In s couple of days the Jewish Holiday of Chanukkah (chah-Noo-kah) will once again be upon us and this year it falls within the same days as Western Xmas. The Jewish Calendar, like most, is Lunar, while the Western Calendar is based upon the sun. Therefore, each year, Chanukkah slides slong the Western Calendar, some years beginning in November.
Americans have a disgusting custom of giving gifts on the holiday. Some give a different gift each night while others, come all the way out of the closet, and put them under a "Hannukah Bush," with even the name of the holiday changed for Western sensibilities. If you listen to such dullards they will tell you that "Hannukah" [sic] is the "Festival of Lights" and that it celebrates /G-D's love, or some such dunderhead nonsense. So, what DOES Chanukkah commemorate?
After Alexander the Great died in India his top generals split the empire amomgst themselves, with two, P'tolemy and Seleucid, consolidating all the pie pieces into two empires. The Seleucid capital was in what is today Syria. The P'tolemaic capital was in what is today Egypt. Their border, naturally, was what is today Israel, the Jews were not conquered so as to serve as a natural buffer between those two Leviathans. In power struggles between the two empires they ran roughshod over Judean (Jewish) sovereignity. Eventually, the Seleucids pushed the P'tolemaic Empire back a tad bit and so it was the Seleucid Empire exerting its influence over Judea, nominally a still sovereign nation.
To make a long story short (yes, it IS possible with Rachamim), the Selecid Emperor, Antiochus Epiphanes IV conquered Judea. As any Greek would, Antiochus wanted to "enlighten" the backwards, tribal Jews and their closed society. As always, there were Uncle Toms amongst the Jewish People, looking outward with baited breath and imagining how much better life could be if only Jews joined the majority. It was these Jews, the Hellenists, who cozied up to the occupying Greeks. These house nig*ers were allowed to rule over us, and in graduated steps they worked to obliterate what was even then, an extremely ancient culture.
Eventually, the collabarators announced that the Temple in Jerusalem would henceforth become a Greek pagan temple devoted to Apollo. Moreover, an altar would be placed in every community down to the tiniest village, and sacrifices would be made daily to Antiochus and to the Greek pantheon. Of course in the days before mass communication these edicts had to be disseminated personaly by a representative of the "Government." Arriving in communities, the mid ranking official, backed by a strong contingent of Greco-Syrian soldiers, would unload a portable altar, order village craftsmen to copy its schematic, then, with the entire community in the village plaza, the men would be forced to swear allegiance to the Seleucids and to make a sacrifice to the Greek pantheon.
Arriving in the hill village of Modi'in (Moe-d'een), in-ironically- what is today the "West Bank," the representative unloaded the altar, soldiers gathered the entire village in the plaza. Under arms the representative ordered the men to come forward and make the sacrifice. Noone was willing, but under threats of violence, one man finally stepped forward and bowed. He told the Greek representative that he would make the sacrifice. Very quickly, an elderly man stepped forward in ftont of the kneeling villager and lopped his head off with a scimtar. As the head rolled the men in the village attacked the shocked Greeks and killed all of them.
The man who lopped off the willing collabarator was named Matityahu, and though we traditionally use our father's first names as our surnames, he was everafter known by the surname "Maccabi" (Mahk-ah-bee), meaning "mallet," or "hammer." He led the village except for the most elderly, up into the hills and canyons.
I will stop here and continue in my next entry...
Americans have a disgusting custom of giving gifts on the holiday. Some give a different gift each night while others, come all the way out of the closet, and put them under a "Hannukah Bush," with even the name of the holiday changed for Western sensibilities. If you listen to such dullards they will tell you that "Hannukah" [sic] is the "Festival of Lights" and that it celebrates /G-D's love, or some such dunderhead nonsense. So, what DOES Chanukkah commemorate?
After Alexander the Great died in India his top generals split the empire amomgst themselves, with two, P'tolemy and Seleucid, consolidating all the pie pieces into two empires. The Seleucid capital was in what is today Syria. The P'tolemaic capital was in what is today Egypt. Their border, naturally, was what is today Israel, the Jews were not conquered so as to serve as a natural buffer between those two Leviathans. In power struggles between the two empires they ran roughshod over Judean (Jewish) sovereignity. Eventually, the Seleucids pushed the P'tolemaic Empire back a tad bit and so it was the Seleucid Empire exerting its influence over Judea, nominally a still sovereign nation.
To make a long story short (yes, it IS possible with Rachamim), the Selecid Emperor, Antiochus Epiphanes IV conquered Judea. As any Greek would, Antiochus wanted to "enlighten" the backwards, tribal Jews and their closed society. As always, there were Uncle Toms amongst the Jewish People, looking outward with baited breath and imagining how much better life could be if only Jews joined the majority. It was these Jews, the Hellenists, who cozied up to the occupying Greeks. These house nig*ers were allowed to rule over us, and in graduated steps they worked to obliterate what was even then, an extremely ancient culture.
Eventually, the collabarators announced that the Temple in Jerusalem would henceforth become a Greek pagan temple devoted to Apollo. Moreover, an altar would be placed in every community down to the tiniest village, and sacrifices would be made daily to Antiochus and to the Greek pantheon. Of course in the days before mass communication these edicts had to be disseminated personaly by a representative of the "Government." Arriving in communities, the mid ranking official, backed by a strong contingent of Greco-Syrian soldiers, would unload a portable altar, order village craftsmen to copy its schematic, then, with the entire community in the village plaza, the men would be forced to swear allegiance to the Seleucids and to make a sacrifice to the Greek pantheon.
Arriving in the hill village of Modi'in (Moe-d'een), in-ironically- what is today the "West Bank," the representative unloaded the altar, soldiers gathered the entire village in the plaza. Under arms the representative ordered the men to come forward and make the sacrifice. Noone was willing, but under threats of violence, one man finally stepped forward and bowed. He told the Greek representative that he would make the sacrifice. Very quickly, an elderly man stepped forward in ftont of the kneeling villager and lopped his head off with a scimtar. As the head rolled the men in the village attacked the shocked Greeks and killed all of them.
The man who lopped off the willing collabarator was named Matityahu, and though we traditionally use our father's first names as our surnames, he was everafter known by the surname "Maccabi" (Mahk-ah-bee), meaning "mallet," or "hammer." He led the village except for the most elderly, up into the hills and canyons.
I will stop here and continue in my next entry...
