Led the Maccabean revolt against Hellenistic rule
Judas was the third son of
Mattathias
the
Hasmonean,
a
Jewish priest
from the village of
Modiin.
In 167 BCE Mattathias, together with his sons Judas,
Eleazar,
Simon,
John,
and
Jonathan,
started a revolt against the
Seleucid
ruler
Antiochus IV Epiphanes
(our 67th great-grandfather),
who since 175 BCE had issued decrees that forbade
Jewish
religious practices.
During Anthiochus' onslaught against the Jews his troops
ransacked the Holy Temple, and sacrificed a pig to the Greek god Zeus on
the altar in the Holy of Holies.
What occurred in 168-167 BC is one of
the bloodiest, saddest chapters of Jewish history. But out of it came
one of the greatest triumphs and miracles ever experienced by the Jews.
For after
Mattathias' death in 166 BCE, Judas assumed leadership of the revolt in
accordance with the deathbed disposition of his father.
The
First Book of Maccabees
praises Judah's valor and military talent, suggesting that those
qualities made Judas a natural choice for the new commander.
Which is what the celebration of Chanukah is all about.
Against all odds, a small band of faithful Jews, led by
Judas the
Maccabee, defeated one of the mightiest armies on earth, drove
the Greeks from the land, reclaimed the Holy Temple in
Jerusalem and rededicated it to the service of God. When they
sought to light the Temple's Menorah (the seven-branched candelabrum),
they found only a single cruse of olive oil that had escaped
contamination by the Greeks. Miraculously, they lit the menorah and the
one-day supply of oil lasted for eight days, until new oil could be
prepared under conditions of ritual purity. To commemorate and publicize
these miracles, the sages instituted the festival of Chanukah.
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