How Chanukah Has Nothing To Do With Christmas

 Nadene Goldfoot                                               

I'm finding that many Christians think, because of the dates Christmas and Chanukah are so close together, that Chanukah is just the Jews' way of celebrating Christmas.  

I'm afraid not.  Their dates of celebration in December is just a coincidence.  One has nothing to do with the other.

Chanukah is a minor Jewish holiday in the context of all our Jewish holidays.  Because gift-giving is involved, it's become more of a celebrated holiday, perhaps because it's in competition with Christmas.

Chanukah is celebrating a historic war where Judah, once one of the 12 states of Israel, had battles with the Greek-Syrians of Hellenism.  They tried to take over the country and even got away with putting the idol of Zeus in the Jewish Temple ! Everyone was afraid to speak out.  They were trying to force Jews to eat parts of pigs, you know, pork.  That's forbidden for Jews, highly offensive in those days .  They wanted to put an end to circumcision.  That did it! 

 A very macho-man who had 5 sons, was furious. Mattathias was a patriot, a priest and a landowner of Modiin. He had 5 sons; Judah the Maccabee, Jonathan, Simon, John, and Eleazar. Mattathias killed the royal official who was sent to make the Jews worship Zeus.  This was the focus of the revolt of his sons against Antiochus Epiphanes. This was very serious;  it meant the end of Judaism if not stopped.  The Syrians had become Hellenized (fall for Greek beliefs)  way before it was a threat to the Jews.  That's why the Jews had to fight Syrian-Greeks.   

Mattathias was the leader of the revolt and was staying in the Judean hills and waged a guerilla war on the Syrians. (In fact, he introduced fighting in that manner.)  He was killed and his son, Judah the Maccabee, took over.  He was later called the Hammerer because he hammered away at the Syrians.  We remember Judah and his brothers being victorious over Antiochus Epiphanes and their rededication of the Temple that the Greeks had taken over.

 Antiochus IV Epiphanes was the Hellenistic king of the Seleucid Empire, reigning from 175 BCE until his death in 164 BCE, born around 215 BCE, known for his aggressive Hellenization policies that led to the Maccabean Revolt against his rule in Judea. 

This means that the event happened about 2,200 years ago, and at least 175 years before the birth of Jesus.  

In the temple hung the eternal light lamp of oil which was always kept full.  With the Syrians taking over, it burned down to no oil left by the time Mattathias decided to risk his and his son's lives by rebelling.  With them succeeding, they threw out Zeus and sent runners to the next town for oil.  The lamp kept on burning for 8 nights anyway until the runners returned;  a miracle.  We remember this by eating foods fried in oil, like sufganiot (donuts) and potato latkas (hash browned potatoes-bought frozen are yummy in a pinch).  

Young men were being kept from studying the Torah, so they would go into the woods and study.  If the Syrian soldiers saw them and were questioning them, they denied they were studying, only gambling with a dreidal.  That's where the dreidal comes into our holiday.  

If this hadn't taken place, neither would Judaism have continued, so because of this event, Jesus was born and Christianity was able to develop.  

Resource:

https://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-revolt-against-syrians-by-jews.html

 

Philo's Hellenization After Attempts To Halt Syrian Greeks'

 Nadene Goldfoot                     

       Imaginative illustration of Philo made in 1584 by the French portrait artist André Thevet

Philo, (20 BCE- after 40 CE) a Jew from Alexandria, Egypt,  is a good example of a Hellenized Jew.  He made a visit to Judah (not to become Palestine until 135 CE).  He had participated in the deputation of Alexandrian Jews to Emperor Caligula of maniacal reputation  during the anti-Jewish outbreaks in 40. 

Caligula  31 August 12 AD – 24 January 41 AD), formally known as Gaius (Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus), was the third Roman emperor, ruling from 37 to 41.  The Jewish community in Alexandria, which fell under Caligula’s rule, had sent an envoy to the Roman palace to discuss their issues with the emperor. Recorded by Philo, the conversation shows Caligula a bit miffed that the Jews wouldn’t worship him as a god: “You are haters of god,” Caligula tells the Jewish envoy, “as you do not think that I am a god, I who am already acknowledged to be a god by every other nation.” He then asks why the Jews don’t eat pork, to which their envoy replied, For the same reason “some people don’t eat lamb.” To which Caligula ripostes, “They’re quite right, it’s not very nice.”

