THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHT
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...