Objectives:
To look at the heroes and heroines in the Chanukah story.
To compare the heroes and heroines of the Chanukah story. To look at the concept of heroism more broadly and explore its meanings and associations.
PART A - Heroes
Development of the activity:
1) Divide into groups of 6-8 students.
2) Ask every participant to choose three heroes and write them down on a piece of paper.
3) Then ask each participant to briefly explain why they chose who they chose. Once everyone has spoken, use the following questions as a guide to conduct a short discussion:
- Were your heroes male or female?
- Can you think of reasons why your heroes are male or female?
- How do we perceive heroism?
- Are there differences between male heroes and heroines? If so, what are they?
PART B - The Chanukah Story - Heroes
Background to the Festival of Lights:
In these same groups, give each group a copy of Annex 1 - The Maccabees. Ask someone to read it aloud to the rest of the group and for everyone else to think of a couple of words which define this segment of text.
Festival of Lights:
Chanukah is celebrated for eight days, beginning on the 25th of the Hebrew month, Kislev.
Historical Background:
Chanukah recalls the struggle for religious freedom and expression, and commemorates the victory of the Jews over the Hellenistic Syrians in the year, 165 B.C.E.
King Antiochus issued decrees against the practice of Judaism in Judea (now known as Israel, but then considered part of Syria). Specifically, Shabbat observance, the study of Torah, and brit milah (male circumcision) were forbidden on pain of death.
Hellenistic rituals and sacrifices were instituted in the Bet HaMikdash (the holy Temple in Jerusalem), thus desecrating the sacred center of Jewish ritual life. Many Jews were impressed by the culture and power of their Greek conquerers and adopted their customs and practices. These Jews came to be known as "Hellenists". Other Jews were infuriated by the oppressive decrees aimed at destroying their religion, and vowed revenge. They were led by Mattityahu, a Chashmona'i (Hasmonean) who lived in Modiin with his five sons, who came to be known as the Maccabim. This name is derived from the first letter of each word in the phrase "Mi kamocha ba'elim Hashem?" ("Who is like You, O L-rd, among the mighty?").
After three years of guerrilla warfare in the hills and forests against the strong and powerful armies of Antiochus, the relatively small and poorly armed Maccabim won, and recaptured Jerusalem.
When the Maccabim came to rededicate the Bet HaMikdash by lighting the Menorah (holy candelabra), they could only find enough oil to last one night. By a miracle, this meager amount of oil lasted eight days.
The Significance of Chanukah to us today:
There is a difference of opinion as to the true message of Chanukah.
Some consider it to be a celebration of Jewish courage and strength - the amazing victory of the Maccabim over the mighty army of Antiochus. (Discussion - "Rabim beyad me'atim", David and Goliath, 1948, 1967?) Others emphasize the miracle of the oil, which lasted for eight days and celebrate G-d's help in the Maccabim's military victory. (Song - "Lo beko'ach velo bechayil…" or "Not by might, and not by power…")
Perhaps these two perspectives can be somewhat integrated. Chanukah can be percieved as a time when light is born from darkness, hope from despair, and freedom from oppression.
Chanukah Customs:
1. Lighting the chanukiah (the eight branched menorah).
2. Playing the game "Spin the dreidl". "Dreidl" is the Yiddish word for a four-sided top (also known as a "sevivon" in Hebrew).
3. Eating latkes and sufganiot.
("Latkes" is the Yiddish word for fried potato pancakes (also known as "levivot" in Hebrew).
"Sufganiot" is the Hebrew word for donuts.
4. Giving children Chanukah "gelt" ("money" in Yiddish) and presents.
Annex 1 Maccabees: Book 1 - Chapter 3:1-9
3:1 Then his son Judas, who was called Maccabeus, took command in his place.
3:2 All his brothers and all who had joined his father helped him; they gladly fought for Israel.
3:3 He extended the glory of his people. Like a giant he put on his breastplate; he bound on his armor of war and waged battles, protecting the camp by his sword.
3:4 He was like a lion in his deeds, like a lion's cub roaring for prey.
3:5 He searched out and pursued those who broke the law; he burned those who troubled his people.
3:6 Lawbreakers shrank back for fear of him; all the evildoers were confounded; and deliverance prospered by his hand.
3:7 He embittered many kings, but he made Jacob glad by his deeds, and his memory is blessed forever.
3:8 He went through the cities of Judah; he destroyed the ungodly out of the land; thus he turned away wrath from Israel.
3:9 He was renowned to the ends of the earth; he gathered in those who were perishing.
