12/17/2025
CHANUKAH - THE BATTLE AGAINST HELLENISM 2200 YEARS AGO AND TODAY
Have you seen all the Chanukah Menorah hoopla going on?? The last few days where I live, there have been long parades of cars and trucks with electric lighted menorahs strapped to the roofs. There have been Community lighting ceremonies with music, dancing, trampoline artists, latkes (potato pancakes) and “sufgoniyot” (doughnuts). Why all the hoopla? It's a celebration of the Defeat of Hellenism! But, didn’t the Greeks and Hellenism help create the Western world?
Chanukah is not a Biblical holiday. Ok we know that 2207 years ago the Jews took back control of Israel from the Syrian Hellenists, the successors to the original Greek Hellenists led by Alexander. But paradoxically, history tells us that at first the Jews seemed to have a lot in common with the Hellenists. Initially they seemed to have a rapport! Both pursued ethical practices, and the elevation of the Human mind. Greek philosophers were totally consumed with proving the existence and validity of eternal ethics. Alexander liked the intellect and culture of the Jews. He was good to them. Later, much later, Jews were even welcome to emigrate to Hellenist strongholds in Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean and western Asia, and then later throughout the Roman Empire, Greece’s successor.
So, what happened? (And, is it still happening?)
Greece built advanced armies and conquered the world. As Alexander’s armies conquered lands Greek language and Greek culture became very dominant. The Greeks were organized warriors, with carefully designed battlements. They were emboldened to elevate the world with their genius. Philosophically, they strove for a vision of life based on tangible ethics to govern them. After Alexander died, at 33, the empire was split into 4 sectors under his generals. Israel was governed by the Syrian-Greek Hellenists. Things changed.
The rise of Greek world dominance began when they chose to move away from their pantheon of pagan gods. They justified the move with the concept that the “pantheon” who had created the world were gone and no longer involved. Now, Man was in charge. Now Man was the master! That gave them inspiration and elevation to utilize human gifts. But it was a tough responsibility putting Man in charge. It meant that Man was also in charge of setting ethical standards. The Greeks knew they needed a basis for ethical behavior. Did it come naturally to Man? It would take some very complex intellectual analysis to find out. The Greeks had no knowledge of a true Creator. So, Nature became the “natural” choice. It would be their initial yardstick to measure and identify the components of human ethical behavior. But, that wasn’t an easy task. Nature is not so easy to decipher. There are a lot of competing forces, distractions, and behaviors in nature that contradict each other!
So, they settled on a voyage through existence that today we might label as intellectualism – utilizing the powerful potential of the Human mind. They were split among several movements, which had different philosophical approaches toward life. The main directions Epicureanism and Stoicism were very different. Both explored ways to construct a “highest good” for living life. They were almost polar opposites. The epicureans viewed “virtue as a means to pleasure, while pleasure was the goal, and all the world is random. Stoicists saw virtue as the highest and only good. It was the essence for happiness, part of an ordered world governed by divine reason. These groups didn’t have much in common. (Kind of compares to us in 2025)
Thus, when Greece conquered the Jewish state, and got to know the Jewish culture, they were fascinated with Jewish depth of thought, and the implications of the unity of G-d – monotheism. They saw that in Judaism you could clarify good vs. evil. They saw how having recognition of the One, the Creator, who met them at Mount Sinai. stabilized all ethics and guided culture to support those ethics. The Greek philosophers loved having interaction with the great Rabbis and were influenced by them. The Greeks were committed to training and advancing the human mind. The struggle of the Greeks became a struggle for true ethical behavior. They had no Mount Sinai with the Creator.
The Jews had been scholars for a hundred generations, toiling, but elevating themselves in Torah study. They and the Greeks both had systems of logic and education. They both were trying to elevate the perspective of Humankind – and they did, millennia later! In combination they brought the components of governance of the western world, America’s vision, into existence. – Democracy dependent on G-dly ethics.
Initially They got along very nicely. It was a hundred or so years before the “Revolt”.
At first the Greeks respected Jewish knowledge. They even had the Torah translated into Greek by 70 Rabbis, called the Septuagent. Do you know how the name Yaacov became the name Jacob in most cultures. It’s because there is no Y in Greek, so J is used. There is no J in Hebrew. But, the Greeks had trouble with a number of specific laws of the Torah: circumcision, the Sabbath, the calendar (they had a 10-day week, while Israel’s week was 7 days), and especially the purposeful practice of carefully guided sexuality - an essential Jewish basis for a family structure.
