For generations upon generations, the Jewish people were raised on the knees of myths such as the miracle of the fat mouth, the victory of the Maccabees and the ultimate evil figure of the Hanukkah holiday - Antiochus. Now, a new study at the Hebrew University suggests that one of the famous myths of the Festival of Lights was not accurate.
For generations upon generations, the Jewish people were raised on the knees of myths such as the miracle of the fat mouth, the victory of the Maccabees and the ultimate evil figure of the Hanukkah holiday - Antiochus. Now, a new study at the Hebrew University suggests that one of the famous myths of the Festival of Lights was not accurate.
The new research conducted by Prof. Doron Mendels from the Department of History at the Hebrew University, reveals that in the sixties of the second century BC, the Greek kingdom (House of Seleucus) did not force the Jews to Orientalize. Contrary to the myth of the Maccabean war in the Greeks, the Jews were required to stop observing the mitzvot without being required to adopt the Greek religion. In fact, the Jews, who over the years saw the forced Greekization as a metaphor for hatred of Israel, did not know that the phenomenon of Greekization should not be attributed to part of the memory of the struggle.
A renewed critical reading of the sources from the period shows that the question of Greekization almost never came up. In the study Prof. Mendels analyzes many examples from the sources that show that the Jews who Greekized were only a minority and their Greekization was not the result of coercion by the Greek authorities. "The even more important fact is that the decrees of King Antiochus IV, if they were passed at all, commanded the Jews to leave their religion and nothing more," says Professor Mendels. The king was satisfied that the Jews would leave their religion: they would not provide for their children, they would not keep the Sabbath and thus, like the other locals who lived in the Land of Israel and in other places in the kingdom - they would become idolaters."
In an article published in the collection of articles Jewish Identities in Antiquity edited by Professors Israel Levin and Danny Schwartz of the Hebrew University, Professor Mendels writes that according to the memories of the Jews that were written down a few decades after the events, a surprising picture emerges: in the Maccabean camp that fought the Greeks there were observant Jews, including those who knew Greek . On the other hand, in the camp that aspired to peaceful relations with the Greeks, even when they continued to rule the Land of Israel, there were Jews who knew the Greek language and kept Jewish tradition alongside traditional Jews who were not attracted to Greek culture.
"These diagnoses," says Prof. Mendels, "are of great significance for the study of Jewish history for generations because a clear gap has been created between the symbol, metaphor and myth of Greekness in the Jewish world throughout the ages and the historical memory preserved from the period itself - in which Greekness did not play a significant role in the Jewish struggle on the continuation of religious autonomy".
53 תגובות
Honorable Mendels, you may have a great understanding of history, but you don't seem to have an understanding of Judaism and the spirit of the times. So you will understand, Reverend Father....for a Jew, at least at that time, there was no difference between being Greek and being prohibited from observing the mitzvot. Hadrian also demanded the cancellation of the mitzvot and did not demand worshiping Jupiter, and yet the Jews treated these instructions as decrees of Shamed... It seems that you have adopted the method of the provocateur Finkelstein.... This is how you get advertising and budgets abroad....
A year late - it is unbelievable that it will be told - who cares if Antiochus wanted the Jews to Greekize. - He wanted the Jews to be idolaters - isn't that a synonym? And what is important if it is for reasons of economic convenience for the kingdom - or for other reasons. The fact is that they forced the Jews who wanted to be Jews (even if there were Jews who wanted to be Greeks) - not to be Jews. Comment No. 46 is actually interesting and quite sad - in any case - it is unbelievable that it will be told - a waste of budgets and the decrease in the value of the status of a professor in my opinion - as well as a decrease in the value of the academy as a whole.
You arrived on time. As it is written in the book of Genesis "Until Shiloh comes, and if he gathers nations, I forbid the vine to burn and the people of his people whistle" when the Messiah comes, he is Shiloh and will tie his donkey to the vine. Ira is the donkey of Messiah.
If the donkey has arrived then the Messiah is already here.