PART C – Heroines
1) Hand each group copies of Annex 2 - Hannah, Judith and Holfernes - in which the roles of Hannah, Judith and Hannah in the Chanukah story are discussed.
2) Ask each group to read through these texts. Participants may prefer to work in pairs or threes and then swap texts; or they can remain in the same group of 6-8.
Some questions to consider for all parts of Annex 2:
- What is your impression of this story?
- Who do you see as the hero and why?
- What characteristics are you attributing to that hero?
- Do you think that this story could have been the beginning of the rebellion? If so, how?
- How do you see this story in comparison to the stories in the Maccabees?
- Are there similarities and/or differences? If so, what are they?
Annex 2
HANNAH:
Midrash on the breakout of the rebellion: The Marriage of Hannah, Daughter of MattathiasAs part of their campaign to break the spirit of the Jews, the Greeks decreed that every maiden must spend her wedding night in the bed of the regional governor, and that only afterward would she be permitted to her husband. As a result of this decree, the Jews stopped marrying. For three years and three months, no wedding was held in Judea. Then it came time for Hannah, daughter of Mattityahu the Hasmonean to marry. In spite of the decree, Mattityahu held a great celebration, inviting the leaders of the nation, for Mattathias' family was extremely prominent. The bride sat, as was customary, at the head table, but suddenly stood up, clapped her hands together, and tore her expensive wedding dress, exposing herself.
Everyone looked away in embarrassment, and her brothers ran to fall upon her and kill her for shaming herself and her family.
But Hannah said to them, "Why, when I shame myself before my relatives and friends are you so filled with embarrassment and anger that you wish to kill me, but you agree to surrender me this night so the heathen governor can lie with me? Why do you not learn from Simon and Levy, sons of our forefather Jacob, who avenged the rape of their sister Dinah (in Genesis, chapter 34)?"
Everyone realized that Hannah was right; her brothers discussed the matter and came to a decision. They dressed their sister in the finest garments and brought her with great ceremony, at the head of a large procession, to the King. Hannah's brother's declared, "We are the sons of the High Priest, and it is not fitting that our sister be given to the governor. Our sister is fit only for the King himself!" The brothers' words found favor in the King's eyes.
The brothers accompanied Hannah to the royal bed chamber, and thereupon, seized the King and killed him. Afterward, they stormed out killing ministers, guards, and servants, who were in the palace. So began the Hasmonean revolt.
(M. Y. Ben Gurion, miMekor Yisrael 1; Y. D. Eisenstein, Otzar Midrashim: Hannukah)
JUDITH:
It is not entirely clear how the story of Judith became linked to the story of Chanukah. She apparently lived centuries earlier during the reign of Nebuchadnezzer. It may have been written down and used to inspire the Maccabees.
Judith and Holofernes
Judith was a beautiful woman who single-handedly saved the Jewish town of Bethulia during the Hasmonean revolt.
Holofernes was an evil Syrian general who laid siege to the town.
All seems lost until the widow, Judith, tells the town's elders that she has a plan to defeat the enemy. At first, the elders scoff at her, but as the situation becomes increasingly desperate, they finally allow her to leave the camp for one day.
She dresses provocatively and prepares a sack of food and wine. She approaches the enemy camp and is immediately captured and brought before Holofernes. Impressed with her beauty and her prediction of his defeat of the Jews, he invites her to celebrate with him alone.
When alone with Holofernes, Judith feeds him with salty cheese, which induces the general to drink and finally sleep. She then takes his sword, cuts off his head, and returns from the slumbering enemy camp to Bethulia. When the Greek troops see the head of their leader hanging from the town's walls, they lose heart and retreat. The siege was over.
(Text from:
www.vjholidays.com)
PART D - "Our heroes"
We all probably have childhood heroes. This last section looks at the definition of a hero and heroine and then allows us to read a story about Cinderella - one of our childhood heroines.
1) Read the definition of a hero and heroine in Annex 3 - Hero and Heroine. Note that a heroine is a female hero. In light of the previous texts and discussions, ask participants whether they agree with that definition.
2) Ask for a volunteer to read aloud "Cinderella" from 'Politically Correct Fairy Tales' from James Finn Garner's 'Politically Correct Bedtime Stories' by Macmillan Publishing Company, New York, 1994. (Annex 4 ) The aim is simply to demonstrate that one of our "childhood heroines" has been adapted for a new purpose.