But rather than murder the Jews—that would fall to Caligula’s successors, thirty years later, who ultimately massacred hundreds of Jews as they destroyed the Second Temple, in 70 A.D.—he adopted a tone of resigned pity. “These men,” Caligula said of the Jews, as their envoy left, they “do not appear to me to be wicked so much as unfortunate and foolish in not believing that I have been endowed with the nature of god.” Better he mete out only pity on the Jews, and not deadly wrath.

                                            
Philo's family was one of the wealthiest in Egypt.  He received a Hellenistic education and his writings evidencing his familiarity with Greek literature, philosophy, etc., even his name shows his family's involvement.  His command of Greek stems from his acquaintance with the philosophers, especially PLATO. 

 

His Jewish education was slight:  It is doubtful if he knew Hebrew, and his knowledge of the Bible appears to be derived from the Septuagint and from Hellenistic commentaries current among Alexandrian Jewry.  These commentaries were allegorical and Philo adopted this approach in his own writings.  His literary output was considerable, including metaphysics, ethics, and Bible commentary.  He also wrote an historical work, parts of which survive in his account of the persecution by and retribution of Flaccus, governor of Egypt, during the anti-Jewish disturbances, and in a vivid description of the deputation to Caligula.  

Hellenizing Israel:  Hellenistic Judaism was a form of Judaism in classical antiquity that combined Jewish religious tradition with elements of Greek culture.  The main centers of Hellenistic Judaism were Alexandria in Egypt and Antioch in Syria (now in southern Turkey), the two main Greek urban settlements of the Middle East and North Africa region, both founded at the end of the fourth century BCE in the wake of the conquests of Alexander the Great. Hellenistic Judaism also existed in Jerusalem during the Second Temple Period when it was destroyed in 70 CE where there was conflict between Hellenizers and traditionalists.                         

                                                  

Upon the death of King Alexander the Great of Macedonia of Greek antiquity, said to be very handsome, in 323 BCE his huge empire, spanning from Greece to Pakistan, was divided among his generals. The three most powerful factions which emerged from the ensuing wars were the Seleucids, the Ptolemies and the Antigonids. From the years 274 – 168 BCE the Ptolemies and the Seleucids waged a dynastic war for the control of Syria which became Coele-Syria later as a Roman province."Syria" historically referred to a wider region, broadly synonymous with the Levant.  The modern state encompasses the sites of several ancient kingdoms and empires, including the Eblan civilization of the 3rd millennium BCE. Aleppo and the capital city Damascus are among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. 

It happened in ancient days when Syria was not Muslim.   From Palestine to Persia one may trace the rise of Wisdom literature (the teachings of a sage concerning the hidden purposes of the deity) and apocalyptic traditions (referring to a belief in the dramatic intervention of a god in human and natural events) that represent these central concerns—i.e., national destiny, the importance of traditional lore, the saving power of kingship, and the revival of mythic images. Each of these native traditions likewise underwent hellenization (modifications based on Greek cultural ideas), but in a manner frequently different from their diasporic counterparts. The Greeks brought their polytheistic religion with them.

The major literary product of the contact of Second Temple Judaism and Hellenistic culture is the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible from Biblical Hebrew and Biblical Aramaic to Koine Greek, specifically, Jewish Koine Greek. Mentionable are also the philosophic and ethical treatises of Philo, a Jew, and the historiographical works of the other Hellenistic Jewish authors.

                                              

In 223 BCE, an 18 year old  Antiochus III, a Greek King from the House of Seleucus who ruled Syria in the Hellenistic Period, ascended to the Seleucid throne after his brother Seleucus III, was murdered by his soldiers in Upper Asia (modern day central-western Turkey). Despite his youth, Antiochus soon proved he was both eager and shrewd as a ruler. Yet at times, he misplaced his trust in certain people: no more so than with a man called Molon.                       

Molon  Ancient Greek:  died 220 BC) was a general and satrap of the Seleucid king Antiochus the Great (223–187 BC). He held the satrapy of Media at the accession of that monarch (223 BC); in addition to which, Antiochus conferred upon him and his brother Alexander the government of all the upper provinces of his empire. But their hatred of Hermeias, the chief minister of Antiochus, soon led them both to revolt in 222 BCE. The two generals at first sent against them by the king were unable to oppose their progress, and Molon found himself at the head of a large army, and master of the whole country to the east of the Tigris. Molon committed suicide  on the battlefield avoid capture. His body was impaled on the slope of the Zagros Mountains at the urging of Hermeias.