Anyone but the trolls? Did I come too talkative to the discussion? 🙁
There is a fairly new study that shows that the Jews are guilty and responsible for what happened to them in the Holocaust. The study opens with the question of why the Jews made Hitler and the rest of Europe hate them so intensely.
Just to clarify - I know Zeev Galili's article, as well as the approach he presents. My questions are actually around the issue of the "taking out of the naphthalene" of the Hanukkah and the macabres by the people of Hibat Zion: beyond the lighting of the Hanukkah as a marginal custom, did the Hanukkah holiday have any noteworthy cultural status in the various Diaspora traditions beyond perhaps the European one (Yemen? Iraq? North Africa?) to To the end of the 19th century? Are the Antiochus, the maces, the donuts and the rolls related to their traditional image in a distinct way or are they completely a modern fabricated image?
Thank you again...
Hello to Dr. Sorek and the other litigators,
Three questions for me, one by one:
The first is the question of Hanukkah as a holiday: I was told that there are only two communities in the world that actually celebrate it emphatically; In the USA as a cultural answer to Christmas, and in Israel the secular Jewish community "developed" the holiday to its current status, like the stories of Bar-Kochva and Masada, in order to build an ethos of a rebellious Jew fighting for self-determination, and perhaps thereby erasing the self-image of the Jews as an underdog Eternal and the denial of the legitimacy of the "exile Jew". In other words, everything is a manipulation of the secular Zionism of the beginning of the XNUMXth century as a tool for the legitimacy of the movement's goals. True or false?
The second question then, why did they choose these symbols? If it is true that this is a modern story of secular Zionism, then it is clear that we have a problem with these strange elections, because in all cases these are religious fanatics who paid with their lives or in exile for the entire nation, or in the worst case, a failed rebellion that cost thousands of lives. Specifically, the Hasmonean dynasty seems to me from a superficial reading of history to be a dangerous mafia family that took over the institutions of government, the army and religion, embarked on crusades of forced conversion and ethnic cleansing, at the height of which they murdered thousands of Jews who opposed them. Finally they "Greekized" themselves when they took names like Alexander, Aristobulus, Hyrcanus, etc. It is not clear to me why they should be used as a historical symbol for us.
To my third question, which actually stems from the above two: as far as I know, there is no concept of the Antichrist or "sorcerer Messiah" in the Christian sense in the Jewish tradition, but in the modern secular tradition, Antiochus was assigned to me and my contemporaries as an evil person from the list of the "axis of evil" that goes through Hamann and Hitler less Or more. My question is, if so, is this an image cast for him by traditional scholars from the Jewish bookcase or is it a completely modern image designed to serve the "renewed" Hanukkah holiday?
Thank you in advance for your answers!
(Abby, is there any chance of getting an option to register for comments by email? I offered before and I repeat - I would be happy to help with the technical side of this excellent website)
I have no idea where the author of the article derives the claim about a myth according to which, so to speak, the Jews were forced to "orientize" or "adopt the Greek religion". The accepted narrative among the Jewish people, especially in the religious and ultra-Orthodox sector, is that Antiochus and his "moderate" allies sought to "make them forget your Torah, and pass on to them the laws of your will": they decreed not to keep Shabbat, not to confront the boys, and not to learn Torah. I did not see in the study in question and in the article any attempt to contradict this tradition.
Another inaccuracy in Dr. Yechiam Sorek's responses is the attribution of the palms of the dates in which the Sukkot holiday is celebrated to "Hellenic-Hellenistic symbols", while completely ignoring the biblical source of these symbols, which is known to every rabbi, and which predates them by several hundred years.
Dr. Yehiam Sorek:
The reliability in this area is fantastic. Because it depends on a barangay of historians in which each quotes the words of the other until a circle of highest reliability is created. All in all a rotten tautology.
Hello to the anonymous user
First - I find your somewhat intrusive approach a bit puzzling, when you hide behind some anonymous cover.
Secondly - there is no confusion here at all. The historical points raised here have been known in the field of research for some time, although not all of them are accepted by all researchers for various reasons and that's a good thing. Saying more than that, the majority of the events that emerge from ancient Israelite literature, from biblical times onwards, there is no certainty at all that they did happen and that they did happen in the dimensions that appear in the sources. And by the way, a complete waste!
