Hellenism
Warfare on Shabbat: The Legacy of the MaccabeesFriday, December 14, 2012 by Moshe Sokolow | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Ezra and Nehemiah were so successful in instilling Shabbat observance that Jews refused to take up arms on Shabbat to defend themselves—with disastrous results.
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.
Editors' Picks
Second Temple Torah Lawrence H. Schiffman, LawrenceSchiffman.com. "Fostering the conception that rationales can be offered for almost all the commandments is a product of Hellenistic Judaism in the Second Temple period."
The Ancient Library of Alexandria J. Harold Ellens, Bible Review. "The scholarly culture of the ancient library became the seedbed of the great philosophies of Judaism and Christianity and thus has continued to influence Western culture for two millennia."
Philo's Esoteric Torah Lawrence H. Schiffman, LawrenceSchiffman.com. Influenced by the Hellenistic idea of the separation between body and soul, Philo was the first Jewish thinker to ascribe "outer" and "inner" rationales to the commandments—but by no means the last.
When Rabbis Spoke Greek Nicholas De Lange, Marginalia. Scholars of rabbinics claim that "there is no trace of the Septuagint in the Judaism that we know from history." But new research shows otherwise.
Hanukkah Musings Gil Student, Ari Enkin, Torah Musings. From whether a convert can recite the Al ha-Nisim blessing to how to eat a donut, here are the answers to Hanukkah questions you never thought to ask. (E-book)
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.