The brightness of the first Chanuka lights had dwindled down, but the holy fire on the altar burned again in the Holy Temple, from morning to morning, as prescribed by the Torah. The priests were once again busily officiating in the old customary ways. Day in and day out they prepared the offerings. Order and peace seemed established.
The Jewish farmer longed to return to his land after two years of hardship, privation and danger in the victorious Jewish army. It was high time to break the ground and to till the soil, if the barley was to grow and ripen in time for the "omer offering" on Passover. The Jewish farmers had left their ploughs to rally about the heroic Hasmoneans. The first victories had drawn even the hesitant into the ranks of the enthusiastic Jewish rebels, led by the sons of Matathias. Farmers had forsaken their land, and merchants and tradesmen their stores and shops. Even Torah students had emerged from the four walls of the yeshiva to join the fight against the oppressors.
But the songs of victory which had filled the reclaimed Holy Temple with praise and gratitude to the merciful G-d had ceased. The goal of the battle seemed to have been attained, and Torah was again supreme in Israel.
One man, though, realized that the time for the return to normal living had not yet come. Israel could not yet afford to relax; it would have to stand ready and prepare to carry on the fight against the overwhelming odds of the enemy. This man was Judah Maccabee, a man whose name was upon everyone's lips and in every Jewish heart. He was admired as a hero, as a man with the heart of a lion and the simple piety of a child; as the one whose mighty armies fought and conquered, yet who never failed to pray to G-d, the Master of all battles, before he entered the fray.
It was not the spirited warrior's joy that made Judah Maccabee stay in camp. His heart, too, longed to return to his former peaceful life, to Modiin, the quiet town of priests, which held the grave of his adored father. Bloodshed and battle were a hard and unwanted profession for the men of Judea, who preferred peace to strife. Yet this was no time to relent. Not only must he stay, he must also convince his comrades at arms to do so as well, with all the persuasion of his magnetic personality. Only the first phase of this war of liberation had passed; hard and desperate times were yet to come. Clever enemies could seize an extended lull to prepare new assaults with more troops and better equipment. And there was no shortage of enemies all around Judea, besides the defeated Syrians. Old hatreds were revived. The descendants of Edom, the Idumeans, the Ammonites, the Philistines and Phoenicians all revived their ancient jealousies.
Messengers arrived from Gilead. The pagan peoples had joined forces to destroy Judea. From Galilee came the bad news of similar evil intentions and active preparations for war in Ptolomais, Tyre and Sidon. The messengers found Judah Maccabee already at work. Fortifications had to be built around Zion. Towers, walls, battlements and moats had to be constructed opposite the fort still held by their worst enemies, the Hellenist Jews, under the leadership of Menelaos, the false priest. These Jews hated everything Jewish, and lived hoping for the return of the Syrian masters. Judah Maccabee prepared Jerusalem for imminent assault by the troops of Antiochus. Under his supervision, the Jewish people worked feverishly to refill their arsenals and transform the whole country into a stronghold.
Once this most important task was accomplished, Judah Maccabee led his freshly trained troops to the aid of the regions and villages harassed by the spiteful neighbors of Judea. He drove the Idumeans from Hebron, which they had annexed, and punished those people who had acted hostilely towards the Jewish settlers. Then he led his army across the Jordan River against the Ammonites. Their capital fell before the furious onslaught of the Jewish troops, and so did their fortress Yaeser. Judah's brother Simon led an army north to help the beleaguered Jews of Galilee. He defeated the enemy and cleared the Jewish land. At his urging, a great many of the Jewish settlers who had fled to Jerusalem returned to rebuild in safety what had been destroyed during the years of turmoil. Judah Maccabee and Jonathan joined forces and marched against Gilead, where they were met with the toughest resistance. By Shavuot their campaign was successfully concluded.
Judea was again free, and all parts of the land captured by the neighboring nations was recovered. Celebrations and festivities transformed Jerusalem and the Holy Temple, barely half a year after the victory over the Syrian armies. The Jewish people expressed their joy and gratitude in the form of alms and offerings, for G-d had once again restored glory and liberty to the Jewish land.
From The Jewish Companion, Kehot Publication Society
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