January 02, 2006
Chanukah update
Posted by
Mark Kleiman
Lis Riba's friend Ian has more information about the development of the Chanukah ritual and myth, though not on the relationship between the two that was the subject of my Gravesian speculation. Ian's reading of the Talmudic sources is broadly consistent with Jonathan's original post on the subject: the rabbis didn't like the Hasmonean dynasty, and reconfigured the holiday to point it toward an invented miracle rather than a real, though not praiseworthy, military/political victory.