Eventually, the Greek intellectual attempts to achieve ethical drives, became blunted and overcome by the effects of human folly. They willfully indulged in promiscuity without boundaries. Their enthusiastic attempt to clarify goodness diminished. Their philosophers attempted to crystallize immutable ethics drifted, drifted, into obscurity. Democracy the governance system they invented, based on trust in the monumental power of the minds of Man, turned into an approval process for avoiding ethical behavior and justifying folly.
Oppression, An unlikely War Outcome and The Miracle of Chanukah
When Antiochus became the ruler of the Syrian Greek world. he, wanted to obliterate the influence of Judaism and any alternative to his promiscuous version of Hellenistic thought. He eventually focused specifically on degenerating the Temple, the center of Judaic observance. Jewish Hellenists were everywhere. They accepted belief in its Intellectualism and all the folly the choices allowed. But a strong segment of Jews knew that ethics were not just relative and changing. They saw the beauty of life souring before their eyes. They knew that it is only through connection to Hashem and by observing his guidance from Mount Sinai, which was then written down in the Torah, that, Good and Evil are stabilized and have clarity. Without that connection beauty becomes shallow and passing.
For the Jewish people to re-take control of Israel, and eliminate the floundering ethics of Hellenism would be an enormous struggle. They would have to face two distinct and necessary battles: First, to confront the most powerful armed force in the world, and then second, to rise above a downtrodden view of life, based on human proclivities without limit, folly, and instead to re-establish the ethics from Sinai. Far more than re-possessing the land, the battle was fought for the souls of the Jewish people
The people saw that it was essential to follow Hashem's guidance to focus on this world, and to elevate our lives. Intellectualism alone, was only a voyage through the clouds.
The propensities of our hearts and our eyes can swirl inside us causing misdirection’s and distractions. Without Hashem’s guidance, those clouds of intellectual concepts, could be blown in all directions by our “winds” – our changing perceptions and drives.
The human mind alone when driven, can justify anything. That’s not how we can identify Truth. We need much more. Hashem gave us a “platform” to view this world we live in and comprehend Truth, which was then written down – the Torah. It was our guidebook to perceive and illuminate Truth, identify right vs. wrong, and guide our drives in holy ways.
So, it happened! The Jewish priests, the Kohanim, reacted to the degradation of the Temple by the forces of Antiochus by escaping and re-evaluating their job in this world. They became rebels fighting for G-d’s authority in our lives. That was a long way from their prior job as priests of the sanctuary. They learned to become guerillas hiding in the mountains, attacking when they could. It was a small band of rebels, but soon their numbers grew. They taught others how to become warriors. Gently in imperceptible ways, Hashem was clearly with them. It was a Holy war. They actually took down, overwhelmed, and drove away, the most powerful human forces in the world. It was just with dedication to Hashem’s majesty that they redirected their intellect to rise above and undermine the powerful Greek military force.. ..
They got to Jerusalem. They broke through the gates. They fought their way to the temple mount. They reclaimed the Temple. They re-established their control, and G-d’s control. They cleansed it. They cleansed the Menorah. This meant that once again on a daily basis the Kohanim of the Temple could light it and allow G-ds presence to shine in the land -Hashem's light into the world. But they needed to oil to light it, special oil. Oil specially prepared, pure holy olive oil. But there was none. No more oil for the holy Menorah.
It would take 4 days journey each way to procure new pure kosher oil gathered, squeezed, and refined in the prescribed manner. Eight days without the light! Then, remarkably! Miraculously! one vial of oil just appeared! It was old. Actually, it was ancient. Somehow it just became unearthed, as if it was just waiting for the right moment to become revealed. It was actually a gift unknowingly left to them long ago - seventeen hundred fifty years before. It was left there by the forefather Jacob. It was the vial of oil, we read about in the Torah which he went back across the river to pick up before he left to meet his brother Esau for the first time in 20 years. But he was interrupted by Esau’s angel who fought him. They ended up battling all night. As day broke the angel had to leave. Jacob held him back till the angel blessed him. Then Jacob hurriedly limped away to join his family to meet Esau. He left the vial in the dust. That is the exact spot where the temple would be built and the Menorah was placed. So, it was there for the Kohanim to discover, at that moment, on Chanukah. It was so they could celebrate re-taking control of their lives and re-opening the Temple to their souls... But it was just one small vial. There was so little. Still, they filled the Menorah as much as they with it, joyfully with relish and hope.
