At the time of 1 Macc, the land of Israel was caught in the crossfire of the ancient Greek empires. 1 Macc begins with the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and ends with the reign of John ...

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In the shadow of Jerusalem’s city walls, archaeologists have found a fortress that spawned a bloody rebellion more than two millennia ago.

Living in Modi’in — the home of the ancient Maccabees — my wife, Rachel, and I feel privileged to have been eyewitnesses to the monumental wonders that have unfolded all around us this past ...

Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the ancient Jewish Temple in Jerusalem after a small Jewish army called the Maccabees reclaimed it from the Greek leader Antiochus IV Epiphanes in 164 BC.

To this history, the ancient rabbis added the miracle of the oil. When the temple was reclaimed and rededicated by the Maccabees — “Hanukkah” means “dedication” — they could find only ...

As we celebrate over Hanukkah’s eight days the valor of those who rose to resist villainy - in those days and in our time - we mark the words of Maccabees both ancient and modern.

The real history of Hanukkah started with an ancient rebellion Celebrated over eight days and nights, Hanukkah commemorates a people’s uprising and holy miracle from more than 2,000 years ago.

The Greek soldiers used the fortress as their home while they cleansed the temple in Jerusalem, embittering the lives of the Jewish residents, according to the Book of the Maccabees.

At the same time, as both ancient and modern rabbis have understood, one cannot write the Maccabees, the military battle, or the Hasmonean dynasty entirely out of the Chanukah story.

In these ancient days of the Maccabees, It was enough for the witnesses that only one oil lamp was miraculously burning. Franz Kafka mocked it. The Maccabees fought and rebuilt the Temple.