The history of Chanuka - By Liora Meier

[Music] we've all heard the story of Hanukkah and we know we hear the summary of Hanukkah being told to us time and time again about you know basically the Greeks forbid different Torah laws such as Brit Milah Rosh Hodesh there's fast assimilation to Jewish people that are adopting this Hellenistic ideology and so five priests the Maccabeats they join up together and they just like we're gonna chase the grease out of this Empire so they getting up together and these five priests chase them out when the few men might join him along the way and then we go to liberate the Temple in Jerusalem and they want to light the menorah after they clean out the temple and they only have a methyl for one day they liked it in the last eight days this is the summary you know who we hear time and time again and this is kind of like summarizing you'd see it me trying the exodus of Egypt in the way saying you know all the Jewish people were enslaved by power and so he just decreed no all the Jewish babies get killed and someone said I'm gonna save my baby and they put it in the river he floats along and someone from powers household takes it in it was like oh I'm gonna take this in he's raised in Pharaoh's household then he gets old enough he acts out he gets chased out of Egypt eventually many years later he returns wanting to free the people and then you know he partisan where let me go ten plagues happened Paro agrees they leave they had they get backed up against the wall there and when power changes his mind he chases after them they got the sea splits they go through the wall there and and then the Egyptians follow after them from the water swallows them up that's kind of kind of like that kind of summary that they both say what really happened but they also leave a lot to be said many details are glossed over and we learned the details of yet CMU's Ryan because we go over a year after year after year on Pesach when we read the Haggadah and they're trying to relive that moment as if we're there ourselves but with Hanukkah we don't really go into as many foods details we are more like Hanukkah party spinning the dreidels Epis if Connie oats it's no it's time with a lot of fun but we don't really go much into the history of mud up to these events and so such as who are the Greeks you know such as with Rome that we come from a sub a Don so he'll created the Greeks and what type of characteristics do they put into the Greek and next is like we also learn you know the five priests you know chase out the Greeks but how long did it take them to do this and what did other people join them so you know there's different pieces of information that's left to be said and so we're gonna start out talking about the Greeks people often refer to as priests you know you think of it you're like it's the birthplace of democracy and the civilization philosophy people are always talked about how you know Greeks introduced culture into the world you know politics literature arts architecture and sports in a glamorous scale called the Olympics and the Greeks they really set off to showcase humanity they wanted to flaunt every aspect of their lives they wanted to beautify it and they loved intellect they loved literature our poetry drama music you know sculpture so on and the sages teach that the father of the Greeks originally came from the son of Noah named Yepez when God destroyed the world na went onto the ark with his wife his sons along with his sons wives and when the flood ended everyone left the ark and Noah after witness witnessing the destruction of the world that was a bit hard on him and he kind of got drunk and he passed out and his middle child named hum he walked into the tents and they saw his father lying there exposed completely in the nude and the commentators some of them say that when he saw his father he castrated him so that he couldn't have any more children so that way he wouldn't have to share his share of the world being divided with anyone else and so calm he went out of the tent and he told his brothers the japhet and shem what he had done and yet for then shem they they weren't happy at this news there they were like you did what and they took pity on their father and they place the garment behind their backs and they walked backwards into the tents and so they wouldn't look at their exposed to father and when they walked backwards and they just came up the garment fall back off their shoulder so that it would cover him and then they left the tent without gazing an eye on him and when the hawk wakes up he realizes what had happened and in Bereshit chapter 9 verse 25 he curses hum and Hamsun son come on and then afterward he blesses yet and Shem saying the beauty of yet fits within the tents of Shem we see the connection already with your fats being beauty as it comes from the Hebrew word FA meaning beautiful but the evidence Shem both honored their father so why is their blessings a little bit different why is it that the beauty of the effete will dwell in the tents of Shem why did they raise the affect seeming to get a little bit less Irwin's but it's the tents of Shem he's drilling in where's your Fez also the older brother and Shem is youngest brother so why is their blessings different and whenever the pains is that Shem he saw beyond the physical of what happened to his father he also initiated this act he heard what happened he's like this is horrible like yet let's go let's go cover him like he initiated it but Shimon was more held at the spiritual aspects of this act he understood what had happened had happened to someone who's made in the image of God and he looked at it in a spiritual way and therefore he married the have a blessing how to go with a spirituality because you know a tent is known as a place of learning and studying whereas japhet it talks you know his beauty yes it saw it and he saw the disgrace that happened to the human body and he wasn't looking at the inward part he was looking at the external part of it and therefore he was rewarded with external things in this world yet that had seven sons and one of them was named Yvan and he became the father of Greece and such as you know the blessing for a Shem was passed down to Abraham and then to Jewish people in the blessing of Beauty was passed me effete to Yvonne and then to the Greeks and so passed and it's just this entire idea of beauty just enlivens and vested in the Greeks and just grew and grew and grew and the land extolled in this physical this idea of the physical beauty of the body and you know all of their Olympic sports were all done in the nude and they loved the fine arts and sculpture poetry drama literature architecture architecture the rigs came into the world with the goal to infuse the ideal beauty and perfection of into everyone the Greek spirits worshiped this idea of physicality and beauty and they went as far as the famous philosopher Aristotle he wrote that killing children was a necessity it was essential for functioning society he wrote that there must be a law no