Annex 3
'Hero'
Etymology: Latin heros, from Greek hErOs
Date: 14th century
1)
- a mythological or legendary figure often of divine descent endowed with great strength or ability
- an illustrious warrior
- a man admired for his achievements and noble qualities
- one that shows great courage
2)
- the principal male character in a literary or dramatic work
- the central figure in an event, period, or movement
'Heroine'
Date: 1609
1)
- a mythological or legendary woman having the qualities of a hero - a woman admired and emulated for her achievements and qualities
2)
- the principal female character in a literary or dramatic work
- the central female figure in an event or period
Annex 4
From James Finn Garner, 'Politically Correct Bedtime Stories', Macmillan Publishing Company, New York, 1994.
There once lived a young wommon named Cinderella, whose natural birthmother had died when Cinderella was but a child. A few years after, her father married a widow with two older daughters. Cinderella's mother-of-step treated her very cruelly, and her sisters-of-step made her work very hard …
One day an invitation arrived at their house. The prince was celebrating his exploitation of the dispossessed and marginalized peasantry by throwing a fancy dress ball. Cinderella's sisters-of-step were very excited to be invited to the palace. They began to plan the expensive clothes they would use to alter and enslave their natural body images to emulate an unrealistic standard of feminine beauty …
When the day of the ball arrived, Cinderella helped her sisters-of-step into their ball gowns. A formidable task: it was like trying to force ten pounds of processed nonhuman animal carcasses into a five-pound skin. Next came immense cosmetic augmentation, which it would be best not to describe at all …
Suddenly there was a flash of light, and in front of Cinderella stood a man dressed in loose fitting, all-cotton clothes and wearing a wide-brimmed hat … 'Hello Cinderella, I am your fairy godperson, or individual proxy, if you prefer. So, you want to go to the ball, eh? And bind yourself into the male concept of beauty? Squeeze into some tight-fitting dress that will cut off your circulation? Jam your feet into high-heeled shoes that will ruin your bone structure? Paint your face with chemicals and make-up that have been tested on nonhuman animals?'
'Oh yes, definitely,' she said in an instant. Her fairy godperson heaved a great sigh and decided to put off her political education till another day. With his magic, he enveloped her in a beautiful, bright light and whisked her away to the palace …
Cinderella arrived. She was dressed in a clinging gown woven of silk stolen from unsuspecting silkworms. Her hair was festooned with pearls plundered frFom hard-working defenceless oysters. And on her feet, dangerous though it may seem, she wore slippers made of finely cut crystal. Every head in the ballroom turned as Cinderella entered. The men stared at and lusted after this womon who had captured perfectly their Barbie-doll ideas of feminine desirability. The womyn, trained at an early age to despise their own bodies, looked at Cinderella with envy and spite …. The prince began to cross the ballroom towards his intended prey …. The prince had made it clear to his friends that he was intent on 'possessing' the young wommon. But the prince's resoluteness angered his pals, for they too lusted after her and wanted to own her…
The womyn were appalled by this vicious display of testosterone, but try as they might, they were unable to separate their combatants … When the bell rang the twelfth time, Cinderella's beautiful gown and slippers disappeared, and she was dressed once again in her pesant's rags … The womyn grew silent at this magical transformation. Freed from the confinements of her gown and slippers, Cinderella sighed and stretched and scratched her ribs. She smiled, closed her eyes and said, 'Kill me now if you want, sisters, but at least I'll die in comfort.' The womyn around her again grew envious, but this time they took a different approach: Instead of exacting vengeance on her, they stripped off their bodices, corsets, shoes, and every other confining garment. They danced and jumped and screeched in sheer joy, comfortable at last in their shifts and bare feet. Had the men looked up from their macho dance of destruction, they would have seen many desirable womyn dressed as if for the boudoir. But they never ceased pounding, punching, kicking, and clawing each other until, to the last man, they were dead.
The womyn clucked their tongues but felt no remorse. The palace and realm were theirs now. Their first official act was to dress the men in their discarded dresses and tell the media that the fight arose when someone threatened to expose the cross-dressing tendencies of the prince and his cronies. Their second was to set up a clothing co-op that produced only comfortable, practical clothes for womyn. Then they hung up a sign on the castle advertising CinderWear … and through self-determination and clever marketing, they all - even the mother-and-sisters-of step - lived happily ever after.
Required Materials:
- Photocopies of:
Annex 1 - The Maccabees
Annex 2 - Hannah, Judith and Holfernes
Annex 3 - Hero and Heroine: Definitions
Annex 4 - Politically Correct Cinderella.
(Note: these annexes are available as printable PDF files - see link below)
- Pens.