Hasmoneans
The First War of National LiberationWednesday, December 12, 2012 by Diana Muir Appelbaum | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
The Maccabees' revolt can lay claim to being the first war of national liberation. Reprinted here is Diana Muir Appelbaum’s account of why the Book of Maccabees is so modern and so dangerous.
A Meditation on Maoz ZurMonday, December 10, 2012 by Ismar Schorsch | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In this 1988 essay, Ismar Schorsch writes that the much maligned final stanza of Maoz Zur, which calls for divine retribution against Israel’s enemies, illustrates a distinction between redemption within history and the ultimate redemption, which must come from without.
Is Judaism a Proselytizing Religion?Friday, October 19, 2012 by Shlomo M. Brody | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
When Mitt Romney became the Republican Presidential candidate, some of the media attention focused on his experience as a Mormon missionary in France and asked, subtly or not so subtly, whether a member of a proselytizing religion could properly lead a pluralistic society.
Editors' Picks
Was Crucifixion a Jewish Penalty? Geza Vermes, Standpoint. Although never enumerated among biblical forms of capital punishment, both Josephus and the Dead Sea Scrolls suggest that during the Hasmonean era, crucifixion was part of Jewish penal legislation.
The First Hellenist Stephen Gabriel Rosenberg, Jerusalem Post. The Maccabees warred against the Seleucids and their Hellenized Jewish allies. But Judaean Hellenism began earlier, under the Ptolemies—and was not so bad for the Jews.
Of Rabbis and Maccabees Reuben Livingstone, Jewish Chronicle. The rabbis never deny the necessity of self-defense. So, why does the Talmud’s discussion of Hanukkah downplay the military exploits of the Maccabees?