The Law Of Opposite Attraction: Hellenization, Democracy

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                

Alexander the Great led Hellenization into the theocracy of King Saul and King David and Solomon's territory, and just about destroyed it.   He was king of Macedonia from 356 to 323 BCE, and swept into Judea with his great personality that made a deep impression on the Jews.  Josephus describes his visit to Jerusalem where as he was invading the country, he made the people feel he was honoring them. First he honored the high priest, Jaddua and praised him with flattery.  He showered the Jews with privileges to all Jews of Judah and the Diaspora.  The cause of Alexander the Great's death is debated by historians. He died in Babylon on June 11, 323 BC at the age of 32.                                                             

Saul (11th century BCE) son of Kish of the tribe of Benjamin had been selected for rule by the Prophet, Samuel out of great leader possibilities from the 11 other tribes.  It was at a time the people were being attacked by the Philistines and Ammonites and Saul was an organizer.  He organized a trained army and inflicted defeats on the enemy.  Internally, he carried out a purification of religion by eliminating witchcraft, but he kept arguing with Samuel.  This caused Samuel to go against Saul and he selected David as his successor who was becoming very popular with the people for his army fighting.  Saul became jealous, rightly, of David, and drove David out of the country. 

Then the Philistines launched a united attack and Saul fell with his 3 sons including Jonathan in the battle on Mt. Gilboa.  Saul's death led to a temporary domination of the Philistines, but the groundwork he laid for national unity eventually proved effective in establishing a strong and independent Israelite monarchy.  Solomon was king after his father's death and the line continued for Israel till Hoshea in 730-721 BCE, while Judah  continued to Zedekiah in  597 to 586 BCE.                                              

      Greeks and Minoans and their lives

                                                                       

     Jews during Greek and Roman days not faring well at all unless complying with Hellenization.  But in 332 BCE a young Alexander the Great led a Greek and Macedonian force that swept through the eastern Mediterranean and Egypt and extended east to include Persia and part of India. He died in the process, and as a result his empire splintered into successor kingdoms. Judah, now called Judea, lay at the boundary between two of these Greek successor kingdoms, the Seleucids in Asia Minor and the Ptolemies in Egypt. Fortune favored first one and then the other, and Judea remained a buffer state between them.

How Judea ceased to be the pawn in this imperial struggle and achieve independence is a compelling story, treated in 1, 2, and 4 Maccabees and texts of the Ethiopian Bible, and that kingdom was “comparable in Jewish history only with the kingdom of David.” Under the Persians, religious worship had remained a matter of local custom, generally protected by the benign paternalism of the imperial rulers. But the form of Hellenization in Syrian-ruled areas imposed a new kind of local administration. Greek colonization, coupled with the philosophical ideals of a universal world order, called for a more thorough transformation of local customs.   Greek cities founded colonies or reconstituted older cities by imposing the nomima, laws and customs, of the parent city. These included laws and a constitution, rituals, and a religious calendar. A dēmos, or roll of citizens, was established; a boulē or city council of aristocratic leaders was appointed; and a gymnasium and ephēbeum were constructed for the education of elite boys. A universal Greek education would ensure the inculcation of Greek values, and even native texts became increasingly modeled on Greek literature.

Greek or Macadamia and Judah civilization were opposites with opposing goals, yet wherever Alexander went, he charmed the population and his Greek culture was diffused over the Mediterranean and the Middle East after the end of the 4th century BCE as a result of his conquests.  It was about at that time that Judea (for it was not called Palestine until after 135 CE) fell under Greek rule and Judea was surrounded by a ring of hellenized cities.  At the same time, the Jewish Diaspora was expanding rapidly in Egypt, Cyrenaica, Syria and Asia Minor, which were all in process of hellenization.  By the 3rd century BCE, the Jews of Egypt had adopted Greek and the Septuagint translation of the Tanakh (Bible)  had been completed.                                                    

                                                Antiochus IV Epiphanes

There was antagonism between the traditional and hellenizing Jews in Jerusalem that brought on Antiochus IV Epiphanes' attempt to suppress Judaism and the Hasmonean revolt.                                                       

                                                        The Emperor, Herod

Though John Hyrcanus and Alexander Yannai broke the power of the Greek cities in Eretz Yisrael, later these were restored and strengthened as a result of Roman intervention aided by Emperor Herod and his descendants.  

