The original hero of Chanukah, Matityahu the Kohen Gadol of Modi’in, was a true Jewish zealot and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. He was an extremist by any definition. Make no mistake about it. I use these terms complimentary, despite the fact that modern ears hear these terms and associate them with negative ideals. As the great Pinchas was a great Jewish zealot who rose up alone at the moment of truth, so too was Matityahu one of those rare men who seized the moment. Zealousness has its place and time in Judaism, and were it not for the heroic actions of Matityahu and his sons, the spiritual integrity of Judaism would have been destroyed on the treif altar of Greek idolatry and hedonism. True Jewish zealousness has no commonality with the “zealous actions” of your average hothead. To be zealous for Hashem is to be pure in Torah thought, and repulsed by the manifestation of chillul Hashem on this earth. Far from mindless rage, thinking leads to action. The faculty of emotion is fueled by reason.
Most self-identifying Jews today, regardless of denominational affiliation or ideological leaning, regard the Maccabees as true Jewish heroes. As is often the case over time, history became distorted, and the Chanukah of today has become something different than it once was. Most Jews celebrate a false Chanukah that has nothing in common with historical reality. It has become sanitized. In a warped sense of irony, modern day Jews celebrate the Maccabees for everything they were not; multi-culturalists, defenders of religious liberty, religious pluralists, etc. The stark reality is that most Jews would have deemed them terrorists by today’s standards. Chanukah isn’t a universal “festival of lights” for Jews to share with gentiles. The Maccabees were Jewish zealots who waged a brutal war against the Greeks who tried to destroy the Jewish soul. Chanukah is not a celebration of universalism. It is the very epitome of Jewish exclusivity.
From a contemporary context, one should consider the following:
- Were the Maccabees around today, Netanyahu would send an army of Yassamnikim thugs to destroy them.
- Being registered on the Maccabee internet mailing list, would mean a surprise visit from the Shabak.
- Leftists would scream for Maccabee blood and applaud brutal crackdowns, as would Israel’s media elite and her morally relativistic peers in Israeli academia. Secular Jewish organizations worldwide would revile the Maccabees.
- The Anti-Defamation League would use their vast resources to monitor the Maccabees and any Maccabee affiliated offshoots. True to form, their intel would be shared with the U.S. State Department, CIA, FBI, and various Israeli government agencies.
The secular wouldn’t be alone in their demonization of the Maccabees. Mainstream religious Jewish organizations would condemn them. Rabbis would declare that their actions constitute a chillul Hashem and are contrary to Halacha. They would argue that the Maccabees were guilty of incitement, and endangering the physical and spiritual welfare of Jews worldwide. Representatives of the Maccabee movement would be banned from speaking in religious institutions, and barred from entering most countries. In Israel, the state worshiping religious loyalists would condemn them with the harshest terminology. Many chareidim would join in.
Because it wasn’t just the Greeks. The Maccabees fought violently against Jewish hellenists who tried to destroy Torah. When Matityahu saw a Jew publicly defiling The Almighty’s name in the town of Modi’in, he didn’t stand by and tolerate the man’s freedom “to worship as he saw fit.” He slaughtered him with his sword and started a revolution. Yahadutlionizes him and his sons for sanctifying the Almighty’s name and saving Judaism from extinction. History is for the victors. We celebrate Chanukah because Judaism survived because of the Maccabees actions. The irony is that Hellenists revised history, and needing heroes they coopted them, sanitized their legacy, and Chanukah is considered parve today. Hence, the Maccabees, the zealots of Masada, and Bar Kochba can be accepted as heroes by the State of Israel today.