imperfect are men child shall be brought up and to avoid access and population some children must be exposed thrown into a trash heap are left out into the woods to die for limits must be fixed the population of states notice that there's no malice to the tone of this and meaning being a child to die Aristotle related this idea in the cold rational way it was just a calculation that overpopulation is dangerous it hurts the economy no not enough jobs food and land to go around and if someone should go it should be you know the mames or the disabled and handicapped child he's just gonna grow up to be away on society yeah there Aristotle wrote this yeah and so perhaps he thought they you know they're doing a kindness to his child by leaving it out to die because they're less than perfect and their society worship be ideal they created that ideal that everyone wanted to reach to and air assault on the Greeks weren't the last to think this way and this twisted way of thought even rests in some of the Western world today with the idea of eugenics just a few decades ago the United States was sterilizing people without their consent so the Greeks introduced this thought to this world that you aren't enough unless if you are strong intelligent and beautiful and this is what makes the ideal perfect person the Greeks also created this aesthetic ideal not just with people but with buildings and with other ancient cultures they beautified their buildings you know with pottery in pottery and art art but with the Greeks but introduced the idea of beauty for its own sake beauty without purpose art for the sake of art art they're just trying to be the best and trying to be the nosers fighting like mine's better than yours I'm better than you the ultimate value of the Greeks was Beauty the ultimate value of the Jewish people is holy and holiness it's not that we Judaism scorn beauty but we believe that it's not the main importance its secondary you know the beauty of your fete will dwell in the tents of Shem it's not it's serving the tents such as you know the tent is the place of learning and this so we see it was that also the Holy Temple and their sages used to say that a person who had not seen the temple had never seen a beautiful building we also have this concept that's called a Hedorah mitzvah which means the beautification of a mitzvah you see that was some men who grow their payouts really long you know they call it like you know the beautifying it yeah and this there's also a story that the Midrash tells us about when the Moshe Arab a male was collecting donations for the Mishkan from Bonet ashore el the woman they wanted to donate their mirrors that copper mirrors to the Mishkan and this is what they used to make themselves beautiful and they looked at it to adorn themselves and they wanted to bring this as a contribution and Moshe of Baden is like no of this it shouldn't be used this was used for temptation to used to make themselves look beautiful to inspire lustful thoughts we can't use this in the temple and then Hashem told him he's saying that accept them for these are more precious to me than anything because through these the woman stood up many legions through the children they gave birth to and me trying when the husbands were weary from back-breaking labor and it's Ryan the woman would you know take these mirrors with them along with some water and food and go out to meet their husbands and it says give him some like a little bit of a break and they come as they give him the food and water and they would try to like you know stew deuce to their husbands by having this little copper mirror and saying I'm gonna be the food than you are like showing it back at bone like then they used these couple of mirrors to like inspire their husbands to like continue to procreate when they were in the shrines and so hums like no these are actually holy because it helps continue the Jewish people from going on when the men thought thought they know they're too tired and they just don't have any spirit left in them and so this is why no walk blesses the effect that you know the beauty sell his beauty shall dwell in the tents of Shem Shem is the ancestor no to the Jewish people the Alber himavan who came from him and you know the Jews and the Jewish people when say that when beauty serves holiness it is enhanced but the Greeks had it the other way around for them Beauty came first and their gods were secondary it even became a style of intellectual Greeks to just criticize and mock their own gods with biting service ISM they had no call to be holy and to live to a higher standard by their gods and with yet beauty the focus was on centinall the sense of self-worth no they looked at how they looked compared to others their body type their height to the way it's their hair you know their shadow every pound and pimple is a crisis no and for every beautiful person though you know there's hundreds more they're even more beautiful and they're just staring right back at you from in magazines or television there's the world is full of beautiful people and so you try to make richness standard but you're like you're always comparing yourself to everyone that you see and that's the great thing that they brought in and most Judaism's focus is you are a soul you are worth and value is essential to this world and this whole world was created for you you know you are the image of God which means your intrinsic self is holy and that can't be corrupted or erased whereas with you know with physical beauty some people may be born more pleasing than other people with external eyes but when you get to know them you're like why do they even think this person was beautiful in the first place that our behavior is just disgusting and then there's other way around do you meet somebody who you think they're a little more plain but as you get to know them their inner light but in their beauty their soul their their goodness just shines more and more and they just become more and more beautiful in your own eyes you see it coming through and shining brightly and that's coming from their true and their beauty coming from within and it affects the world even more strongly and this is the major difference between the descendants of your FETs his name meaning view that he's looking for the external beauty and painting that perfect ideal picture that everybody is trying to reach you know the Greeks also glorify the beauty of the human body you know the Olympics the marriage amazed eum's they were nothing but their birthday suits and the modern-day gymnasium is rendered from the Greek word gum nose which means naked nothing regarding the body is considered private or sacred or holy it's just there for show the public toilets in ancient Greek also consisted as a bench on the Main Street with just like a holes in it so people just walking by on the Main Street they can just step to the side do their business whereas everybody's walking by and see it there was no privacy in that as well and unfortunately yeah yeah the Greeks introduced like right in