9. Hanukka and The First Independent Jewish State
Shimon and the First Independent Jewish State
During these days of Hanukka, I have tried to convey to my readers that the miracle of Hanukka...
VAYISHLACH: Shimon, Levi and the Israeli Army
ABRAHAM AND ISAAC
At the beginning of Jewish history, when we were not yet a people or even a tribe, but merely a small nuclear...
8. The Miracle of Jewish Resilience
THE END OF YEHUDA MACABEE
General Lysias arrived in Antiochia, the capital of the Seleucid kingdom, defeated Philipus, and became the regent of the 9-year-old...
7. Was this the greatest miracle of Hanukka?
ELEPHANTS JOIN THE BATTLE
The miracle of the oil that lasted for eight days was not the last Providential act of Hanukka. Although they were...
6. The Most Beautiful Unknown Story of Hanukka
This is the story of one of Yehuda Maccabee's battles, likely unknown to most readers, which I only recently learned about by reading the...
5. Recovering Jerusalem and Rededicating the Temple
AN INVINCIBLE ARMY?
When the Seleucid general Lysias learned of the defeat of his generals by the Jewish rebels led by Yehudah Macabi (see here),...
4. The beginning of the Jewish rebellion
THE BEGINNING OF THE JEWISH REBELLION
In 167 BCE, Matitiyahu and his sons Eleazar, Yehuda, Shimon, Yochanan, and Yehonatan led a rebellion known as the...
3. How do You Provoke a Jewish Rebellion?
כתבו על קרן השור אין לנו חלק באלוקי ישראל
"Write on the ox horn that we have no part in the God of Israel." (Jerusalem Talmud,...
2. A War Against God
HELLENIZATION and ANTIOCHUS
After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE, the Greek empire set out to impose its Hellenic culture peacefully and...
SUMMARY OF PARASHAT VAYISHLACH
Jacob returns to the land of Israel after spending 20 years in the house of his uncle Laban, in the city of Haran (in...