                                How did Syria turn into a Greek country?  

Antiochus  reigned from(223-187 BCE and conquered Judah in about 200 BCE, but granted privileges to the Temple.  He settled 2,000  Babylonian Jewish families to the cities of Phrygia and Lydia from Babylon, entrusting them with an important role in securing those  regions of his empire.                 

The Dying Galatian was a famous statue commissioned some time between 230–220 BCE by King Attalos I of Pergamon to honor his victory over the Celtic Galatians in Anatolia.  a Celtic people dwelling in Galatia, a region of central Anatolia surrounding present-day Ankara, during the Hellenistic period. They spoke the Galatian language, which was closely related to Gaulish, a contemporary Celtic language spoken in Gaul.

                                                   

 

Panoramic view of Istanbul from the confluence of the Bosphorus and the Sea of Marmara. Several landmarks—including Sultan Ahmed Mosque, the Hagia Sophia, Topkapı Palace, and Dolmabahçe Palace—can be seen along their shores.

Phrygia, ancient district in west-central Anatolia, named after a people whom the Greeks called Phryges and who dominated Asia Minor between the Hittite collapse (12th century BCE) and the Lydian ascendancy (7th century BCE). In classical antiquity, Phrygia was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centred on the Sangarios River. After its conquest, it became a region of the great empires of the time.  Anatolia, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey.                   

 Among the various Phrygian religious practices, the cult of the Great Mother (Cybele) predominated and was passed on to the Greeks.  The religion of Phrygia, like the culture in general of the region, was a mix of Greek, Anatolian, and Near Eastern elements. In Rome, Cybele became known as Magna Mater ("Great Mother"). KYBELE (Cybele) was the great Phrygian mother of the gods, and goddess of motherhood, fertility and the mountain wilds. Her orgiastic cult dominated the central and north-western regions of Anatolia and was introduced to Greece via the island of Samothrake and the Boiotian town of Thebes.

                                              

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greeks_in_Syria

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philo

https://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/caligula-and-the-jews/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coele_Syria_(Roman_province)

https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/explore-the-bible/15-things-about-syria-s-people-and-history-as-found-in-the-bible.html

Part IV Egypt and It's History With the Jewish People

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                  

Egypt, called Mitzrayim in Hebrew, is a country in NE Africa that existed way back in the 20th Century BCE.  Our first Hebrew patriarchs visited Egypt and the beginnings of Hebrew history are connected with their bondage in Egypt and the Exodus with Moses, who was born in Egypt, and who bears an Egyptian name.
                                                                         

"Immigration by Canaanite populations preceded the Hyksos.  Canaanites first appeared in Egypt towards the end of the 12th Dynasty c. 1800 BC, and either around that time or c. 1720 BC, established an independent realm in the eastern Nile Delta".  The 1st Hebrew immigration into Egypt happened during the period of the domination  of the Semitic Hyksos dynasty(1720-1580 BCE  in Egypt of the 18th to 16th centuries BCE. It was during this period that the Israelites entered  the country and were favorably treated.  The Israelites were held in bondage after the expulsion of the Hyksos for a period of 400 years from entering to leaving.  .  Hyksos is an Egyptian word meaning "rulers of the foreign lands."
                                                                               

Tel el-Amarna Letters

 During that period, Egypt was closely involved in Canaanite affairs, shown in the Tel el-Amarna letters which  give us the background and allude to the 1st Israelite incursions there.  A.S. Yahuda, scholar, has shown the influence of Egyptian civilization on the Torah.
                                                                               

During the period of the Monarchy, there were constant Judea-Egyptian relations.  King Solomon (961-920 BCE)  married an Egyptian Princess and brought about a peace treaty this way. That's why he had 1,000 wives.  