there where people are walking by yeah and to the Greeks and to the Greeks gods were made in the image of humans and to the Jews humans are made in the image of God the Greeks to the Greeks the physical world was perfect and to the Jewish people the physical world was something that needed to be perfected and needed to be elevated and short to the Greeks what was beautiful was holy and to the Jewish people what was holy it was beautiful such differences were destined to clash sooner or later and so the Sun of the effects he had a son named Yvan and he would become the father of the Greeks and eventually a man named Alexander the Great was born in 356 BCE he was the son of Philip seconds king of makedonia in northern greece phillip created a powerful army that which forcibly united the phret Tisha's Greek city-states that were spread across the area there and he made it into one Empire and from an early age his son Alexander had displayed tremendous military skill and prowess and he was imported that to be the commander of his father's army when he was only 18 years old and having conquered all of Greece Bullock was about to embark on campaigns and vain Greeks arch-enemy the Persian Empire but before you could invade Persia he was assassinated and then Alexander then became King and 336 BCE and two years later he crossed with Nona's hell's points in modern-day Turkey with about 45,000 men and they did the Persian Empire with just about 45,000 men you think that wasn't a lot compared to the Persian Empire which already had was already expansive and had a larger population a larger army and the Persian army did in fact outnumber the Greeks as many as 10 to 1 most of the time but the Greeks were well-equipped they had weaponry shields and a really good well trained men and strategy and Alexander's military campaign lasted 12 years and it took his army around 10,000 miles and the Greeks were not only military and perilous but they're also cultural and Peres lists their Greek soldiers and settlers brought their way of life their language their arts their architecture literature philosophy to the Middle East they sought to enlighten the world with their beauty their sports and their culture when Alexander was on his conquest fill you something interesting happens when he came to air it's just your L they're historian josephus here and in the Talmud they both recount to tell telling about how when Alexandria was coming to Jerusalem everyone was in fear because everywhere he went was a major city he would destroy the city destroy the temple or take it over and we the Jewish people were still like living a holy life cell based had the Second Temple and they were afraid what was gonna happen and so the high priest he's like I gotta do something about this like see he goes out of the city at night and he approaches the Greeks massive army that's like encamped close by the city and he goes up to try defines the Alexander the Great and Alexander the Great sees the high priests when all of those high priests garb you know the breasts play everything Alexander he boasts the ground and bowels before the high priests and when the his general who's standing actually seems like why he bowing to him like you're you're Alexander the Great you don't just ballot to anybody this is really weird and unusual and Alexander he said that this man and this this garb this is but he's wearing he appeared to me in a dream and he blessed me in my conquest and like and told me that I would be successful in conquering the world and because of this he despair at Jerusalem and he spared the temple and the Jewish people and Israel was peacefully absorbed into the Greek Empire where's everywhere else there was fighting going on to the conquering no Eritrea was peacefully absorbed because he had this vision of the high priest and his dreams and when he did this the rabbi's decreed that that year all the newborn babies would be named Alexander and it's still a Jewish name to this day because of that and also the day was of the meeting was a 25th of two vets and it was declared a minor holiday because he saved it he Jerusalem was spare so during Alexander's conquests of the known world Jerusalem and the Jewish people were all spared and absorbed peacefully into the Empire no harm came to the Jews Alexander liked them the temple wasn't the file so when did things start to go sour as the Greek stretched out through the Middle East they introduced their culture Hellenism which consisted you know all those things stated before and the vast majority of the world adopted their culture with open arms and even those who might have immediately rejected it they were sucked into its glamour just know a few years later and for the long time the Greeks did not try to interfere with the Jewish practices and they preserve the rights of the Jewish people and the Jews continue to flourish under the Greeks role for a hundred and sixty-five years the majority rejecting Hellenism and holding on to their Jewish mission and sense of self knowing that holiness was first and foremost the Jews were not just unassimilated they couldn't be assimilated and generally you know the Greeks were tolerant you know do whatever makes me happy but with time Judaism with its intractable beliefs and bizarre practices you know it began to stand out and as an open challenge to the Hellenistic ideology of their world world proceeded premise II supremacy and this challenge for the Greeks became more and more intolerable when Alexander died in the year 323 BCE his empire kind of died with him his empire was split into three different pieces and three of his different generals took the three different pieces and at first Israel was under that the Pattillo Mian section which capital city it was in Alexandria Egypt things were smooth for the Jews you know the Greeks actually quite liked the juice never met people like them before no the Jews were intelligent and they had a system and these laws that lobbies other countries they didn't have their a you know the toy had set these structures beforehand elevated this society and they're like well of impressive and philosophical Greeks loved to talk with the Jewish people and but the Jews also completely baffled them the Greek historian Hickox pious from 362 290 BCE he describes the unique monotheism of the Jewish temple Jerusalem because you've never seen anything like this he says there's no image nor statue near boats have offering therein nothing at all it's planted there neither Grove or anything of the sort you know not even flowers the priests abide there and both day nights and days performing serves and purification rites not drinking at least a drop of wine why are there in the temple the Greeks couldn't understand this Jewish view of the Torah specifically the Jewish view that the entire world was created by a single God who not just created the world he was immortal he was invisible and he cared about the affairs of humans they couldn't and he controlled every little thing and they couldn't understand a God who could care about