Yahyam Shork:
The definition "mold" is very suitable for the pointless stirring over and over again in these historical stories. Based primarily on a creator's imagination. Besides sources of "as if" you will soon say that you have the film from the security cameras in the temple from that time.
All these theories are mainly based on hot air. Interpretation of apparent clues and apparent evidence.
A musty taste and smell arises from this unproductive involvement.
To Binyamin Shalom
What research are you talking about? Rather, educate us so that we can take it seriously. It seems more like this is a rotten and unfounded prickliness.
Hello to Dr. Mina Zalmon!
First - professor or not professor, this claim is heard in the sources, both with regard to Jason's reform (175 BC) (MKA 12:11-241) and with regard to the decrees of Antiochus for the simple reason that it is difficult to get to the bottom of the understanding of the decrees and in particular From such a defined personality as Antiochus IV "Epiphanes". This claim, that the Greek faction of Menelaus, was the one that turned to Antiochus to impose the decrees as part of its pro-Hellenistic policy, appears clearly in Josephus ben Mattathias (The Ancients of the Jews 240, XNUMX-XNUMX).
Second - the use of the word nation-nation before the middle of the 19th century is completely wrong.
Thirdly - it turns out, according to MKA 43:41-XNUMX, that the instruction of the decrees was directed against all members of Antiochus' kingdom, the Seleucid kingdom, and their intention was more political-pragmatic of unification and control over ethnically very heterogeneous regions.
New research
Discovers that new historical studies are being carried out as a result of the researchers' drive to rewrite history. In a way that will earn the researchers the attention they deserve in the academic establishment and to win new budgets for research. There are as many versions of the same piece of history as there are researchers whose egos need nurturing. From experience, the more the theory breaks conventions and is more disproven, the more attention they receive.
In fact there is no basis for these things because they cannot be proven. Except for the reliance of one colleague from a field on the words of another. So this is a comfortable circularity for those who look like experts in the field.
This question has already been discussed by Prof. Menachem Stern who presents a position that the initiative for the religious decrees came out of nowhere
Jews who aspired to obtain rights like other cities on the island whose initiative to awaken to the Hellenistic culture had a distinct economic and political interest in enjoying their status as a polis. Self-interested internals. Antiochus, who strove to create cultural cohesion in a large-scale and multi-peopled kingdom, would certainly have responded to this initiative. This phenomenon can also be understood by understanding the Germanization policy of the Habsburg rulers from the time of Joseph II.
Hello to Arya
And that's exactly the point - the lack of ability to celebrate the holiday in the temple. And why did you run around in the mountains and caves? on any decrees of Antiochus.
Best regards
Yehiam
Yahyam After asking the question above, I looked at Wikipedia:
Explanations for the Hanukkah holiday lasting eight days appear in Hasmonean books. According to the book of Hasmoneans XNUMX (chapter XNUMX) the dedication of the altar that the Maccabees did for eight days (like the dedication of the tabernacle and the dedication of the first temple which lasted eight days) was set for generations. The Book of Hasmoneans XNUMX (chapter XNUMX), offers another explanation: since they could not celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles that year, they celebrated it after the liberation of Jerusalem: "And they celebrated the eight days with joy as the Feast of Tabernacles in remembrance of their sheep some time ago on the Feast of Tabernacles in the mountains and in the caves as the animals of the field. And therefore With thick tree branches and citrus branches and palm palms in their hands, they gave thanks to the one who succeeded in purifying his place with their hands. And in the opinion of all, they numbered and determined for all the Jewish people to celebrate these days every year."
Yehiam Sorek - about why exactly eight days, Hanukkah is like Sukkot. I still don't understand your explanation. Did they celebrate Sukkot in Kaslo? The first holiday that was celebrated after the "miracle of Hanukkah" in Keslo was Sukkot? On the anniversary of the "miracle of Hanukkah" they decided to celebrate it for eight days like Sukkot?
