## THOUGHTS ONHANUKAH

Rabbi Evan Hoffman - Congregation Anshe Sholom

Hanukah 5776

This essay is sponsored by Richard Hochman in memory of his mother, Frances Roth Hochman ז"ל .

## Gentile Reactions to Hanukah

Hanukah is an annual celebration of the Hasmonean victory over Seleucid religious oppression. While it is true that the story of the profanation and rededication of the Holy Temple includes certain purely religious elements as well as lessons concerning Jewish infighting, at its core the narrative is about a successful armed insurrection by Jews against gentiles. Whereas earlier generations of Jews, as a matter of religious doctrine, meekly accepted whatever temporal fate was imposed upon them by foreign overlords, the Hasmoneans used violence to advance religio-political ends.

In an earlier essay ('Purim and the Struggle between Moderates and Nationalists'), I noted that the historical development of Purim was influenced by Jewish concerns about how the gentile world might react to a jubilant Jewish festival recalling the slaughter of thousands of anti-Semites. The doctors of halakhah took necessary preventative measures to avoid offending gentile sensibilities and thereby exposing Jews to mortal danger. Given the thematic similarity between Hanukah and Purim - both are Second Temple-era celebrations marking the bloody victory of Jews over their adversaries - it is worth exploring the possibility that Hanukah, too, evolved because of (Jewish fears of) unfavorable gentile reactions to the practices and underlying premises of the holiday.

Students of rabbinic literature have long wondered why the laws of Hanukah are rarely mentioned in Tannaitic works. There is no Mishnaic tractate devoted to Hanukah. Even those stray Tannaitic passages that mention Hanukah do so only in passing and without presenting anything approaching a comprehensive version of the holiday's laws and customs.

Louis Ginzberg suggested that this lacuna in halakhic literature developed because Hanukah was not widely observed in the Land of Israel during the Tannaitic period. Hanukah was one of many half-holidays included in the Scroll of Fasts. Those minor festivals recalled various episodes of Divine salvation from the hands of heathens or victories over Jewish sectarian rivals. Upon the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, and in light of the magnitude of the losses sustained by Jewry, it seemed futile to commemorate those prior occasions when heathen enemies had been unsuccessful in carrying out their malevolent designs towards Israel. The Talmud records an Amoraic debate about whether the Scroll of Fasts officially was abrogated in the post-Temple era, though in practice it appears that the half-holidays simply fell into desuetude (Rosh Hashanah 18b).

Gedaliah Alon disagreed with Ginzberg. Alon maintained that Hanukah was still widely observed until the Hadrianic persecutions following the failed Bar Kokhba rebellion. In the late 130s CE, with Rome vigilantly guarding against any manifestation of Jewish nationalism, Hanukah could no longer openly be celebrated. Alon supported his viewpoint by citing a Baraita: 'It is a mitzvah to place the Hanukah lamp outside the entrance of one's home. And in times of danger it is sufficient to place the lamp on one's table (Shabbat 21b).' He read the latter clause of the Baraita not as a generic regulation but as an adjustment emerging from specific historical experience.

Reuben Margolies claimed that Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi intentionally excluded Hanukah from the Mishnah lest it offend the Romans. Margolies noted that several other important doctrines of Rabbinic Judaism, including the notion of a Davidic Messiah, are missing from the Mishnaic corpus. Rabbi, always concerned not to undermine the delicate modus vivendi rd worked out between the Jews and Rome in the early 3 century CE, punctiliously de-emphasized zealous and nationalistic elements in Judaism.

Saul Lieberman rejected the idea that Rome was offended by Hanukah. He noted that the sages restricted the timeframe for the lawful observance of Purim lest the gentiles react violently to that Jewish celebration (Megillah 2b), but no corresponding limitation was imposed on Hanukah. He concluded that the sages did not anticipate heathen hostility to Hanukah, because the holiday focuses primarily on the miracles wrought by God, not on Jewish vengeance against gentiles.

Further proof that the rabbis were not fearful of a violent Roman backlash to the observance of Hanukah can be inferred from the list of minor holidays and fasts that Judah ha-Nasi sought to minimize. He downgraded the significance of Purim, 17 Tamuz, and 9 Av lest those observances trigger unhealthy nationalistic fervor among Jews or stoke the wrath of the pagan occupiers (Megillah 5b). But he made no attempt to downgrade Hanukah. However, unlike Lieberman, who