mortal affairs of humans they couldn't understand you know their gods are all separate and they did their own thing and they party they Jenk wine and they got into trouble and you know like their gods were like humans they fashioned their gods after humans no they couldn't understand this Jewish concept of God and also the strange that the Jewish laws it told people you know how they treat people social responsibility and you know there's a whole lot of all the requirements and there's it respects for life and it was just the opposite of all the Greek ideals and the Greeks even have his used translate the Torah into Greek for them they had 72 different rabbis and they put them into 72 different rooms and had him translate into everything into Greek and but all of this changes over 100 years later and near 198 BCE when one of the three empires that Sileo Syd's led by king Antiochus the third with his army he takes control over Israel from the Petula Me's and still then things weren't bad yet it wasn't until his son king Antiochus is the third son Antiochus the fourth comes into power and Antiochus the fourth he finds himself what's that a year 198 that's when they take over Israel yeah this era takes over yeah and Antiochus the fourth he comes into power and then and he finds himself under a lot of pressure he's trying to hold back you know the Egyptian part of the the third Empire of the Patillo meais and he's also worrying about the rising power in Rome and he looks over his empire and he's trying to think you know where's the weak spot where can I like protect my my kingdom and he picks out the weakest spot is where Israel is you know it's bordered by Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea where the Rome could come in by and to add to that the majority of the Jews weren't into Greek culture they were doing their own thing which means their loyalty might waver and since you know they aren't doing what he's doing and so this is a situation he now seeks to remedy Antiochus the fourth and one 69 to 167 BCE he takes heavy action trying to Helen eyes the Jews of Israel he's attempting to destroy Judaism and this is just bringing a reign of terror during these three years yeah it was like the main part of it his first action was to take over the Second Temple in Jerusalem and he wanted to convert it into a temple for Zeus so first thing he did was removed the Coen hog adul and he put you know another Jew that he had in his back pocket there and he you know went to convert into a temple for Zeus and he was following a pattern that you see and Tanakh but when Jewish people would quickly start to degrade their own values and their morals and if the priesthood and the temple could be corrupted he was sure that then the Jewish people would start to assimilate and go into Hellenism if they saw you know their spiritual leaders you know the temple is going bad that that was gonna make them go back to like if this is how priest acts you know then what you know but why should I act any different and Antiochus he also saw Jews were obsessed with holiness and the Jewish calendar pointed to different days of the year that were more holy than other days and Antiochus didn't like that like why do you say Shabbat that happens you know every single week is holy or every month Rosh Hodesh and you celebrate it you know Pesach Cheverus Russia Sean yarmulke pursue coats like Antiochus didn't like these he wanted them to assimilate and if they were celebrating their own holidays they weren't going out and celebrating the Greek holidays so if he made them not be able to celebrate their own you know they may go out want to go out more to celebrate and have fun and join in with the Greek celebrations and the Greek parties and so he's outlawed the Jewish calendar and Antiochus he wasn't done there she was 8 differently which means they can't go to a great common party and partake of their food and their wine so he called it causing a separation he doesn't like that so he forbids eating kosher and he wasn't done there yeah it was too Jewish but he couldn't a cohan but he took out the other one he may have killed the other one but he moved it from his position and using his power and influence he put in the one he wanted him to the power no whip he took it well it is only about this reign of terror lasted about two years but it was who he wanted and at that time to get in we it was in the power it's like putting somebody like a rabbi the head of a Beit Knesset you know like sometimes someone's dollar Maya donor to the bacon s it might have more of a say than somebody who's actually and fortunately if you see this bribery be able to kid in yeah he because if they have caught keeping Shabbat they would be arrested different things like that so and so he wasn't down there with forbidding the Jews to keep kosher Jews would also spent hours and hours you know studying Torah going over the scrolls you know looking at the Hebrew and delving deeper and deeper into it and spending way too much time he would say studying Torah and he wanted them to not study Torah he wanted them to get out now go to the gymnasiums you know go interact with the Greek and be part of this culture and so he wanted them to assimilate so he next he banned them from studying Torah and he had an issue that tourist girls be publicly burned people performing these degrading acts that just before burning a Torah scrolls you know they enjoyed it and they but so much that they took a pig and they would sacrifice it over the Torah scrolls as they were in the older to the file yeah this time period that is when taking the Jewish Brides probably maybe probably is around this time I'm not sure [Music] and so Antiochus he knew that pig was abomination to the Jewish people and it was repulsive to him so he decided to make pigs as a regular daily sacrifice and the Holy Temple so that people could also worship all of their Greek different different Greek gods there as well and finally as expected to be a quote from a culture that believes the human body is perfection Antiochus he forbids circumcision and you know to the Jewish people this is a physical physical tangible sign you know of their covenant with God and it instantly ties in with a connection to land of Israel and we believe that man is born and perfect and circumcision is part of activating spirituality and holiness and elevating everything and you know it's better life's mission to bring out the holiness in this world we aren't born perfect but to the Greeks this is a porn were born perfect and circumcision is mutilation of perfection so you might think you know okay they forbid Shabbat so and holidays you know you just keep those in quiet places know in secret you know underground you know studying Torah you know that's where the dreidels come in you know they would study Torah underground people would come in and then they're like they're great to some the gardens some of these on the watch day the Greek Easter coming and they quickly cover it and they'd spin the dreidel is you know like look we're