Later, the early Zionists reclaimed the Maccabees as exemplars of Jewish political and military power, as the founders of the last instance of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel.

Israeli archaeologists may be one step closer to solving a riddle that has vexed explorers for more than a century: the location of the fabled tomb of the biblical Maccabees.

Whichever way one sees the Maccabees, it is hard to imagine what the Jewish people would have been like without them, or whether they would have survived at all, Rubenstein suggested.

The biblical Books of the Maccabees, which include a tale of Jewish martyrs dying for their faith, are a source of inspiration in some Christian traditions. In the late 1880s, ...

This means that the Maccabees’ win, and reclamation of the defiled temple, was not a victory for the Jewish people as a whole, but instead for a specific form of Orthodoxy and interpretation of ...

(RNS) — ‘The stories of the Maccabees are coming to life before our eyes,’ said one member of the group that excavated the site. JERUSALEM (RNS) — Israeli archaeologists have discovered a ...

In modern times, the holiday has celebrated the miracle of the temple’s rededication, while downplaying the Maccabees’ struggle for Jewish independence and religious freedom.

A new archaeological find in Israel attests to events described in the ancient Book of Maccabees, found in the Old Testament of some Bibles. A team of excavators from the Israel Antiquities ...

Leaders of its new government want to create a Jewish State that is divisive, tyrannical and tribalistic, writes the president of the Union for Reform Judaism.

The story of Hanukkah and the broader history of the Jewish people offers a crucial lesson for the world – particularly the new generation: the importance of personal responsibility over victimhood.

Live actors portrayed the Hanukkah story during “Maccabees: A Drive Thru Experience,” held in downtown Los Angeles. Courtesy of Power of Youth Wielding a hammer and shield, Judah the Maccabee ...

The Maccabees would’ve hated modern Hanukkah traditions. Maybe that’s not a bad thing, explains Alana Vincent.