<html>
<body>
Chanukah commemorates the triumph of Judaism over Syrian/Greek
oppression. The Syrian/Greeks wanted to impose Hellenism upon the Jewish
people. Therefore they forbade the performance of several key
mitzvos.<br><br>
However, what really is the philosophical difference between Judaism and
Hellenism? RSRH explains this in his essay Hellenism and Judaism
which I have put at
<a href="http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/rsrh/hellenism_judaism.pdf" eudora="autourl">
http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/rsrh/hellenism_judaism.pdf</a>
YL<br><br>
The following is from the end of this essay.<br><br>
<font size=3>It </font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>was not
Judas Maccabeus who defeated Antiochus of Syria; it<br>
was the Jewish light which gained the victory over the dazzling
luster<br>
of Hellenic splendor. The spirit which Mattathias had harbored in
his<br>
priestly breast and had nurtured in his children, was the rock upon<br>
which the Hellenic evil was smashed. This spirit-not the warrior's<br>
sword nor the priest's tiara interwoven with the princely crown of<br>
royal might-maintained the Law among the people.<br>
Nor was it the Hasmonean dynasty of priests and kings who inherited<br>
Mattathias' spirit of devotion to the Law. For soon this<br>
dynasty, whose heroism had recaptured the land and the Sanctuary,<br>
was no longer satisfied to be mere priests of the Law. Before long
they<br>
took pleasure in the use of the sword which they had raised
enthusiastically<br>
<i>for </i>Israel and the Law, and now brandished it <i>over </i>Israel
and<br>
the Law. Thereby this dynasty, in the vanity of its kingly splendor,<br>
alienated Israel from the Law and in its fall dragged altar and
throne<br>
into the abyss.<br><br>
But the people remained upright. Not in the palaces and temples<br>
but in the humble dwellings of the people did the Hasmonean spirit
of<br>
loyalty to the Law survive, did the Hasmonean light find an
eternally<br>
secure place. When the debris of the altar and throne was cleared<br>
away, the people, without throne and without altar, stood upright
and<br>
firm and rallied </font>abo~t
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>the Law of their God more
enthusiastically than<br>
ever before. They carried this Law with them from the wreckage of<br>
their national greatness, and in the very enthusiasm for God's Law<br>
proved themselves to be the true heirs of Mattathias' Hasmonean<br>
spirit.<br><br>
Thus if a glimmer of the false Hellenistic spirit challenges the<br>
dominion of the timeless spirit of the Jewish Law over the dwelling
and<br>
hearts of Judah; if it estranges Judah's daughters and sons from the<br>
splendor of God's Law and His Divine light and makes them fall prey<br>
to the beguiling sensuality of Greek culture; if they are made to<br>
abandon truth and insight, harmony and beauty and to adopt the<br>
empty superficiality and sensual gratification of Hellenism-then let<br>
us kindle the light of the Hasmoneans in our homes as a tribute to
God<br>
and His Law. Each Jewish home will become a bastion of God's Law<br>
and rise triumphantly and victoriously over the futile opposition
and<br>
antagonism of an erring world.<br>
</font></body>
</html>