Grandma's army

AN EVERLASTING LIGHT - I For all my new readers, I am rewriting a blog I wrote a few years ago, which is still relevant: Perhaps the most significant battle that the Jews fought, and won,  took place in the second century BCE.    Desiring to unify his kingdom through the medium of a common religion and culture Antiochus, the Greek ruler at that time, tried to root out the individualism of the Jews by desecrating their holy Temple and suppressing all the Jewish Laws. Tomorrow we start the eight day Festival commemorating this particular victory - this year coinciding exactly with Christmas. The story of Mattitiyahu Maccabee and his sons, who head the Revolt, is told in detail in the two books of the Maccabees.   A small, vastly outnumbered band of Jews waged battle against the mighty Greek armies, and drove them out of the land. Even though Judaism would have disappeared if Antiochus had succeeded in his strategy,  Jewish sages chose to leave these book...

The story of Chanukah, a Jewish festival being celebrated this week, begins during the second century BCE. Israel was then ruled by Antiochus IV who decided to force the pace of Hellenisation on the Jews of the land of Israel. His aim was to completely undermine the moral foundations of the Jewish nation. Rome forced the Jewish people to accept its own moral code: novel, human, fresh and tempting. At the time, the Greeks were the world’s greatest in many fields. They were unparalleled in their advances in art, architecture, literature, drama, philosophy.   In many ways, their achievements have never been surpassed. The battle between the two sides   was based on the question which way of life is more authentic. The ancient Jewish way, or the modernistic Greek way. That which places spiritual values at the centre, or that which considers materialism as the basis of nation building. That which worships the body or that which   crowns the soul. This was the unique di...

In my last blog I chronicled the battles that Israel has fought since the State was declared. However, perhaps the most significant battle that the Jews fought, and won,   took place in the second century BCE.     Desiring to unify his kingdom through the medium of a common religion and culture Antiochus, the Greek ruler at that time, tried to root out the individualism of the Jews by desecrating their holy Temple and suppressing all the Jewish Laws. We are now at the end of an eight day Festival commemorating this particular victory. The story of Mattitiyahu Maccabee and his sons, who head the Revolt, is told in detail in the two books of the Maccabees.   A small, vastly outnumbered band of Jews waged battle against the mighty Greek armies, and drove them out of the land. Even though Judaism would have disappeared if Antiochus had succeeded in his strategy,   Jewish sages chose to leave these books outside of the Bible. One of the reasons is ...