{"id":50869,"date":"2022-12-22T02:00:44","date_gmt":"2022-12-22T07:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/hanukkah-made-western-civilization-possible-50869"},"modified":"2022-12-22T02:00:44","modified_gmt":"2022-12-22T07:00:44","slug":"hanukkah-made-western-civilization-possible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/hanukkah-made-western-civilization-possible-50869","title":{"rendered":"Hanukkah made western civilization possible"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Were it not for its proximity to Christmas, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/religion\/judaism\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hanukkah would be unknown<\/a> to most non-Jews and it would not be celebrated by most non-religious Jews. The proof is that the other post-Hebrew Bible holiday, Purim, while very popular in Israel, where it is sort of a Jewish Mardi Gras, is essentially unknown to non-Jews and largely ignored by most American Jews.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In other words, if Purim fell in December and Hanukkah in March, everyone would know about Purim, and few would have ever heard of Hanukkah.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Too bad. Hanukkah is actually of seminal importance both to Judaism and to the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/lifestyle\/hanukkah-quiz-see-much-you-know-jewish-holiday\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>HANUKKAH QUIZ: SEE HOW MUCH YOU KNOW ABOUT THE JEWISH HOLIDAY<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Hanukkah commemorates the incredible Jewish victory over far more numerous and powerful Greek forces in 164 BC.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Jews\u2019 revolt, known the Maccabean Revolt, named after its leader, Judah the Maccabee, was directed against the Greek Seleucid Empire in 167\u2013160 BC. The Seleucid Empire was a Greek state in west Asia and the Middle East which lasted from 312 to 63 BC. At its height, it covered approximately one and half million square miles.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In 168 BC, the Seleucid king, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, launched a horrific campaign against Judaism. <\/p>\n<p>Two things about this anti-Jewish persecution stand out.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>First, Antiochus did not seek to annihilate <i>Jews<\/i>, as Adolf Hitler and the Nazis did two thousand years later and the Islamic regime in Iran does today. He sought to annihilate <i>Judaism<\/i>. Jews who abandoned the Torah and Jewish practices and adopted Hellenism were left alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Second, among all the religions under his rule, Antiochus persecuted only Judaism. His Greek regime had no problem with pagan religions. It was Judaism that disturbed Antiochus and the Seleucids.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>To understand why Judaism so bothered Antiochus, one needs to understand that no pagan religion completely rejected Hellenism. Judaism did. If Antiochus wanted a statue to him or to a Greek god erected in a pagan temple, none of the pagan religions would have objected. The pagan attitude toward religion was non-exclusive. No pagan god was regarded as the one God of all humanity. But the Jews claimed that their God was indeed the only God in the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Despite this belief \u2014 that the God of Judaism is the God of all humanity \u2014 Judaism never insisted that non-Jews needed to convert to Judaism. Thus, Jews never forcibly imposed Judaism on non-Jews. But, unlike all their pagan neighbors, the Jews rejected the gods of everyone else. And this infuriated Antiochus. He hated the Jews\u2019 monotheism.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>So, he decreed that Judaism be abolished. He erected statues of Greek gods in the Jews\u2019 holy temple, put to death Jewish parents who ritually circumcised their eight-day old sons \u2014 hanging the murdered Jewish child around the mother\u2019s neck \u2014 forced Jews to eat pork, offered illicit sacrifices, burned Torah scrolls, executed Jews who observed the sabbath, and dedicated the holy temple to Zeus.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It was the Greeks who originated the blood libel \u2014 the myth of Jewish ritual murder of non-Jews. They made up a story about Antiochus who, upon entering the sanctuary of the temple in Jerusalem, found a Greek captive waiting to be burned as a sacrifice to the Jewish God. Antiochus reportedly claimed that the prospective victim had been informed by temple servants that it was an established practice of the Jews to kidnap a Greek, fatten him up for a year, then place him on wood, sacrifice him, eat his flesh, and swear an oath of hostility to the Greeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to rabbinic tradition, the victorious Maccabees found just one bottle of oil that had not been contaminated. It contained only enough oil to keep the Temple Menorah (candelabra) lighted for one day, but it miraculously lasted for eight days. Hence the eight days of Hanukkah .\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But Hanukkah represents far more than the miracle of the oil.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/newsletters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><u>CLICK HERE TO GET THE OPINION NEWSLETTER<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Jews\u2019 successful rebellion assured the continued existence of the Jewish religion and contributed to the decisive influence of monotheism in western culture and history.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The most far-reaching consequence of the revolt was the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/lifestyle\/occasions\/holiday\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">perpetuation of the monotheistic idea,<\/a> which was threatened by the Seleucids\u2019 Hellenism, the Greek religion and culture that Antiochus tried to impose by force, and that many Hellenized Jews accepted voluntarily.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Hebrew monotheism <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/religion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">gave the world one God \u2014<\/a> meaning that all humans are brothers and sisters, since we are all His children, created in His image. It also gave the world one moral code \u2014 meaning that morality is not relative to every nation, every religion, or every individual. It was also the only religion in the world to disassociate God and nature. Nature is not God; God created nature \u2014 for man\u2019s use. <\/p>\n<p>Ironically, the Western world, in its radical post-Judeo-Christian secularism has reverted to pagan nature-worship.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Hanukkah saved monotheism, and thereby made the creation of the Western world possible. Maybe people of every faith \u2014 especially faith in Western civilization \u2014 should light a menorah for eight days.