Chanukah and Hellenism
Originally written during Chanukah 2014. Happy Chanukah, Hanukah, Hannukkah, Chanukka, Hanuka, Channukah, Hanukah, Chanukkah, Hannukah, Chanuka or Hanaka I’ve always loved this holiday–fighting for political and religious freedom chimed with so much I believed in. And then I learned that the Maccabees were not just fighting against the Seleucids but the Hellenistic Jews whose syncretic practices conflicted with what they took to be a more pure form of Jewish practice. That complicated things since I’m a Hellenistic Jew, myself, for whom syncretism (which is a fancy way of saying mash-ups) are deeply attractive. My work in political philosophy draws on and attempts to weave together ideas from Jewish (especially as they have influenced modern liberalism) and Greek sources. So I’m loathe to identify with a moment in Jewish history which attacked those Jews whose ideas prefigure my own. I’m not quite done figuring out how to reinterpret the holiday so… Continue reading