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Rabbi
David Golinkin
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Rabbi
Jeremy Schwartz
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In The
Jerusalem Report (December 20, 2001), Rabbi David Golinkin,
president and rector of the Conservative Schechter Institute
for Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, debates Reconstructionist
Rabbi Jeremy Schwartz, of Temple Bnai Israel in Willimantic,
Connecticut. The rabbis debate whether or not the Maccabees
were religious extremists.
The Jerusalem Report Magazine: At Issue
Were the Maccabees Religious Extremists?
Throughout the generations, Jews have taken inspiration
from the rebellion led by the priestly Hasmonean family
against the Selucid Empire in the second century BCE. Traditionally,
the revolt has been seen as a war to defend Jewish culture
from forced assimilation. But an alternative view notes
that, in Taliban fashion, the Maccabees also slaughtered
Jewish Hellenists; and following their victory, Judean King
John Hyrcanus I forcibly converted the neighboring Idumean
population to Judaism.
Dear Rabbi David Golinkin,
The Maccabees were not fighting for "religious
freedom." Their deeds, chronicled in I Maccabees,
begin with Mattityahu's killing a Jew for an improper
sacrifice, and continue with forced circumcisions. They
forced Jews to conform to their version of Judaism and
expelled non-Jews from the land. Today, they would be
called extremists. We should be explicit about this,
lest we be led down their path of zealotry and fanaticism.
Ancient rabbis already understood that path to be incompatible
with a divinely inspired, law-based society.
I Maccabees 2:26 praises Mattityahu as a zealot like
the Biblical Pinhas. In Numbers (25:1-15), Pinhas spears
a couple in the act of sexual idolatry. The rabbis were
very ambivalent about Pinhas's zealotry. In Tractate
Sanhedrin of the Talmud, they forbade rabbinical courts
to give permission to zealots to act or to teach zealotry.
The Jerusalem Talmud states that Pinhas would have been
excommunicated by the sages of his day had God not intervened.
Even from the Biblical perspective, God rewarded Pinhas
with a "covenant of peace." That is, a true
zealot does what he needs to do, but is not continually
filled with hatred. In contrast, most self-proclaimed
zealots — including the Maccabees — begin
violently and become more violent as they practice their
zealotry.
The history of the Hasmoneans shows the fruits of their
zealotry. Within just a generation, they usurped the
Davidic throne, took on Greek names and practices, and
persecuted — even murdered — Torah scholars.
To paraphrase Lord Acton, 'Zealotry tends to corrupt
and absolute zealotry corrupts absolutely.' Rabbi Jeremy
Schwartz
Dear Rabbi Jeremy Schwartz,
The Maccabees were most definitely fighting for religious
freedom. To begin their story with Mattityahu's killing
the idol-worshipper is akin to starting the story
of the Six-Day War with Israel's attack in June 1967.
Just as Israel reacted to Arab aggression, the Maccabees
reacted to Antiochus's religious oppression.
According to I Maccabees, Antiochus captured Jerusalem
in 168 BCE through subterfuge, "despoiled the
city and burnt it with fire." He then outlawed
the sacrificial system, the Sabbath and festivals,
ordered the Jews to "sacrifice swine's flesh
and unclean cattle" and "to leave their
sons uncircumcised ... so that they might forget the
Torah and change all ordinances" under penalty
of death. His troops erected an idol upon the alter
in the Temple, burned Torah scrolls and "put
to death women who had circumcised their children,
hanging newborn babies around their necks."
The Maccabees were not fanatics; they were religious
Jews defending their people from murder, pillage and
oppression.
The reference to Pinhas must also be taken in context.
when Mattityahu refused to worship idols in public
and a Jew came forward to do so, Mattityahu slew him
upon the alter. "Thus he showed his zeal for
the Torah, as Pinhas had done toward Zimri ben Salu."
While some Sages criticized Pinhas, the Torah itself
calls him a hero. (Numbers 25:13)
Rabbi David Golinkin
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Dear Rabbi Golinkin, Of course the Maccabees
fought against cruel and terrible religious persecution.
Sadly, though, history has proven that those who fight
oppressors are not necessarily freedom fighters. Were
the Bolsheviks freedom fighters because they reacted
to czarist oppression? Was Khomeini a freedom fighter
because he opposed the dictatorship of the Shah?
It is morally disastrous to believe that just because
we Jews have been oppressed, we are incapable of becoming
oppressors. Our prophets tell us that when the descendants
of the slaves who came out of Egypt gained power in
their own land, they themselves oppressed the widow,
the orphan, the hired worker and the stranger. The Maccabees
provide another example. They didn't want Antiochus
to impose his system; they wanted to impose theirs.
Their dynasty perpetuated blind zealotry, not the humble
desire to do God's will. You are also right that the
rabbis laud Pinhas, the zealot who is presented as a
model for the Maccabees. In several midrashim, they
raise him to superhuman status. It is told, for example,
that Pinhas became an angel and/or returned as Elijah,
and will return again as the herald of the messiah.
I think this only reinforces the halakhic teaching that
normal people cannot and should not take the zealotry
of Pinhas as our model. The history of the Maccabees
teaches us that the certainty that "God is on our
side" is dangerous. Jeremy Schwartz
Dear Rabbi Schwartz, I agree that Jews are
capable of becoming oppressors, but since you cite
no sources, it's hard to determine to what zealotry
you refer. It is true that the descendants of the
Maccabees did some unsavory things: John Hyrcanus
(after 129 BCE) conquered Edom and forced its inhabitants
to adopt Judaism, while Alexander Yannai (95-83 BCE)
killed thousands of Jews in a civil war. But we should
not hold the Maccabees accountable for the sins of
their descendants. Hannukah is about the Maccabees,
not their descendants. The Maccabees are worthy of
emulation. They exemplify the willingness to die for
kiddush hashem, for the santification of God's name.
They also exemplify a flexible attitude to Jewish
law: When they saw the Greeks purposely attacking
them on Shabbat, "they made the following decision:
If any man attack us in battle on the Sabbath day,
let us oppose him, that we not all die as our brothers
did in the hiding places." And they exemplify
bravery in battle. As Judah said before the battle
of Beit Horon: "Victory in battle does not depend
on the size of the army, but rather on strength that
comes from Heaven." He and a handful then defeated
800 enemy troops. These are the values which we celebrate
and teach on Hannukah. David Golinkin
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