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/person\/p\/dennis-prager\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><u>CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM DENNIS PRAGER<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/opinion\/hanukkah-made-western-civilization-possible\">Source &#8211; https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/opinion\/hanukkah-made-western-civilization-possible <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Were it not for its proximity to Christmas, Hanukkah would be unknown to most non-Jews and it would not be celebrated by most non-religious Jews. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_2902945987_2902945987":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[16563],"tags":[],"stock_ticker":[],"class_list":["post-50869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-market-news","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Hanukkah made western civilization possible - Wall Street PR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/hanukkah-made-western-civilization-possible-50869\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hanukkah made western civilization possible - Wall Street PR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Were it not for its proximity to Christmas, Hanukkah would be unknown to most non-Jews and it would not be celebrated by most non-religious Jews. [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/hanukkah-made-western-civilization-possible-50869\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Wall Street PR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/WallStreetPR\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-22T07:00:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/businessman-showing-business-evolution1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"715\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"423\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/hanukkah-made-western-civilization-possible-50869#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/hanukkah-made-western-civilization-possible-50869\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#\/schema\/person\/6e00efa2abc413bdc0bca51a90c54d36\"},\"headline\":\"Hanukkah made western civilization possible\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-22T07:00:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/hanukkah-made-western-civilization-possible-50869\"},\"wordCount\":844,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Market News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/hanukkah-made-western-civilization-possible-50869\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/hanukkah-made-western-civilization-possible-50869\",\"name\":\"Hanukkah made western civilization possible - Wall Street PR\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-22T07:00:44+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/hanukkah-made-western-civilization-possible-50869#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/hanukkah-made-western-civilization-possible-50869\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/hanukkah-made-western-civilization-possible-50869#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Hanukkah made western civilization possible\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/\",\"name\":\"Wall Street PR\",\"description\":\"Latest News From WallStreet\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Wall Street PR\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/brand-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/brand-logo.png\",\"width\":537,\"height\":70,\"caption\":\"Wall Street PR\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/WallStreetPR\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/WallstreetPRs\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#\/schema\/person\/6e00efa2abc413bdc0bca51a90c54d36\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/360_F_336393115_5gCUfwn76x3MJaCJMYDKLoRebkC8QyrL-300x300.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/360_F_336393115_5gCUfwn76x3MJaCJMYDKLoRebkC8QyrL-300x300.jpg\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/author\/admin\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Hanukkah made western civilization possible - Wall Street PR","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/hanukkah-made-western-civilization-possible-50869","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Hanukkah made western civilization possible - Wall Street PR","og_description":"Were it not for its proximity to Christmas, Hanukkah would be unknown to most non-Jews and it would not be celebrated by most non-religious Jews. [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/hanukkah-made-western-civilization-possible-50869","og_site_name":"Wall Street PR","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/WallStreetPR\/","article_published_time":"2022-12-22T07:00:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":715,"height":423,"url":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/businessman-showing-business-evolution1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/hanukkah-made-western-civilization-possible-50869#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/hanukkah-made-western-civilization-possible-50869"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#\/schema\/person\/6e00efa2abc413bdc0bca51a90c54d36"},"headline":"Hanukkah made western civilization possible","datePublished":"2022-12-22T07:00:44+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/hanukkah-made-western-civilization-possible-50869"},"wordCount":844,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Market News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/hanukkah-made-western-civilization-possible-50869","url":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/hanukkah-made-western-civilization-possible-50869","name":"Hanukkah made western civilization possible - Wall Street PR","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-12-22T07:00:44+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/hanukkah-made-western-civilization-possible-50869#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/hanukkah-made-western-civilization-possible-50869"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/hanukkah-made-western-civilization-possible-50869#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hanukkah made western civilization possible"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/","name":"Wall Street PR","description":"Latest News From WallStreet","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#organization","name":"Wall Street PR","url":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/brand-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/brand-logo.png","width":537,"height":70,"caption":"Wall Street PR"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/WallStreetPR\/","https:\/\/x.com\/WallstreetPRs"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#\/schema\/person\/6e00efa2abc413bdc0bca51a90c54d36","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/360_F_336393115_5gCUfwn76x3MJaCJMYDKLoRebkC8QyrL-300x300.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/360_F_336393115_5gCUfwn76x3MJaCJMYDKLoRebkC8QyrL-300x300.jpg","caption":"admin"},"url":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/author\/admin"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50869\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50869"},{"taxonomy":"stock_ticker","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stock_ticker?post=50869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}