gambling here and not really studying Torah like this is you know some things did start going underground for a while yeah yeah and so they are is just like no things are starting to go and quiet but it wasn't easy because the families knew he was the most devout Jews before and for a coin there's something they could easily turn in a neighbor you know people who are more devout were under close eye and they had to be extra careful and the altar is you know the grease to say instead of all tears in every single village around Israel because just they wanted to see the Jews sacrificing the pigs they didn't looks like they have don't have to go to the temple we want you doing it right here where we can see you if you want to make sure you're doing this and this wasn't a war a typical war you see against people like I hate this group of people you know like they're my enemy they Greeks gonna do this because they hated Jews we actually like the Jews they just want to Jewish people to be more like themselves this was a war against religion and this was the first religious war these just wanted to be like them and this was different from other poly ethic nations whereas when they take over a nation they usually just adopt their gods along with their own gods they don't really pose a threat to each other you see you know Rome absorb the Greek god Zeus and it became Jupiter so the god Zeus became the Greeks the Romans God Jupiter they like absorbed it and they made it their own in this I love Nepali ethnicity countries they would take from the other God and like absorb it into their own not wholly autistic ideas yeah by the planets things after I got a fake God yeah yeah all the planets all the planets are like named after different yes and but the Jews you know their God posed a threat and like any of the other places it was her God posed a threat and during this time there's a story in the Talmud that recounts of a woman named Hana and her seven sons Antiochus he came to Judea he wanted to see know his enactments in full force and during this time a woman and her seven sons were caught not doing you know whether it was not saying not to sacrifice a pig or keeping Shabbat they're caught keeping something that you know that was now outlawed and they were brought to king Antiochus and he first he goes to the eldest son he was like okay all over their children the mother they're all standing close by and he tells the first one you know telling him to abandon the Torah and the young man responded confidently why have you bother us with this long speech trying to inflict your abomino religion the pomace we are ready to welcome death for the sake of her holy Torah the king was furious he ordered that the boys tongue hands and feets be severed and placed into the fire and the soldiers received the torture the boy while his brothers and the mother watched and Antiochus was sure that if they saw that the miss Peyton the pain of the brother that would inspire them to like okay okay like it don't do that to us you know like what was submit we're submit but instead it inspired the family and stirred them excited I'm a deep resolve to accept their fate and to sanctify God's name and when the second brother was brought to the king even the members of the King is like please just like Bala to this Isle he wants you to bow to you like we don't want to like torture you or like this is nothing personal we're not doing this because we can have malice toward you we just want you to do what we're doing and but the boy ever no he say that do what you will with me I'm no less than my brother my devotion to God and his torture was just as Buderus his brother and into the amazement of all the third brother he didn't bend in the slightest and same fate happened to him and the fourth brother you know he echoed the same words and he faced you know that same death and the fifth brother he said to Antiochus don't you suppose that God has handed us over to you to result to you because he hates us it's because He loves us it has granted us this honor God will take his vengeance upon you and your progeny they sing the this horrible deaths they still don't even waver they weren't shaken they're stronger in their resolve to be no die catch em and the sixth brother he was brought and you know he said the same thing as his brothers as well even his words talking about deep faith in God and he ultimate and also the ultimate requires of the suffering of the servants and through this horrible sequence of events Hana stood by her sons and watched and giving them strength and encouragement and now the youngest child remained to face the king and he he was about seven years old and he was brought to the king and the king is like trying to bribe him with like silver and gold like here take this son I'll give you a lot of silver and gold if he's just bouncy this Idol knows like you're looking bad in front of my men and he's know like I need you please do this I don't want that have to hurt you okay your new your cute kid I don't wanna have to hurt you just bail to this Idol and the kids like no no it was like the same know his resolve his brothers and so the Kings like okay okay he drops his signet ring it's like you know look just bow down to pick up this signet ring and everybody else will think that you're bowing down to this idol but you know but you will both know that you weren't bound to the idol you were just picking up my signet ring and the little boy is like no there's no way I'm doing this and he just spoke with bitsy boy he refused and this just made that SEO kiss even more angry like you know even this little boys like refusing him like he's trying to be nice here and my good boys like no and so he's like okay I would kill kill this boy make sure his death is even more bitter than the rest of the other sons and when they're taking the sent away Kanna is like wait let me just like hug my son and kiss him one last time and she mentioned she tells him saying tell your ancestor Avraham Avinu that you bound only once and upon the altar but I I have bound seven sons saying that you know like because Abraham Aveeno with gladness and joy you know he went to go bow and get shocked know it as hum and her sons like she bound seven of them and she didn't waver with like all kiddush Hashem Jake no this isn't a sacrifice what I don't think so yeah I'm not sure but and so and so they take the youngest one away and his torturer was even more bitter than the other sons and Hana was left surrounded by what remained of the bodies of her sons and with a prayer exalting God on her lips she then threw herself from the roof and she rested besides her Mardon sons and so there was fast assimilation that was going on amongst the Jewish people and there was also started becoming a silver war because there was this fast assimilation that was happening and there was a lot of people whose love for Torah brought them to the grave and we know the details of the Jewish fights against the Greek and Helen ISM from the writings of the Jewish historian Josephus and also