

1) Decree of Antiochus III

The order of the Seleucid king Antiochus III appeared in a letter sent to Ptolemy, his army minister after 3 BC, as a reward to the Jews for helping the king in his wars. This order testified to Antiochus' intention to do much for the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the provision of the sacrifices and sacrifices necessary for the work of the temple, as well as to do for the completion of the construction of the temple.

For the topic of our discussion, the quality of the discussed document and its wording are important - "And all the people of the nation will establish their regime according to the laws of their ancestors and the council of elders and priests and the scribes of the Temple and its poets will be exempt from the skull tax, the halil tax and the salt tax that they raise" (Yosef ben Matthiyahu, The Antiquities of the Jews 142, XNUMX). "These temple poets, in their Greek formulation - Hieropaltaean - were nothing but Levites, despite the fact that they were not mentioned by their title, i.e. Levites. These Levites, despite the fact that many positions were taken from them during the Second Temple period, still performed additional functions in the temple or outside of it, excluding of course the important positions listed on the poets and gatekeepers.

Before us, therefore, is historical evidence of great importance regarding the "determining of the dating of the time, in which the main role of the Levites in the sanctuary, and more precisely - the upper layer of the Levites, was gathered around the music in the temple, and perhaps also as the scribes of the temple - a role that would accompany this layer of the Levites until the destruction of the Second Temple (70 per cent).

The aforementioned royal certificate guaranteed the continued supremacy of the priestly status in society. It is possible that the fact that the certificate was written with the efforts of one of the rabbis of the priesthood - Yochanan ben Kotz lies the key to cracking the mystery: how did it happen that the status of the Levites was undermined, and perhaps even an answer to the question - why is the name "Leviim" not mentioned in the aforementioned certificate. Moreover, the certificate is found in only one source - in Joseph ben Matthew, who belonged to a famous priestly family, who in several cases, which we will deal with later, did not hesitate to throw mud and dirt at the clothes of the Levites-poets.

Either way, one thing is clear - there has been a change in the status of the Levites regarding their duties in the sanctuary. It seems that this was due to the strengthening of the priests in the Hellenistic period, but they sought and even succeeded to a considerable extent to return the crown of the priesthood to its old days. But this, under no circumstances, will be done at the expense of the music in the temple. The same music that became over time, from the beginning of the Second Temple days, to be an integral part of the sacred service in the Temple, an examination of a phenomenon that deepened in the public consciousness and was the property of skilled and experienced Levites who belonged to the music departments in the parable for over two hundred years. In fact, in this they did not ask, or perhaps the priests did not allow harm. This assumption, similar, may have been the foundation of that privilege that exempted the Levites from the royal taxes.  

This privilege was intended to allow the Levites to devote their full energy and time to their very important role - singing and playing in the temple, without any worries of a livelihood), since the people, the public, took care of the lack of Levite poets from the days of Nehemiah onwards) and various financial hardships in the form of the royal taxes that mercilessly hit the controlled population .

There is no doubt that this privilege served as a factor helping the stratum of Levites-poets to continue their vocation - a vocation that, naturally, occasionally needed injections of encouragement of one kind or another.

2) The relationship between the priesthood and the funeral and the temple music

In external literature, from the beginning of the third century BC, and throughout the reign of the Hasmonean dynasty, we witness an interesting and multifaceted phenomenon, that is, the music in the temple continued to exist, however the Levites are not mentioned as having any function in this system.

Ben Sira (approximately 180 BCE) who described the ceremonial status of Yom Kippur, testified to the cheering of the priests and the bowing of the people, as well as - "And the song gave its voice and the multitude of its praises burned, and all the people of the land burned in prayer before the Merciful" (Proverbs of Ben Sira v. 19 -18), and Levi...there is none. Similar mentions, of a similar nature, are repeated in the literature of the period in question.

This is very evident in the books of the Maccabees and especially in two key events - the dedication of the house under the leadership of Yehuda the Maccabee and when his brother Shimon entered the Citadel of the Hekhara after taking it over. Among them are the classical instruments of the Levites such as violins, harps and cymbals. However, without mentioning the Levites who play them.

Also, the "thanks", which were the property of the Levites, are remembered without them, and in particular the song of "Hallel" which was entrusted to all the Levites, and on the other hand, it is emphasized in one of the books of the Maccabees in connection with the celebration of Hanukkah in the days of Judah the Maccabee: "And the priests sang hymns of praise" (Maccabees 30:XNUMX XNUMX) And it should be noted that the last verse comes in the first verse, and in the Greek source - "tos hymenos", to teach us that it is the singing of the "Hallel", i.e. Psalms XNUMX-XNUMX, so that it may have been installed finally.

