Hanukkah is here, and with it, the annual need to retell the story, and to make sure that we all know why, exactly, we are celebrating this holiday.
No, this holiday was not about that little bit of oil, sufficient for one night’s lighting, that lasted for eight nights. That is a story from the Talmud, about five centuries after the Maccabees.
The oil wasn’t the miracle of Hanukkah. The real miracle was that the Maccabees, a tiny band of Jewish guerrillas, defeated the Syrian-Greek army — the mightiest army in the world — and reestablished Jewish sovereignty in Judea. History has regarded Judah Maccabee as one of the most brilliant military strategists of all time; for that reason, there is a statue of him at West Point.
Read Full Article »