from the book of the Maccabees which was written as the official court history for the husband and dynasty and not only was the war against the Greeks that broke out but there's awesome you know a silver war against the Jews who had adopted the Greek culture and then those two Father cleaning timoni atheism and these were the first people to die because they chose money a season so how did this war begin so in year 167 BCE the Greek troops came to a town and lo de and they demanded that their that they see that the Jews are sacrificing a pig to the Greek gods and mothers Yahoo who is an elder of the community and a co hen he refuses but he sees a Hellenized Jew do the unthinkable and sacrifice the pig and Matisyahu he stabs the Jew killing him and then kills the guard and then he turns over to the crowd and he says follow me all who are for God's laws and he stand by the covenants and only five joined him his five sons and they head to the hills to hide because you know they just killed a Greek guard there's gonna be a retribution active in the city they're gonna be looking for him so they go head to the hills to hide and mile they are there they organized a guerrilla army led primarily by his eldest son Judah named Maccabee which means the hammer and because he hammered the Greeks we don't know how large exactly the Maccabee army was it started with about five men and their China remains secret trying to be hidden they didn't recruit a lot of people and over time they just had a handful of men joined them but this handful of men took on an army though fighting like one battle army up to 45,000 men and the Greeks could just have a numerical advantage they also had changed soldiers quality weaponry and they had war elephants but you're like the tanks of the ancient world and you know the Maccabees they had none of these things you know they but they did hold them back gonna do it to tear them in anyway most of the battles took place between the coastal air area and the Jerusalem hills and through the Greeks would march their armies you know through the mountain mount your newest areas heading toward Jerusalem and the Maccabees would spring out at them and attack and you know this battling went on like this not just for days not for weeks not months or years but oh we're not for many years but all the loyal and courageous Jews you know join them and from time to time though they should just leave their hiding places when the Greeks least expected it and you know they fall upon enemy detachments and outposts they were always surprising the enemy bike which is popping out you know like you're hiding in the cave here and they're walking above and they just pop out of the cave and they attack so there's a lot of caves in that area and they were also they set out to destroy all these pagan altars that the Greeks were setting up and ever single village and the Maccabees they won battle after battle after battle and one of them they fended off an army of up to 40,000 men forty forty thousand and this fighting took place for 25 years but only after three years the Maccabees returned to Jerusalem to liberate it they didn't waste the seconds of it either they went to the temple after three years of the fighting they cleaned out the temple and though it was had been filled of all this trick idolatry and it cleaned everything out they built a new altar the menorah that was there before it had been stolen so they built a new one out of its cheaper metal and and then they decided on the 25th of Kislev and he had finished stirring this that they were going to light this menorah it was in the year of 139 BC and so they had this altar they and since the golden menorah and you built in a new one and they found they wanted to live it and so they searched around and they found one silt little container of pure olive oil that had the sill of the High Priest on it when that was the Rite of righteous High Priest but there's just a small amount of oil just enough to last one day and you know they cited let's just light it anyways no it's gonna take us a while to make more about let's just light it and buy America you know I continued to light for eight days and one of the nice things about that is the creating pure olive oil it's not just like you know it's not just going and crushing all the oils you can't make here olive oil it's a long process I once went on its heel here in Israel and it went to an ancient olive press that was in the cave that showed like different ways they pressed olives throughout the different centuries when technology developed and they talked about how they may you'd make pure olive oil and they would take a single olive they hit it against something and the little oil of a drop when they picked the side they grabbed a new piece all of the first drop they would keep and they would do that with so many olives and there's only the first straw from each of these olives so the process of making more oil actually took a really long time so the miracle lasted eight days and it gave enough time for all this pure olive oil to be produced and this miracle it was really you know a kiss from Hashem because it wasn't necessary that this menorah needed to be lit for seven or eight days I mean really seven days was the miracle because the first day they had enough oil for that day so really a miracle is that it lasted seven days yes I don't know they were if they're probably using impure oil before but the oil the menorah that was there beforehand a pure gold one had been stolen so yeah so they hadn't they made a new one with a cheaper medal and so they they lit the menorah and but the miracle didn't need to happen it wasn't like you know a battle of life and death and life star at the line you know wasn't like the Jews had their back against you know the Red Sea with an army coming at them and the miracle needed to take place for survival like lot of times you know a miracle might take I guess for the sake of saving lives the menorah wasn't going to save lives but it showed them that Hashem was with them and Hashem was happy with what they had done you know it was a kiss from Hashem it didn't need to happen but it did and he was showing that you know the people were still indeed under his protection and for you know it's nothing no twenty years go by after the rededication of the temple and they're still fighting the Greeks still trying to keep them out of Eric's yes Tyrell and you know Judah Maccabee he's leading them most of the time eventually he dies and but the Great's are near they're trying to push the grace out of the lands and many lives were lost on both sides and in year 142 BCE during the reign of Vasilis celery seed Demetrius it's when the Greeks finding it they had in love you know all this was going back and forth they're tired over these 20 years so beside to sign a peace treaty with the remaining son of melea he had one son I was still alive named Shimon and so did I sign the treaty and now the Jews are now like their own separate and to the USA earth Israel and there's no that before mother's