The Dark Side of the Chanukah Story

Although Karaites do not follow the same Chanukah practice as the Rabbanites, the historical events of Chanukah are enlightening to say the least. The Rabbinical practice if focused on oil and lamps, and they eschew the military nature of the Hasmonean victory. In fact, the rabbis decry the militarism of the Hasmoneans, claiming to be a pacifist sect. The Karaites, on the other hand, point out that the Book of Maccabees has no mention whatsoever of the alleged oil miracle, nor is it canonised into the TNK. Hence, Chanukah is not a Biblical festival. The historical reality behind Chanukah is quite surprising, and so I will start with the prayer found in Rabbinic prayer books, known as Al HaNissim. This is in celebration of miracles, and there is a special version tailored for Purim, as well as one for Chanukah. This is how the latter reads:

“And [we thank You] for the miracles, for the redemption, for the mighty deeds, for the saving acts, and for the wonders which You have wrought for our ancestors in those days, at this time—

In the days of Matityahu, the son of Yochanan the High Priest, the Hasmonean and his sons, when the wicked Hellenic government rose up against Your people Israel to make them forget Your Torah and violate the decrees of Your will. But You, in Your abounding mercies, stood by them in the time of their distress. You waged their battles, defended their rights, and avenged the wrong done to them. You delivered the mighty into the hands of the weak, the many into the hands of the few, the impure into the hands of the pure, the wicked into the hands of the righteous, and the wanton sinners into the hands of those who occupy themselves with Your Torah. You made a great and holy name for Yourself in Your world, and effected a great deliverance and redemption for Your people Israel to this very day. Then Your children entered the shrine of Your House, cleansed Your Temple, purified Your Sanctuary, kindled lights in Your holy courtyards, and instituted these eight days of Chanukah to give thanks and praise to Your great Name.”

This ancient prayer recognises a) the priesthood was the authentic religious authority of Israel, and b) The Hasmonean priesthood were righteous, whereas the Seleucid dynasty of Antiochus were evil.

According to historians, the Pharisees (who were the predecessors and ancestors of the Rabbis of the oral law) were so bent on destruction of the Priesthood, that in their opposition to Alexander Janneus, the High Priest and Hasmonean King, they (Pharisees) sided with Demetrius III (Seleucid King) in the war between the two.*

These are the same Pharisees who adhere to the Chanukah formula above – i.e. the Hasmonean Priests were the legitimate religious authority of Israel, being pure and righteous, and the Seleucids (Demetrius) are the evil and impure enemies of Torah and Israel.

So, what we in fact see here is that, contrary to their proclamations, the Pharisees allied themselves with the most evil and impure enemies of Israel, who a generation earlier had all but destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem. I have shown previously that where the Seleucids failed, the Pharisees succeeded, i.e. in defiling and destroying the Temple, and erasing the priesthood. e.g. http://tanakhemet.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/another-brick-in-temples-fall.html

So it becomes clear that the intention and strategy of the Pharisees was nefarious from the very early days. It was to remove the Priesthood at whatever the cost, even the cost of the Temple itself. The Festival of Chanukah, the Fast of Av are just act of theatre, which distract attention from the wicked Pharisees who allied themselves with Israel's greatest enemies.

*  "5. As to Alexander, his own people were seditious against him; for at a festival which was then celebrated, when he stood upon the altar, and was going to sacrifice, the nation rose upon him, and pelted him with citrons [which they then had in their hands, because] the law of the Jews required that at the feast of tabernacles every one should have branches of the palm tree and citron tree; which thing we have elsewhere related. They also reviled him, as derived from a captive, and so unworthy of his dignity and of sacrificing. At this he was in a rage, and slew of them about six thousand. He also built a partition-wall of wood round the altar and the temple, as far as that partition within which it was only lawful for the priests to enter; and by this means he obstructed the multitude from coming at him. He also maintained foreigners of Pisidie and Cilicia; for as to the Syrians, he was at war with them, and so made no use of them. He also overcame the Arabians, such as the Moabites and Gileadites, and made them bring tribute. Moreover, he demolished Amathus, while Theodorus 39 durst not fight with him; but as he had joined battle with Obedas, king of the Arabians, and fell into an ambush in the places that were rugged and difficult to be traveled over, he was thrown down into a deep valley, by the multitude of the camels at Gadurn, a village of Gilead, and hardly escaped with his life. From thence he fled to Jerusalem, where, besides his other ill success, the nation insulted him, and he fought against them for six years, and slew no fewer than fifty thousand of them. And when he desired that they would desist from their ill-will to him, they hated him so much the more, on account of what had already happened; and when he had asked them what he ought to do, they all cried out, that he ought to kill himself. They also sent to Demetrius Eucerus, and desired him to make a league of mutual defense with them."

-source: Josephus; Antiquities, Book 13; ch.13

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2848/2848-h/2848-h.htm#link132HCH0013