Hashem Subtly Reveals His Presence.
Hashem then intervened. He made Jacob’s little vial of oil fill the menorah, and last, until new oil could be procured – 8 days. He certainly could have made an obvious miracle occur and have a courier obtain oil in one day. After all, didn’t He move the entire Jewish nation, 3 million people – wives, children, plus sheep, cattle, mules and oxen laden with loads of gold and silver, through Egypt and into the Red Sea before the Egyptian calvary could catch up, Or, He could have just made the new oil arrive in 7 days, which would match the 7 branches of the Menorah of the Temple. The seven branches were formulated to correspond to a week, which is the building block of normal life in this world. Instead, it lasted 8 days, one day longer. It was no accident. It was meant to communicate that this was coming from outside the normal world, from a supernal source. From this subtlety, we especially knew that we had done things right. Hashem was gently letting us know that He was there, with us, once again. The Greeks couldn’t see that.
The Hellenist Jews who had lost focus on the Torah, that source of goodness and ethics, could now refocus. With Hashem, their kindness would have direction and meaning, Some of the Hellenist Jews grew to become Rabbis of the Talmud, a commentary on Torah and Jewish law. There they expanded the systems of logic and depth of thought they learned to help add human understanding of Torah. With Hashem’s guidance through the Torah, the gift of human intellectualism could be guided to uncover all the beauty of this world, understand it’s holy source, and perceive the Good.
And Today? And in America?
The special message of Chanukah has been left here for us now and always, if we can open our own eyes to it. The mind has enormous potential, but is constantly subject to proclivities from the heart, and distractions from the eyes. The only way we can discern Truth is by attaching ourselves to our Creator, by utilizing the “platform” he gave us, the Ethics from Sinai, which. was later written down in the Torah. He is the only unwavering source from which to distinguish truth. Through that focus we are enabled to elevate our actions.
Just as He subtly, but clearly communicated His presence to us 2207 years ago by allowing the oil to burn each of the 8 days we call Chanukah, today, every day, he provides us with miracles in our own lives. He does that for each of us during our lives. Subtle rewards, come to us, for doing the right thing. They are not chance. It is to let us know he is there, and with us. You can see it, if your heart is open to it.
Now that’s why all the hoopla goes on for this holiday. It’s not just about something that happened 2207 years ago. It is also happening now. It’s a battle every day in our lives, against the same adversities. We are still battling the falsity that flows from human folly. Hellenist culture is officially gone now, but it has its descendants. Now there’s Marxist culture to overcome, which is confronting our country. Our country is being misled into forgetting the brilliant analysis of the founding fathers that, Democracy is a farce without connection to G-dly ethics. IF we don’t confront it, it becomes a slide to societal destruction
The invasion of Marxist culture has been subtle. It crept into our culture, especially into all levels of the education system from the 60’s and then dramatically rose in the early 2000’s. It had a clear direction, It aims to withdraw G-dly ethics as the backbone of human ethics, and political decision making. It has been attempting to rid G-dliness from view, It is attempting to conceal the depth of the understanding of the founding fathers that democracy based only on the minds of mankind without G-dly ethics can be catastrophic. It was the ruin of the Greek empire or communist Russia, or the many similar regimes who then slid into suffering, confusion, disaster, and weakness.
Empowering political parties through Government decrees, to be the source that sets the standards for acceptable human behavior is simply a return to Hellenism. We are facing that now. It is everywhere. Today, theft and r**e are minor events that don’t require punishment. Now terrorists who kill opponents are not murderers, but heroes who shouldn’t pay with their lives. Now older people deserve no respect for their accomplishments, should get out of the way and give up their possessions. Now, marriage is not marriage, not a life partnership, not about a man and a woman agreeing to share each other’s special talents to create and raise a family with love. Now, men and women are not considered different. Now, gender is only a state of mind. ………….And, much more.
We are in a battle that is ongoing. It’s an enormous task. But, now we know from the candles that are lit on Chanukah, that when we rise up for His truth, and His ethics, He will be there to support us, spreading His light into the world until we are re-settled. Let’s light them.
PHIL ATKIN
