Marc Gellman is correct. However without the terror of the Hasmoneans, without the destruction of the second Temple, Jews, a minor people of the Middle East, may have disappeared into surrounding cultures. Hannukah should be celebrated for creating a new form of Judaism when Yohanan Ben Zakkai pleaded with the Romans to create a rabbinic academy in Yavneh. As a result, it grew roots and we are their descendants.
תודה. מצויין.
Marc Gellman is correct. However without the terror of the Hasmoneans, without the destruction of the second Temple, Jews, a minor people of the Middle East, may have disappeared into surrounding cultures. Hannukah should be celebrated for creating a new form of Judaism when Yohanan Ben Zakkai pleaded with the Romans to create a rabbinic academy in Yavneh. As a result, it grew roots and we are their descendants.