By the Mishnaic Period, (70 to 200 CE) (legal codification of the Oral Law  done by Rabbi Judah Ha-Nasi;  Jewish material life in Eretz was mainly Hellenistic even though it had ended to be the political program of any Jewish faction.  Both the Mishnah and Talmud contain hundreds of Greek words that were absorbed into Hebrew and Aramaic and tomb inscriptions were in Greek, so that must have been the spoken language of the Period.  The Mishnaic period generally refers to the time period spanning from the late first century CE to the early third century CE, during which the Mishnah, a collection of Jewish oral laws, was compiled by rabbis known as Tannaim; essentially encompassing the period where the Mishnah was being assembled and the related rabbinic traditions were being codified.

                                             King Henry VIII of England

England was also ruled by Kings and was undemocratic.  Since the office of Prime Minister evolved rather than being instantly created, it may not be totally clear-cut who the first prime minister was. However, this appellation is traditionally given to Sir Robert Walpole, who became First Lord of the Treasury of Great Britain in 1721.  

The religious group of Pilgrims   left Holland, who had been Englishmen, for America on the ship, the Mayflower, seeking a democratic life in 1620.  The Mayflower carried 102 passengers in 1620, including Pilgrims, servants, contracted workers, and English families. The pilgrims who risked their lives to settle in a strange land were more – and less – than folklore heroes. They were extreme Puritans, that is to say they disapproved of several of the rituals and practices of the Church of England that had been established by parliament at the beginning of Elizabeth I's reign.  They had no say in the matter if they stayed in England, so they up and left for better lives.                    

                        " You don't need Fema! " The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Executive Orders on April 1, 1979. The agency's primary purpose is to coordinate the response to a disaster that has occurred in the United States and that overwhelms the resources of local and state authorities.

Now we're almost back to a kind of kingship again with our President Trump, who is acting like one.  He's trying to overthrow the 14th article in our constitution saying that a baby born in the USA is automatically a USA citizen.  This is being used to eliminate Mexican Nationals who entered the US illegally, and he's sending them all back.  

Yet, talk about opposing values, he has been the first president to treat Israel righteously, and they were at the point of needing some understanding badly.  Sadly, there was a problem with Obama and his background, though he tried to be fair and square, his prejudice came through.  It's my opinion that Trump's son -in law, Jerad Kushner, is the guide of Trump's understandings, as Trump is not known to be a reader or historian, but relies on his listening techniques to others, and then his gut opinions.  Trump, in his first few days, has kept all his promises made when running for the office, so people should not be shocked. This part of history, Israel helped by the man least interested, though his daughter had married a Jewish man, would stand by Israel when criticized so much by his own country, defies all reason.   

Hellenization became the fad, the favorite of a religious group, undoing much of their understanding and practice to "fit in" with others.  Trump won the president's seat over people of much better character;  in fact his was one of the worst.  The Republicans and Democrats were almost divided 50-50.  In both cases, people turned around and did  a 180 which was astonishing!  

Even in sex, opposites have been attracting each other.  It may have started with Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens.  In my own DNA, I carry 2.9% of Neanderthal genes.  We've had soap operas of Abie's Irish Rose, and copy-cat versions since then-the Jewish and Catholic love stories.  

I feel the whole theory of opposite attraction is to stir up the pot.  Get opposing ideas.  G-d must adore real debates;  not the kind held during election time but real ones practiced in high schools and colleges.  It's all to get us to see 2 sides of an issue, and the possible outcomes;  trying to stretch our brains a little.  Things adored and fought for must be worthy enough.  Otherwise, why bother?  Israel's history is full of being saved at the last minute in miraculous situations, and Trump is a part of that.