1 Macabees- part 1

The Establishment of the Jewish state in 14/5/1948 wasn’t the first time that there was an independent state for the Jewish people in Israel’s History. The first time that we can discuss the Jewish state was after the revolt of the Hashmonean or the Maccabean.

 

In the first chapter of this book that was written originally in Hebrew, and survived only in its translation to Old Greek, we are being told about the Greek ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes (אנטיוכוס אפיפנס), who tried to oppress the Jewish people and the other nations in his region by forbidding them the religious autonomy that they had in the preceding years. The only religion was the one of the Empire- Helenism!

The Jewish people couldn’t circumcise their sons due to the commandments of that King. They were forced to serve other gods in their Temple- the Second one that was built after they came back from the exile. They needed to eat unkosher food and at the temple, whose treasures were robbed, the altar was defiled.

After that in Modi’in, a city that until today is closed to Jerusalem, Matthethias- מתתיהו- and his sons couldn’t suffer any more. They have decided to rebel against the King in his army and they ruined the altars of the Greeks and ran away to the mountains.

On our next article, we shall continue to explain what happened in the battle and how more than 100 years of independence of the Jewish people were created!

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