Hello, Ural
thank you for your response. And below is my response:
The only thing that interests me and motivates me is the search for the truth, or as it is called in the professional branch - the historical truth. And between us, there is no objective, categorical truth. That is why I aspired to remove as many shadows as possible from the corners of the hidden historical facts. It sounds too pretentious and maybe even cynical on the face of it when I testify that I am a crown after the truth, but this is truly my way and even the means I use in order to get closer to that truth.
But what to do and my preoccupations in the areas of the second temple collide with layers of myths that have been piled up, layer after layer, over the course of many hundreds of years, and which often puts me in the eye of the storm.
I have nothing and nothing half to do with the ambition to obscure Jewish identities and break myths just for the fun of it. My historiosophical and historiological work is to a large extent similar to the work of the detective, in whose work we discover skepticism on the one hand and courage on the other.
And again, I know that my research builds a wall against me in the form of opponents and "those seeking my soul". It is very difficult for people to be exposed to ideas that contradict Mania-Via's entire version of themselves.
And thanks again for your comments and clarifications.
Greetings to the honorable Dr. Yehiam Sorek
I like the skepticism with which you present the Jewish historical story and examine it with a scientific "magnifying glass".
And does not take for granted what appears to be certain, proven, self-evident and puts a question mark on every subject that seems to be finished, certain and true for us - this is an important quality for a researcher and for pure science - pure knowledge based on facts that can be proven over and over again.
But still I have to add a question about the topics and conclusions that you usually, not to mention, always come to - the topics are of course your area of expertise and you are probably an authority on them: always us and our Judaism - our history that your research repeatedly returns to and many topics, not to mention most of them always end up with the opposite conclusions from the historical story we know - and this brings me to the question of whether your starting point for your research is just pure research or another desire to hide and perhaps your subconscious to prove that we are not really Jews and do not really exist as a people and the stories that "go" with us throughout history are actually not happened - you persist in trying to prove that we are not good, that we are bad in the historical story, and history actually happened in a different way and not the way we are used to thinking - from the obsession to "wipe us off the historical map" as a people, including the Bible. Where does the great eagerness to always reach conclusions contrary to our very existence come from? What will be the next step? I may be wrong about you, but the questions must be asked about your studies and their negative conclusions about us - just as you study and ask questions about the people of Israel and question our historical story, so we are supposed to question the purity of your studies, your goals and your conclusions, which strangely are always against our very existence. This obsession of yours makes us readers feel that what motivates you is "suspicious" to say the least.
Interesting and welcome research. The way of researchers and real scientific studies to refer to facts and truths that can be proven beyond any doubt and transcend emotion, legends and the like. Sometimes after such a long period of time, not everything tends to prove completely beyond any doubt a legend or a story that is passed from parents to children from generation to generation which in itself seems to be proven - the proofs like the entire story of the Exodus from Egypt (and the Haggadat for your son) may have had to be added at the same time and transfer of solid proofs to the next generation - but What to do - what usually remains are the stories and not photographs or other solid evidence. The scriptures themselves are not enough. The research actually tells us to take the story with skepticism and I do accept that and at the same time I also take the research with skepticism - because another study in the future could prove the opposite of this research. What's more, the story that passes like a second thread through the generations from parents to children was born for a reason certain At this moment there is a question mark. we will wait
And what's more, the Hellenistic government did not ask the local inhabitants to Greece on its behalf, nor did the Maccabees and the Hasmonean kings their successors. These raided many Hellenistic cities and forced Judaism on the foreigners, and it is not just about the unfortunate enterprise of Yochanan Hyrcanus who forcibly converted the Reds and Yehuda Aristobulus converted the Hytoris in the Galilee.
And before someone gets down on me, how-not, it is recommended to look, and just for the sake of a parable and an example, in the actions of Alexander Yanai in this regard - the imposition of Judaism by force on many cities he conquered - The Antiquities of the Jews, 397, 393-XNUMX.
This reference is not open to those who do not let the facts confuse them.