Some believe that the lack of mention of the Levites in the Maccabean literature is evidence that reflects the attitude of the authors of these books who were close to the priesthood towards the Levites. What's more, the Maccabees themselves came from a respected priestly family, the Yehoirib family. This phenomenon, in a similar way, reflects the looting of the systems in the Temple from the beginning of the Hellenistic period onwards, since then the image of the high priest has almost risen and stood out. In the examination of a king in Za'ari Anfin. This phenomenon took shape on the eve of the Hellenistic Seleucid conquest and from then on the high priesthood wrote the internal policy in Judaism and served, together with the Jerusalem aristocracy, as a support for the Seleucid dynasty that ruled the country at that time. And even the process of Greekization in Israel during the reigns of Jason and Menelaus was accelerated by the oil of the wheels of the great priesthood and the Jerusalem aristocracy. This phenomenon of raising the fund of the priestly family continued even in the Hasmonean era.

A significant expression of the strengthening of the priesthood was folded into a symbolic effect: in the form of the appearance of the bells at the hem of the high priest's clothes, "to give pleasantness in his footsteps" as one of the scriptures says (Proverbs of Ben Sira 9:XNUMX). These bells, on the hem of the garment of the high priest's robe, were first mentioned in the biblical Book of Exodus, one and only time in the Bible. And it seems that with the rise of the priesthood somewhere in the third century B.C., it sought to renew one of the ancient biblical signs that were associated with the highly impressive appearance of the high priest, regarding the return of the crown to its former glory. The bells were seen in the minds of the people as having magical-cosmic power, something that was very popular among the neighboring nations such as Egypt and Mesopotamia.

[It can be assumed that from this period on, the high priest took the key position in managing the Yom Kippur ceremony, when he wears the robe of bells, and beside him the trumpeter priests who blow the "miksha trumpets" cheer together (ibid. v. 15).

3) The contribution of macabres to temple music

Although there is no evidence for this, knowledge suggests that during the Hellenization period, from 175 BC onwards, the music in the temple was damaged, and the Maccabees, whose rebellion had a religious-messianic character, sought to return the crown to its old age, which is the renewal of music in the temple. Indeed, when Judah the Maccabee took control of the temple complex, he purified himself and offered sacrifices there "according to the Torah" (53 Maccabees 54:XNUMX). And the aforementioned author emphasized that "at the time and on the day that the Gentiles defiled him, that very day (the temple) was inaugurated with songs and harps and violins and cymbals" (ibid. XNUMX).

The conquest of the Citadel by Shimon the Hasmonean (142 BCE) also broke a window for music, as the author says - "with praise and palm palms and violins and cymbals and harps and songs and psalms" (11 Maccabim XNUMX:XNUMX). It is interesting that the cymbals appeared here for the first time, between the violins and harps, and even the songs appeared after the singing instruments. These changes, it seems, must be attributed to the exciting event, which called for music with a greater sonorous power and conquering hearts.

During this period, music was of first-class importance as one of the means for the Likud Ha'am around Jerusalem and the Temple, which had been liberated and purified, and for the formation of the army around its Maccabean leaders.

For the purpose of the military function, the Maccabees used trumpets, but we may be interested in the mention of the "trumpets of rejoicing" (Maccabees 40:180), as the same "miksha trumpets" in the hands of the priests in the Yom Kippur ceremony in the days of Ben Sira in approximately XNUMX BCE. Before us is a rather interesting phenomenon that repeats itself in several ways, and it stems from the desire to adopt sacred customs, orders and commandments, which were the property of the priests in the days of Moses for their symbolic aspects.

The rise of the priestly status towards the end of the third century BC may clarify the importance of the trumpets in the temple ceremonies. So much importance that on Yom Kippur the blowing of the shofar was no longer heard at all and below it - the cheering of the priests' trumpets. One way or another, the music of the temple in the days of the Maccabees continued to be characterized as in the previous period as accompanying music for the sacrificial work and the other regular works in the temple.

It should be noted that the poetry, and especially that which was related to the worship of the temple, stood out very much in the external literature. According to the contemporaries, the song evoked all creations to bless the creator of the world and stopped a supernatural force nearby.

A very interesting case, which gained traction in foreign literature, embraced the "Song of the Angels" Razi. In Mesopotamia, a concept took shape that miraculously raised the awareness that against the "temple of the lower" stood the "temple of the upper", in terms of a heavenly temple identical in all respects to the earthly temple. This concept was adopted by the Greeks who developed it and seasoned it with philosophical markers. It is possible that the authors of the external books, most of which were found in the Greek and Hellenistic schools, were based on the scent of foreign theories regarding the parallel between the earthly temple and the heavenly temple. However, the assumption that similar theories also prevailed in Judaism should not be completely ruled out.

For the subject of our discussion, we will be particularly interested in those testimonies immersed in external literature, those that describe the singing of the angels. This poetry, I think, may open a window to the music of the Temple in the Hasmonean period.

