[Avodah] halacha and history

[Lisa Liel via Avodah]

On 12/14/2015 6:34 AM, via Avodah wrote:
> 1.  Could it be that Yochanan "kohen gadol" doesn't mean "High Priest" 
> but rather "a great priest"?
> 2. Could it be that Josephus' list of Kohanim Gedolim is incomplete 
> and inaccurate?  Highly likely, I'd say.
> 3. Could it be that Matisyahu became Kohen Gadol -- or Acting Kohen 
> Gadol -- only for a short while, just the time it took to purify the 
> BHM'K and maybe for a short time thereafter?  And if so, the fact that 
> he formerly lived in Modi'in is irrelevant, because when he purified 
> the BHM'K (and acted as Kohen Gadol) he was necessarily in Jerusalem.
>

Mattitiyahu didn't purify the Mikdash.  He was dead before we were able 
to take it back.  It was Yehudah who did that.  Also, "Mattitiyahu ben 
Yochanan Kohen Gadol" doesn't mean "Mattitiyahu ben Yochanan, Kohen 
Gadol".  It means "Mattitiyahu -- ben Yochanan Kohen Gadol".

The name Onias, by which several of the High Priests of the time were 
known, is the Greek transliteration of Chonyo, which is a short form of 
Yochanan.  Like Rick and Richard.  Jason, the Hellenist High Priest, was 
the successor to his brother Onias III, who is probably the Yochanan 
Kohen Gadol who was the father of Mattitiyahu.

Lisa