To see and not believe that there are people who all they are looking for is to deny our history in any form
Hello to Agnus
The text Beit HaShauba appears in the external literature, in the Tosveta and in Yerushalmi, and is the correct translation of the study table. As well as, through a parable, the story of the nakba, which is even related to the pronunciation of nakiba (in a missing spelling of course). Examining the semantic transcription is what led the researchers, apart from the versions I mentioned, to adhere to the pronunciation indicated.
The Hellenistic influences in the entire system of holidays and especially in Legis have already been discussed by those older than me, and then it is only natural after many years of Hellenistic rule in the region.
For 9 and 11: a change of direction of 360 degrees is not a change of direction as we know,
But it is a change in the state of dizziness...
They... I'm sorry, but the myth here is that there was a myth about the imposition of Greekness. Because we know it wasn't.
Amazing! Even today in Iran people are not forced to convert to Islam, but only to behave like Muslims.
And regarding the study itself: beyond the fact that it is not at all clear what the study is trying to claim, since the claim is that the Greeks did not require the Jews to adopt the Greek religion, but a few sentences later he admits that the decree was intended to turn the Jews into idolaters like the other peoples of the area. What is the difference between becoming a simple idolater and becoming a member of the Greek religion, the fact that they were not forced to measure the circumference of the earth?
Beyond that, in the confessional prayers for the Hanukkah holiday, only the fact is mentioned that the Greeks wanted to "make them forget your Torah and teach them the laws of your will". No word on Greek or conversion. This unnecessary research bursts into an open door without innovating anything, and it is shocking to think about the amounts of budgets that could have been directed to useful research instead of such pseudo-innovations, for those who are worried about the prospects of a Nobel Prize in the future.
Dr. Shurk,
I don't know where you get your version of "Shimchat Beit HaShauba" from. The Mishna in the tractate Sukkah (Chapter XNUMX of Mishniyot XNUMX, XNUMX) calls the celebration by its common name even today, "the joy of the house of the fountain." A quick study of the Mishnah there reveals that there is no connection between the joy of Beit Ha'Sho'eva and the eighth assembly, and the celebration began on the evening of the first Yom Tov of the Sukkot holiday and continued throughout the entire Sukkot holiday. By the way, the eighth day of assembly is also added to the Sukkot holiday, and the claim that the addition of this day is unique to the time of the Temple is a gross error.
I looked through the book of Maccabim 51 and did not find any hint of your claim. The scripture describes the reestablishment of the altar and the offering of burnt offerings "as a judgment" (Maccabees XNUMX:XNUMX). There is no hint of work that was special for Sukkot or any other holiday.
Another matter: I did not find (at least in the book of Maccabim) any hint of the Hellenistic influence on the victory celebrations. The decorations mentioned are "and they adorned the face of the temple with crowns and shields of gold" (Maccabees 55:XNUMX), which were no different from the decorations in Solomon's temple.
Hello to Arya Seter
Certainly, Passover and Shavuot were celebrated in the temple, of course with shorter time intervals than every year, since the Sukkot holiday was celebrated in Kislo.
Certainly no holiday was celebrated in the temple from Kislu 167 BC (the date of the decrees) until Kislu 164.
The event appears in the book of Maccabim 42:319 ff; Yosef ben Mattathias, The Antiquities of the Jews, XNUMX, XNUMX ff.
Yahyam What is the exact source of the story of Sukkot in Hanukkah?
To Yahyam Shork, thanks for the answer (I was the anonymous questioner). And a small question for clarification - the purification of the Temple was in Kislu and you say that the first holiday celebrated in the Temple after that was Sukkot + Shmini Atzerat. And what happened on Pesach and Shavuot that were in the meantime? Didn't they celebrate them in the temple? why?
Thank you Yahyam. I learned a lot from this response. And the most interesting thing is that it is so simple but the myths are so strong.