yahoo was a co hen so not surprising his son Shimon would should become the high priests the corn hug at all but she mom he also decides to take a title upon himself called nasi meaning you know a prince a president or a leader he didn't call himself a MELAS a king because he knew full well that you know Jewish kingship could only come see the line of dahveed but for all practical purposes he took the royal kingship he was signing all over the state of affairs everything that Hakeem besides he was doing and this was a bad choice because when Simon his his descendants his sons didn't take that same distinction and consideration and the differences of even using the term nasi and Mela and they start a new ruling dynasty in Israel the husband Ian Dynasty which lasted about 103 years and this marked you know great territorial expansion and also a terrible moral and religious decline the their Hasmonean dynasty because they weren't supposed to be kings in the first place there was a curse for them to even take on the role of kingship their Cohens they weren't from the line of Davi hemella and so they take on this role of kingship and they became corrupted by their own power because they weren't meant to handle it and I want to share one more story before I ends and I was shared the story of a woman named Yahoo deeds the brave daughter of Johanna the high priests and it was during the time of the Greeks oppression and war into the Jews and they had come across this one village that was very loyal to the Torah and they were this Greek this is Greek oppression of this its general Syrian Greek name hala furnace he was notorious for his cruelty against men women children he didn't show mercy on anyone he was one leading to crush this town called but Julia and he couldn't take over the town going front word you know trying to go through the gates he tried pressing that way but the city was able to hold him off see this side he's just gonna cut off the city and try the no starve them dehydrate them you know like make sure no provisions Rico in an ounce of the city and so he's working to starve the inhabitants and the cities on verge of surrender so that all in happens to go through the elders of the city and they're like let's just surrender maybe they will be merciful to us like we're gonna die in here or like running short on food and then when the Museu that when the one of the elk one of the Elda Elda stood like the elders who loved the elders he tells something like okay I know you're all pressing to surrender right this this give us five days and maybe Hashem will give us a miracle and something will happen but just wait five days and if nothing happens in five days we will surrender and the people like okay five days we don't really want to but we'll do it so they all head out and they all walk away except for one woman she stands you know her feet on the ground she's not going anywhere and there's the elders are turning to leave she say excuse me I have something to say and they turn them around and her voice is like clear and firm and she tells them like why nice has God you know you're giving him only five days in which to sent help to us we truly have faith in God you must never give up your trust in him besides so you know that surrender to a hala furnace is worse than death she spoke she was a noble daughter of you know hung on the high priest and she was also a young widow it had been several years since she had lost her husband but she had always evolved with her time to prayer acts of charity and helping the community ever since and yahoodi was blessed with extraordinary grace beauty and charm and she was practically respected by everyone in the community and she was admired for her devout miss her modesty in her loving kindness and good deeds her words made a deep impression on Lucy and the elders and she said we must all continue to pray never despair of God's help you can be it said I have also thought of a plan I asked your permission to leave town together with my maid I want to go to hala furnace so she then that just hat was speaking pretty words like you're only giving God five days you know like you know but she had a plan she wasn't Shaykh just go sit around and wait and do nothing no she was she was smart she had a plan and easy and the elders were shocked and dismayed but you could eat persisted and she said it happened before God has sent the salvation you know of the Jewish people through the hands of a woman Yael the wife of yap nur you know her you've heard of her and she she delivered the hands did she's delivered into her hands you know God delivered into your hands the cruel sister I know a woman has before leads to the protection the salvation of jewish people and like also you can also think of Esther you know it's a woman do have the capability and he was like okay he after hearing that argument mentioning Yael and the general sister he's like okay you know you're gonna do this you go ahead and do this you know like I hope nothing no harm comes from you comes here with you I but I wish you all go ahead do what you you think he can you should do so ya hadith she passes through the gates of batouala dressed in her best clothing you know her Shabbat clothing you know everything she had it worn since her husband had passed away and she's wears like a delicate bill to cover her face and she's accompanied by her you know her faithful made and she's made of carrying a basket of cheeses and wines and you know as they're heading toward the Greek army their stock it's by the guards who wanted to know you know who are you who've sent you a why you here and she tells him we have an important message for your commander the brave holy furnace idiot said take us to him at once and they're like okay well I wonder what she has to say so she they take her to know their general and he's like she's this like it's no these couple ladies there and he's like this isn't sure I think why who are you why are you here he's kind of like feasting you know his eyes on like this is kind of unexpected and charming you know these couple ladies coming with see me and she told him I came here to tell you how to capture the town in hopes that you will deal mercifully with his inhabitants and you he did she proceeded to tell Horace Olaf earnest that the life in this talent has become unbearable for her and you know she had to bribe the Watchmen to let her out and she went on to no flatter him saying like no she heard of his bravery it was mighty deeds in battle and she wished to make his acquaintance and finally she told him what he already knew that the diet the situation for the Jewish people was dire and that they're in the brink of starvation and but as long as their faith in God remains strong which it was they would be gonna be able to conquer the city but pretty soon the servation was going to force them or making love and shoes to eat animals that weren't kosher the cats their dogs their mules and if that when that happens then God would become angry at the Jewish people and then he would be able