                                                                             

 After King Solomon died, Pharaoh Shishak attacked Jerusalem in about 920 BCE in order to help the newly-established northern kingdom which had broken off from the southern newly formed Judah.
                                                                             

Judah's King Josiah (637-608, crowned king at age 8 after his father, Amon, was murdered) was killed in 608 BCE by the Egyptians when in the act of checking the march of Pharaoh Necho through Judean territory. (Necho imprisoned Jehoahaz, son of Josiah and killed Josiah in battle.)   Josiah's successor, King Jehoahaz, son of King Josiah  (608 for 3 months only because he belonged to the pro-Babylonian party and he was deported and died in  captivity in Egypt)  and his brother, King Jehoiakim/Eliakim(608-598) was installed in his place by the Egyptians, and for 3 years was a subject to Egypt, but when Necho was defeated at the battle of Carchemish in 605 BCE, Jehoiakim became a Babylonian vassal.  He died when Jerusalem was under siege by the Babylonians in 598 BCE.
                                                                                   

There was a Jewish colony in Egypt before Solomon's Temple was built.  The prophet  Jeremiah was taken to it shortly afterwards.  Jewish military colonies existed in Egypt in pharaonic days.  In the town on Yeb, a great deal of papyri had been found showing local life and showing  the existence of a Jewish Temple under the Persians in the 5th century BCE.
                                                                                 

 Alexander the Great (333 BCE) took Egypt and so Jews were a large proportion of the new immigrants who came into the country, some on their own and some being deportees.
                                                                           

Alexandria, Egypt's Synagogue-Eliyahu Hanavi

Synagogues were found to be in existence in Egypt from the 3rd century BCE.  Their community was hellenized in speech and culture.
                                                                               

Bat Mitzva of 12 year old Egyptian Jewish girls in Alexandria, Egypt before 1948. 

Alexandria was the center of Jewish life then and of course it was the center of the great hellenistic Jewish civilization with The Alexandrian Jew,Philo (20 BCE-40+BCE) , the philosopher telling us about it.  It's figured that there were about 1,000,000 Egyptian Jews then
                                                                                 

Caligula

. He had participated in the deputation of Alexandrian Jews to Roman  Emperor Caligula b: August 31, 12; died January 24, 41) ( emperor from 37-41) during the anti-Jewish outbreaks in 40. (Caligula insisted on being worshipped as a god and because the Jews refused to do this, it caused the riots when Agrippa came to visit in 38.  Philo led the Jewish delegation sent to intercede with Caligula.  Luckily, Caligula was assassinated and this put an end to serious consequences then in the Jewish world.)   Philo's  family was one of the wealthiest in Egypt.  He had a hellenistic education, and was most familiar with Greek literature, philosophy.  He knew Plato.  His Jewish education was scant, probably didn't know Hebrew, and his knowledge of the Torah was from the Septuagint and from hellenistic commentaries of the day that were allegorical.  He was quite the writer.  Among much of his writings was an account about Flaccus, governor of Egypt and how he persecuted Jews during the anti-Jewish disturbances, and a great description of the deputation to Caligula. Christians were impressed by his philosophy.
                                                                         

The Ptolemies of Egypt were  in control of Israel and Judah then which lasted for a long time as they were popular.  A dark period existed.  Onias, a high priest (Cohen) , lived during the 2nd Temple period in 230 BCE and refused to pay the 20 talents of silver that had to be given annually to Ptolemy III of Egypt.  By not paying, he put into danger the safety of Judea.  His nephew, Joseph, son of Tobias, succeeded in pacifying the king. The priest's grandson The son of Simon II was deposed by Antiochus Epiphanaes in 174 BCE.  Many Jews had fled to Egypt from the religious persecutions of Antiochus Epiphanes.   Before the Maccabean revolt.  the refugee high priest, Onias, founded a Temple in either Leontopolis or Heliopolis, where he lived after being given permission by Ptolemy IV (Philopator-221-203 BCE, a Macedonian king of Egypt),  to do so.  This was when the completion of the 1st Greek translation of the bible took place in Alexandria which had enormous influence.  There had existed a lot of anti-Jewish feeling among the Greek population which burst out into anti-Jewish riots and caused the periodic intervention of the Roman authorities.
                                                                             

The Romans burned down Jerusalem along with the 2nd Temple in 70 CE, so in 71 CE after the destruction, zealot refugees stirred up a Jewish revolt. The Jewish Aluf (General) Bar Kokba fought the Romans from 132 to 135, but while he was killed in battle, had held Jerusalem for 3 years.   In Egypt, another uprising had occurred from  115 to 117 CE.

