[Avodah] halacha and history

[Eli Turkel via Avodah]

I saw several things over shabbat that seem to go against known history

1)   *Question:*   Who was the Kohen Gadol at the time of
Chanukah--Mattisyahu--or his father Yochanan
*Answer:*  The Sefer *Shalal Rav* (p. 147-148) presents a Machlokes
Rishonim on this very point.

Obviously neither were kohen gadol at the time of chanukah. Josephus
describes the various successions of the kohen gadol  eg alcimus etc. In
fact Mattisyahu lived in Modiin and not in Jerusalem. It is not clear who
Yochanan is but in any case lived before the story of Chanukah. Some claim
that he is the Yochanan who lived 80 years and became a sadducee which
would make the story even more amazing, In fact it is not clear that the
Maccabees came from the "right" branch of priests to be kohen gadol

2)  From the daf yomi at the beginning of Gittin there arises the question
of the boundaries of Israel.  Tahbetz (3:4) claims that Ezra conquered
(nichbash) the Golan  while it is not clear if the portion of Jordan was
conquered by Ezra,

However it is clear that Ezra (or Nechemia) had no army to conquer anyone.
They had enough trouble with their immediate neighbors and succeeded only
because of Nechemia's connection to the Persian kings. Persia would
obviously not allow the Jews to conquer a far away land. It is fairly clear
that at the time of Ezra/Nechemia the Jews lived in the immediate vicinity
of Jerusalem.

-- 
Eli Turkel
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