Hanukkah is the only Jewish holiday not mentioned in the Jewish Bible. About four hundred years after the events that gave rise to the holiday, the rabbis were still uneasily puzzling about it:
The Gemara asks: What is Hanukkah, and why are lights kindled on Hanukkah? The Gemara answers: The Sages taught in Megillat Ta’anit: On the twenty-fifth of Kislev, the days of Hanukkah are eight. One may not eulogize on them and one may not fast on them. What is the reason? When the Greeks entered the Sanctuary they defiled all the oils that were in the Sanctuary by touching them. And when the Hasmonean monarchy overcame them and emerged victorious over them, they searched and found only one cruse of oil that was placed with the seal of the High Priest, undisturbed by the Greeks. And there was sufficient oil there to light the candelabrum for only one day. A miracle occurred and they lit the candelabrum from it eight days. The next year the Sages instituted those days and made them holidays with recitation of hallel and special thanksgiving in prayer and blessings. (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 21b, translation sefaria.org)
This is basically extent of rabbinic interest in the history of Hanukkah (although they do say more about the Hasmonean kings – who they basically didn’t like – and the contemporary ritual of lighting candles on the holiday).
Fortunately, there are a few other sources that add to our historical knowledge. The two books of the Maccabees in the Apocrypha are our most complete source. 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees are themselves not fully consistent and were clearly written in different times and places for different purposes. The historian Josephus provides another, later account, that is largely derivative from the books of the Maccabees. There are a handful of other sources that throw light on various aspects of the events (I especially like this inscription, which attests to the evil king Antiochus), but the end result is that a more complete understanding of the so-called Maccabean Revolt is elusive and has been the subject of continuing scholarly controversy.
Some years ago I created a podcast, “From Israelite to Jew,” in which I devoted one of the episodes to a (not necessarily the only, or even best) historical reconstruction of the events leading to the Maccabean Revolt (ca. 164 BCE – 162 BCE). I am re-upping that episode here. I hope you enjoy it.
Happy Hanukkah to all those celebrating!
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