It's thought that Hellenism's (end of 4th century BCE which was the Greek civilization diffused over the Mediterranean and the Middle East) ,  affect of the Greek religion and culture to be  the cause of weakening the resistance of Egyptian Jewry to Christianity as there were many Alexandrian-Jewish elements in the early Christian literature and thought.  Egyptian Jewish life suffered with the Christianization of the Roman Empire, and riots broke out in Alexandria that were instigated by the bishop Cyril in 415 which drove masses of Jews to be baptized.
                                                                       

At the time of the Arab invasion of 640, the Egyptian Jewish community was unimportant, and under Moslem rule, the former traditions of  hellenistic Egypt were not continued.  The Jewish community now centered in the new city of Cairo which was wholly Arab in character and culture.  Jewish life is told about in the mass of documents of the Cairo Genizah (where sacred books were deposited.  It held many lost Hebrew works including extracts from Aquila's Greek translation of the bible, the Zadokite document, ancient liturgies, and synagogue poetry from Israel, Babylonia and Spain; documents and letters of important persons.  It gave information about the history of the gaonate, the Jews of Egypt and Israel/Judah and then when they were called Palestine between 640 to 1100;
                                                                                                     

Karaites and Samaritans during Passover An important Karaite community flourished and has survived to modern times.
Today they live in Israel.  

Karaites at prayer

and the Karaites, a Jewish sect that rejected the Oral Law that the Jews also followed.   It originated in the 8th century in and around Persia where the Jewish community was not long established.  They were people who didn't accept the discipline of the Babylonian gaonate.  Arabs had taken Persia in 640 and caused an affect on their interpreting their religion.  .

Mesopotamian Jewry were now organized  under an exilarch/nagid and this was imitated in Egypt.  Many academies of learning were created.  Saadyah Gaon (928 was appointed as head of a famous academy-died in 942) was a native of the Fayyum.  "The Fayum in the Ptolemaic and Roman Period" was explained as follows:

"During the periods preceding the arrival of Alexander the Great in 332 BC, the Fayum was most prominent in the Middle Kingdom (2025-1700 BC). In the Ptolemaic Period, the Fayum was one of the main regions where Greeks settled."

 Generally, the conditions were quite favorable under the Moslems, though "normally the traditional Moslem anti-Jewish code was enforced.  Under Caliph Hakim (996-1021)  there was a period of almost ferocious persecution of Jews.
                                                                       

     
Moses Maimonides/Maimonides/Rambam (1135-1204) arrived in Egypt in the 2nd half of the 12th century after leaving his home in Cordova, Spain at age 13 with his family to escape the Almohade persecutions.  and found a comfortable Jewish community.  His descendants served as nagids of the Egyptian Jews.  The Turks occupied Egypt in 1517 and conditions improved.  By the 19th century, western influences penetrated the country and made a fast Western affect on the upper classes in Egypt.  The Cattauri and Mosseri families played a part in public life.  The anti-European reaction of the mid 20th century involved the Jews of which many held European citizenship.  This was then linked with an anti-Zionist policy since Zionism had before been looked at favorably.  1948 came when Israel announced it was again created and war was announced 5 minutes later by the Egyptians and her neighbors.  The result of this was that many Egyptian Jews were placed in concentration camps and attacks were made on Jewish homes.   A great emigration of Egyptian Jews started to head for Israel and their number dropped from 90,000 in 1947 to about 30,000 by 1955.  
                                                                           

1967 IDF get to see the Wall in Jerusalem After the Six Days of War

In 1954, there were still 11 active Jewish day schools with 1,750 pupils.  The Sinai Operation took place and Nasser of Egypt dispossessed and expelled many Jews from Egypt.  Most of the others left in the following years.  By 1966, only 2,500 Jews lived in Egypt;  1,800 living in Cairo and the rest in Alexandria.  Most of the remaining males of Egyptian nationality were arrested at the time of the SIX DAY WAR in 1967 when  many Arab countries attacked Israel.  The remaining Jews emigrated to Israel.  By 1990, the Jewish population of Egypt had shrunk to 240. This would be elderly Jews most likely alone.  By 2012, only a few older ladies remained to care for the synagogue and graveyard.

Update: 9/19, 9/20/16
Resource: The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
https://queensouthhatshesput.wordpress.com/2015/02/10/pharaoh-thutmose-iii-attacks-jerusalem/
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/museums-static/digitalegypt/fayum/fptolemaic.html
http://www.biography.com/people/caligula-9235253
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caligula
Movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZPMU9riKl4  Exodus:  Gods & Kings on Moses, Rameses
Movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiLmKxiTT3g Ten Commandments, 1956 , with Charleston Heston
book: Messages from a Syrian Jew Trapped in Egypt