The Real Story of Hanukkah

During the time of Greek control over the Israelites, Antiochus ruled the Jews as many of you know. But interestingly enough to note was the Hellenistic culture that had slowly seeped into the Jewish way of life. The Greeks brought sports, a new way of dress (hey who doesn’t like togas?), and other trendy cultural additions to the Israelites. This created a polarization with the religious Jews on one end and the Jews beginning to assimilate on the other. Sounding familiar anyone?

A lot of the wealth was tied in with one religious family. It was them who funded the Macabees to fight the foreign influence for the power of the religious side of the two extremes. Seems like it would create an interesting situation if the highly religious Jews of our time hired mercenaries to take over the influence of Western society.

At one point there might have been an old temple with a bit of oil that lasted a really long time, but really when we celebrate Hanukkah we’re celebrating the religious right taking power. We’re celebrating a war against assimilation and for the religiously observant. Just something to think about over dreidels and greasy latkes.