Hebrew Voices #237 – Hanukkah – Rebellion Against the Name
In this episode of Hebrew Voices #237 – Hanukkah – Rebellion Against the Name, Nehemia examines the early sources for the Hanukkah story to figure out what really happened and why it’s connected to the name of God.
In this episode of Hebrew Voices #237 - Hanukkah - Rebellion Against the Name, Nehemia examines the early sources for the Hanukkah story to figure out what really happened and why it’s connected to the name of God.
I look forward to reading your comments!
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Hebrew Voices #237 – Hanukkah – Rebellion Against the Name
You are listening to Hebrew Voices with Nehemia Gordon. Thank you for supporting Nehemia Gordon's Makor Hebrew Foundation. Learn more at NehemiasWall.com.
Nehemia: And why is that? Who cares, right? Well, the reason that I care is because when you light these Hanukkah lamps, you say a blessing. Baruch ata Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha’olam. “Blessed art thou, Lord, King of the universe.” Asher kidshanu bemitzvotav. “Who sanctified us with his commandments.” Lehadlik ner shel Chanukah. “To light the lamp of Hanukkah.” But He didn’t command us that. Not only did He not command us to do it, it commemorates a miracle that didn’t happen.
What is Hanukkah about? And I’ve got, like, a whole bunch of teachings on nehemiaswall.com about different aspects of this, and different parts of it, but I thought I would try to drill down, and I actually learned things while preparing this. So, I learn new things all the time.
I’m going to start with the standard story I was told growing up, that there was a miracle of eight days of oil… and let’s back up. So, the Seleucid Greeks… Seleucids were these people who ruled over Israel, and they decided they want everyone in their empire to have the same religion. And they have this one little group of people at the edge of their empire who won’t follow their gods, won’t worship Zeus, and they’re like, “Wait. If there’s ever a rebellion, we can’t trust these people. They don’t worship the same as us. They’re different.”
And so, they tried to force the Jews to worship the Greek religion. And they offered sacrifices, and specifically, famously, a pig, on the altar in Jerusalem and in other altars and other places and tried to get the Jews to eat from it. And the Jews revolted, and it was this tiny little province of the Seleucid Empire against what was at the time one of the great superpowers in the world.
And the Jews defeated the Greeks, liberated Jerusalem, went into the Temple, and the menorah, which we’re commanded to light every morning and every afternoon or evening, was there, according to the standard story I was told. But they couldn’t find oil that was ritually clean, except for one vial. And it’s interesting; I was always taught it was a cruse of oil, C-R-U-S-E. And if you look up the word cruse, it’s an archaic English word for a small earthenware pot containing water or oil. But the only time you’ll see the word cruse used in modern English that I’m aware of, and when you Google it, this is what you find, is in the context of the Hanukkah story. So, I’m just going to say a vial of oil. They found a vial of oil, and that vial of oil, which was for one day, lasted for eight days.
So, let me read you what it says. This is in the Babylonian Talmud Sabbath 21B.
Lynell: Nehemia, I just want to confirm; this is the story you were told growing up, right?
Nehemia: This is the story I was told growing up.
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Comments
Excellent discussion once again Nehemia. I had an ‘enlightenment’ while listening that the “seekers of smooth things” in both Isaiah and the Dead Sea Scrolls are the same people who are the hellenizers or lovers of all things greek. It is the people who in our modern age comply in order to not cause waves. “Just wear the mask”, just comply, don’t stand up for the torah for what Yehovah asks, just go along to get along. I do not want to be in that group. Thank you again for an excellent teaching.
Thank you for this interesting teaching. I am a Christian Zionist and I always questioned in my mind why the lighting of the candles was a command from G-d. I knew I never read that in the Bible anywhere. I appreciate you clarifying that. I respect your love for the pure word of G-d and for so many deep insights into the word over the years. Blessings!
I celebrate Hanukkah because YAH saved the Jewish who rever Him, His name, and His set apart temple. YAH saved them from the Greek pagan peoples, and the date is significant because I come from (out of) celebrating Christmas on Dec. 25th, and after I began to follow Yahshua, I quit those pagan mangled holidays and now celebrate the Feasts of Yah. Although Hanukkah isn’t a commanded feast, it is significant to my new found belief.
Not only is Hannukah a story of salvation, it is a story about courage.
If that Jewish army hadn’t defeated that Greek army, there may not have been Yahshua today.
By celebrating YAH’s Feasts, I can plainly see that Yahshua was conceived at Hanukkah and born at Sukkot. I see that Yashua though Hanukkah important enough to teach about it during Hanukkah.
You are the light of the world. (See Matthew Chapter 5)
We, as believers, need to be that light to the world which is in darkness.
You miss a lot of Hanukkah insights.
Is there some way to get in touch. Much of it is mathematical and insightful into Scripture (e.g. Haggai 2) and to the process of creation.
As a Christian, I am very interested in learning anything I can learn about the Old Testament and why Jews do what they do. I agree with most of your explanations so very much. If God doesn’t command it, then don’t say he does. Christian churches have so many of their own traditions that are not Biblical either.
I don’t think that the berachot used in kindling the Chanukah lamp refer to the specific miracle of the oil. The text of the blessing simply refers to the fact that HaShem “wrought miracles for our forefathers in former days, at this season”. The process of rededication lasted eight days according to the norms of the Torah, and so, logically, in commemorating this rededication we use a lampstand that is permitted and yet reminds us of the Temple menorah. This is the eight-branched chanukiah, as a seven branched menorah is not permitted to be copied. So even set aside the specific question of the oil miracle, the traditional observance of Chanukah makes much sense.
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