Hello to the anonymous user
The answer to this is simple and is found in the sources, namely in the Maccabean literature. The last holiday that was canceled following the decrees, or any similar and tangential move, was the Sukkot holiday, and when Judah the Maccabee (the letter B is loose and not stressed) took control of Jerusalem and purified the temple (164 BCE in the month of Kislu), the Sukkot holiday was the first holiday that was then celebrated in the temple , considering the closing of the chain and its reopening, and this is beyond the majesty and splendor that this holiday is wrapped in (and by the way, with clear Hellenic-Hellenistic signs such as the use of palm palms, a fir tree with golden horns and more).
And here is a question - Sukkot is seven days, not eight. Except that during the Second Temple period, one day was added to it, the loa is the eighth assembly, or the joy of Beit HaShuava (that's how it should be read, by the way, and not Beit HaShuava).
One year later, Hanukkah was celebrated in Kisloo and lasted eight days to commemorate the historic event that preceded it the year before. And Sukkot persisted in celebrating his holiday at the known and fixed time.
And the story of Pech Hashemin - this is a late myth that came to answer the question of why the holiday is celebrated for eight days. After all, this is the fate of any historical event or fact that lacks logical or realistic explanations, and then some kind of cover story is put together in order to underpin the basis of the event.
And go argue with myths!
Yahyam Sorek - you made us curious - why exactly eight days. I found all kinds of answers to this, beyond what was enough - from the mishna, mysticism, etc., but I'm sure you didn't mean this nonsense. Well?.. We have learned please!
The debaters here ignore an issue that was only hinted at in the article: it is possible that there was an official order to stop the Jewish ritual, but no one tried to enforce the law
Practically. Either because the empire was too big, or because no one really cared. This can be easily understood when you see even here and now laws that should be enacted but no one bothers to implement.
Based on the fact that in the war religious people fought on both sides and also Greeks on both sides, it is necessary to continue to investigate what was the real reason for the start of the Maccabean wars. I would not be surprised to find reasons related to internal intrigues.
Another new study reveals that the myth of the 6 million Jews who died in the Holocaust is inaccurate and deserves to be diagnosed. The question of the 6 million never came up with the Nazis. In total, they put Jews in the furnaces without considering the total number of Jews who had died so far.
Another new study reveals that during the Holocaust the Jews were not forced to suffer, the question of suffering
It did not come up at all with the Nazis. They alloted them a certain amount of food and a certain way of life.
The metaphors and myths of the 6 million and the great suffering are not directly related to the Nazis, it is the Jews' fault that it was their number, and it is none of the Nazi's business what went through the soul of the Jew.
These diagnoses are important, adds a point.
Besides Hagi, as soon as you start talking about the "elites" you are already judging your position, since it is clear that all you want is to attack. The concept of "elites" is a concept invented by politicians to attack publics that they believe do not support them.
In addition to this, sentences that begin with the words "it is clear that", "it is known that", etc. immediately go to waste, because only the writer of these things is clear and known, and if he does not substantiate them, there is nothing to refer to them.
Hagai:
I brought the facts about my parents to show that your claim - and I am quoting part of it (which is consistent with the other parts) - "...housed them in the Hashomer Hatzair kibbutzim and imposed secularization on them..." is not correct.
In other words - if anyone can be accused of anything in this whole story, it is you for disinformation.
Hagai,
A person can be proud of his nationality, loyal to his country, love his country and part of his people without being religious! Secularism is not a curse (at least not according to its modern interpretation) and secular people have values that usually exceed the values held by a large number of religious people (mainly since a secular person holds them out of choice and not out of necessity and fear as a considerable number of religious people do). Beyond that, when religion does not blind the openness of the mind with its zeal, there is room to ventilate and renew the values, to improve and perfect them, and to choose in every moment to be an even better person than before!
And in addition, my roots are also rooted in a time when people who immigrated to Israel were sent to agricultural settlements (not really kibbutzim!) and the constraint you are talking about was never heard from the mouths of the people I know.
I didn't come to fight so that you don't misunderstand me from the wrong tone of my words, but to defend tradition and Judaism
Maybe your father came from a secular family, but most of the immigrants came from religious and ethnic families, and the government at the time in Israel came out against it
Don't get me wrong, I sounded angry because I feel the need to defend nationalism and religion is a part of us and all the time some researcher comes who tries to change it and distort it why? He is not proud to be Jewish???
