Tag Archives: Hasmoneans

The History of Chanukah



After the death of King Solomon, the kingdom of Israel got broken up into two kingdoms: Israel and Judah. Israel comprised the Ten Tribes, with Ephraim as their leader. The Kingdom of Judah consisted of the Tribes of Judah and Benjamin. (For more background on this and earlier periods in Jewish history, read my article on early Jewish History.

In Hebrew, Judah was called Yehudah, after the name of the Patriarch Yehudah (Judah). The people were called «Yehudim.» (Singular: Yehudi for a man, Yehudis for a woman.)

The Greeks, however, called Yehudah «Iudea.» When the Roman Empire eventually replaced the Greek Empire, they, too, conquered Iudea, as you know. In Latin, Iudea became Judea; Iudeans (Yehudim) became Judeans; and our religion came to be imprecisely known as «Judaism.» Eventually (I don’t know when), the term «Judean» was shortened to the now familiar «Jew.»

We start this story during the time of the First Holy Temple, built by King Solomon. Late in the First Temple era, the Assyrians came to power, and conquered many lands. They conquered the Kingdom of Israel, and exiled the Ten Tribes to far away lands. The Holy Temple was in the Kingdom of Yehudah, and so it was not touched. The Assyrians had the policy of moving conquered people from their native country to distant lands, as a method of controlling them. In place of the people of Israel, they moved people from the ancient land of Cutha into Samaria, a region in Israel. The location of the land of Cutha has long been forgotten, even by the Cutheans themselves. Now they call themselves Samaritans. The Samaritans hated the Yehudim, and caused them a great deal of trouble. Continue reading