to turn and conquer them and Halle furnace was completely captivated by this charming young Jewish Widow and had so unexpectedly entered his life and is giving him the key to take the city and he's like okay if what I like what you say he told her and like I I was gonna do this and by when they conquered the city I'm gonna make you my wife and so she can it got to that status of incoming betrothed to him and he instructed that everybody in all of his army and all of his men not to lay a hand on her or her maid not to molest them and just in the give him like a ride space so that they can feel comfortable walking through the cab and also since it used him as a betrothed thing he wasn't going to like overstep that boundary right at this moment he was gonna wait you know till like after he took the city and then be with her and so she's they kind of like made this kind of dill and so she and her maid they got free rein of the camp and all of the men were afraid because they knew how brutal this general was so they always gave you the space to them they try not to look they're away because if it got back to them that they looked at these two women the wrong way they could be killed and because they knew how brutal this general was and merciless he was so they they got free reign of the camp and they could walk around the cap and nobody would even look at them and they got their own tent set up in the camp and there his and there in the generals so they could go in there and then they could also freely go back to their own village and tell them it oh we're just collecting no information on them to tell you how the situation is and so they're able to go back and forth back and forth and nobody thought anything and so but by the third day the general was starting to get very impatient and he calls her and he's like you know like what was the situation going on I can't like wait any longer and she says I have very good news for you general there's not a scrap of kosher food left in the city now and a day or two famine is gonna take over and it's gonna try it everybody's eat there cats and dogs the Mules and then God will deliver them into your hands and he's like wonderful wonderful it surely cause for celebration tonight we're gonna have a party just you and me and you're gonna be my honored guests and she's like okay thank you sir and that evening no he who D entered his tent and she brought with her that basket of cheese and wines that he brought out before and the general has delights and welcome to her and shoulder the great big feast prepared and she's thinking none of that's kosher I can't eat that but I brought my stuff so she says oh that's also lovely thank you so much for going through all that trouble to repair all this I also I prepared something for you I made this cheese and this wine myself and like I really want that you to have it you say oh yeah she made it for me she made it for me and so she's just take starts feeding him she's after cheese and he's just down the east by a cheese with this undiluted wine and then pretty soon it wines very strong and he just passes out dead drunk and she kind of rolls him over and places his face down in the pillow and she says a quick prayer saying I find it she says answer me O Lord as you answered yet L the wife of heaven aired the key night when he delivered the wicked sister into her hands strengthen me this once that I may bring your deliverance to my people in this cruel man bow to the destroyed that the other nations know you have not forsaken us and then she takes the generals heavy sword and she picks it up she cuts off his head and just a sword down and she wraps up his head and then she hides it underneath her cloak and walks out of his tent and she goes and she gets her maid who's back in there all intense they walked through the camp and no nobody looks at them because you're so used to them just walking through the camp no one bats an eye no one looks thinks anything's unusual and they walk back to the village and then he goes she goes to where Lucia and the elders are and she drops the head right in front of them and she tells them you know there's no time to lose prepare your men and you're going to attack them at sunrise they're they're not expecting a frontal attack by you guys and they're going to run to their commander and they're gonna find him dead and they're gonna panic and they're gonna flee and they said just that they ran in and they found you know their plan you're dead they all panicked and they all ran for their lives and the conic continents events that led up to this it's not really about you know the war or the lights so much you knows all about those miracles but it's about the struggle of the right to be a Jew and the right to observe Torah and the mitzvot and to serve Hashem during Hanukah remember the 25 years know that the Maccabees you know fought for this right the right to be a Jew and remember Hana and her seven sons could die the March for them just for that right to be a Jew and then also you had these who's brave and courageous and she took into action to save her own set of her own town and that stated before the Greeks to the creeks gods were made in the image of humans and to the Jews humans were beings were created in the image of God to the Greeks the physical world is beautiful and was perfect to the Jews the physical world was something that needed to be perfected needed to be elevated and in short the Greeks what was beautiful was holy and to the Jews what was holy it was beautiful and the ultimate value of the Greeks that the descendants of your Fett was Beauty the ultimate Valley value of the Jew is holiness and just the glimpse at today's contemporary Western society reveals that the Battle of Hanukah isn't over yet the world tells us that we aren't enough you know we aren't thin enough we aren't pretty enough no we need a dress in a certain way and this is all lies no this is not where our thoughts and focuses should be we're getting caught up in something we can never reach but doesn't mean we can't dress nice or but you just shouldn't make our day about dressing nice no on Shabbat it's good to wear you know clothing that's nice no you wait you know beautifying you know the myths by making sure lot nicer know that beauty of your FETs was called to dwell in the tents of Shem beauty is to serve holiness and Judaism your focus is on that you are a soul your value and your worth is essential to this world and this whole world is created for you and you are the image of God and your holiness it's intrinsic and it can't be corrupted it can't be erased so I give a blessing that each and every one of us will see our value will see our worth and not get caught up in this Hellenistic ideology that still manifests in the world today they're trying to tell us that we aren't enough and know that you're special and that you are worthy and that we are know we're called to live a holy life style and to let that inner light that true beauty shine through right for the world to see thank you [Music] you [Music]