Shall we try 720? 🙂
I agree with the claim that the prohibition of observance of Jewish mitzvot is almost equivalent to the imposition of Greekness.
I do think that the Hellenistic culture at that time surpassed the Jewish culture in quality (pay attention! We are talking about a culture whose sons already knew then - not only that the earth is a sphere but also knew how to calculate the radius of the earth! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eratosthenes ) and those who were Greekized probably came out of darkness into the light, but that does not change the fact that it is about the compulsion of Greekization.
Hagi Erez:
The story of 360 degrees that Yair caught you failed is usually told about models.
And in relation to history - when my father immigrated to Israel as a 13-year-old boy in 39, he was asked if he wanted a religious or secular kibbutz.
He came from such a secular family that he did not understand the meaning of the word "religious" at all, so he said "we will try religious".
This is how he became a religious person.
When my mother immigrated to Israel in 1950 as a young woman, she was asked where in Israel she wanted to go.
She came from a completely secular family and did not even consider religion when choosing her place of residence.
She had a friend who lived in a religious kibbutz and therefore chose to go there.
It so happened that I was born in a religious family.
I recovered on my own.
Just because it's a scientific site:
A 360 degree change is not a change at all.
: )
Legal. Have you heard of secularism?
Response to Ariel
Most of the Jewish people are secular, that's true, but it's not because we chose this path!
David Ben-Gurion and PAAI made sure to remove any Jewish mark from the immigrants, whether it is external in their appearance (cap, beard, sideburns) or internal spiritual
They were housed in the Hashomer Hatzair kibbutzim and imposed secularism on them. Can you imagine what happens to youths who entered the youth elite and were housed in kibbutzim and wanted to resemble the secular sabers
Even the adults were not overlooked without a red book (membership in the Histadrut) no one could get a job
It's time for most of us to go back to our roots and stop deviating
The leftist elites never cease to surprise
It's clear when the Greeks forced the Greek Jews, you can't force a 360 degree change on a person in Noam's words
This is a study that comes to denounce Judaism and the heritage, but it will not go to the elites
I was happy to review a study whose views I have held for many years. More than that, according to my claim, based on the Maccabean literature, that the decrees were in fact a policy dictated by Antiochus Epiphanes regarding all the territories of his rule for pragmatic-regulatory-centralization motives. Moreover, the majority of the people accepted the "decrees". Moreover, the ability to enforce the "decrees" was almost impossible under the circumstances of the ancient era and the multitude of problems that the Seleucid kingdom was facing at the time.
Moreover, it is not at all certain that special decrees were imposed on the Jewish people.
And one more thing to know - the Seleucid kingdom, like the Ptolemaic one, before Antiochus, during his time and after him, was not interested in spreading Hellenism among the local inhabitants - the barbarians as their language, and this in order to separate the victor from the vanquished, and in general, how can it be assumed that a Macedonian kingdom, one that was perceived as barbaric in the eyes of the Greeks themselves, and defined itself As a resident for various reasons, you will agree to share the feeling of unity with the locals, the residents of the eastern basin of the Mediterranean Sea.
By the way, does anyone know why Hanukkah is celebrated for eight days, no less and no more? And a hint - don't fall into the trap of the opposite!
I must link to a slightly more balanced article by Zeev Galili on the matter:
http://www.zeevgalili.com/?p=7916
Yeah, it's a little weird to me too. It is clear that people diverged of their own volition, just as today most of us mixed our cultures with world culture.
What can be asked is whether the Greeks erected platforms for their idols in villages like Modi'in and forced the inhabitants to worship them.
There is nothing new about that. This is stated in the Jewish sources, and I (as an ultra-Orthodox girl) was taught this at school. No one taught us that they "forced orientation", there was no need to "force orientation". As soon as the people of Israel stop learning Torah, keeping Shabbat, disciplining their children - the three covenants they made with the Creator of the world, they stop being Jewish anyway, and that is the point of the Hanukkah story.
They only forbade the Jews to keep their religion.
So what will they do instead????