From the external literature it can be seen that the main function of the angels is to sing before God. The poets of heaven, the angels, are called together in skillful choirs, each of which "has many voices" (Enoch 9:12 and XNUMX), as if to hint at the diversity of the pitches of the voices calling for sonorous harmony.

For chapters the sources floated in the language of praise, that the heavenly choirs sang "with one voice" (Book of Adam and Eve 2-1) and united "with one voice", since this is how the musical skill of each choir, heavenly as well as earthly, was measured.

The conductor's baton was handed over to the "Chief of the Angels" (ibid. 6) who was responsible, among other things, for the "arrangement" of the "Shir Na'imoth" (Enoch 8:3; XNUMX) and would it be far from assuming that this "arrangement" is close in his instruction to composing compositions, For the organization of the music in a patterned system, or for the command of the poets in the choir?!

There may even be a subtle hint of the presence of a large choir made up of all the music departments.

It is worth noting that the poets of the heavens also dealt with software - in the study of the heavenly bodies and the analysis of their movement across the sky, in the examination of a phenomenon that was common in the Mesopotamian temple and in the Greek concept. That is, the brave bond forged between music and astronomy and astrology.

It seems that the entire passage in question, the one revolving around the angels' song, was used as a way and a means by the external writers, whether consciously or not, to glorify and praise the music in the Second Temple and the angels' song is the Levites' song. And when we add these testimonies to others, which deal with temple music during the Maccabean and Hasmonean periods, it will become clear without a doubt that the music in this period became established, both in the temple and in the consciousness of the Jewish public in Israel.

4) The music in the synagogue

It should not be dismissed, in my opinion, that already in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah the synagogue was filled with the pleasantness of hymns, of blessings and prayers, or at any rate, we do not have any evidence to postulate one way or the other. However, it is true to say that the first steps were indeed taken on the second day. And in any case, the matter was fixed in the Hellenistic era and from there on.

In fact, later in the work a special chapter will be devoted to examining the music in the synagogue. However, it seems that the cycle of sacred music in the Hellenistic period would not be complete without a glimpse into the hall of music that was heard in the synagogues.

Prayer in the synagogue was no longer just a kind of side effect of the sacrificial work, but an important work in itself. It was a new style of activity in which the congregation of worshipers became an active body carrying out the work itself, namely the prayer. This was performed, as a rule, at the same hours when the "Tamidim" were sacrificed in the temple, that is, the daily Tamidim sacrifice, and the incense hoktra. Furthermore, one of the prominent musical elements in the work of the synagogue was the "response" of the worshipers, as was the practice in the temple.

Some believe that the appearance of interesting parallels between the "supplications" in the Eighteenth Prayer and the external "Psalms of Solomon" will be connected as early as the first century BCE. And it is worth noting that in the "Psalms of Solomon" file there appeared a title such as "A Psalm of Solomon in a Song" (Psalms of Solomon 1:XNUMX), to teach us about his musical performance. By the way, a thorough study of these psalms will reveal sharp hints as to the fact that the psalms were motivated. There is also a version that many blessings were installed during the Hasmonean days and are related to the prayer life in the churches.

It seems that the best researchers who studied the synagogue and the work in it, did not emphasize a certain historical aspect, the fruit of the Maccabean-Hasmonean period. Namely - the establishment of synagogues in places far from Jerusalem, where the use of ritual music will be strengthened and institutionalized more and more. And we have already stated that above

 That the temple music was institutionalized and crystallized from the days of Ezra and Nehemiah onwards, and that a synagogue was built near the temple that served the needs of the Jews who settled around Jerusalem. However, over time, during the Hellenistic period, whether due to the erosion of temple work at the peak of Greekization in the days of Jason and Menelaus, the examination of finding and bringing up sporadic solutions, the fruit of the changing historical circumstances, and whether after the Maccabean conquests and the growth of the Hasmonean kingdom geographically, the Jewish community spread throughout the country and even to places far from Jerusalem . Then the synagogue next to the temple could not, naturally, serve the needs of the entire Jewish audience. This difficulty found its solution in the form of the establishment of many synagogues that arose in the communities that were founded in Israel, when almost every new synagogue that was founded sought to resemble the main synagogue in Jerusalem, the one that was near the temple, and even took with it important symbols, the main one being the use of music in worship. This interesting phenomenon also had an impact on the music in the temple, when it continued to buy it the status of premiere.

More of the topic in Hayadan:

• Am Yisrael sings 6: Temple music is organized and institutionalized
• Am Yisrael Sing II: vocal and holistic music
• "Am Yisrael Sing" 1: Introduction and introduction - the music in the ancient period
• The Priesthood as you did not know it - Chapter XNUMX: The priests in Si-Bmol
• A second synagogue from the days of the Second Temple was found in the excavations in the tower