Orphic_Hymn
08-28-2006, 09:42 PM
http://www.aish.com/graphics/articles/helenism_230.gif
by Rabbi Shimon Apisdorf
Hellenism, the culture that blossomed in Athens, is the primary source of western civilization. In many ways America is the cultural by-product of ancient Greece.
We ourselves, whether we like it or not, are the heirs of the Greeks and the Romans. In a thousand different ways, they are permanently and indestructibly woven into the fabric of our own existence. ("The Founders of the Western World," by Michael Grant)
Hellenism, the culture that blossomed in Athens, is the primary source of western civilization. In many ways America is the cultural by-product of ancient Greece. Before the Greeks, everyone who lived in Europe was unlettered, uncultured and somewhat barbaric. It was the Greeks (followed by the Romans), who brought philosophy, the study of history, athletic competition, sophisticated literature, poetry, theater, architecture, urban planning and the concept of democracy to the modern world.
Historians insist that there is almost nothing in our society that doesn't have its roots in ancient Greece. Consider the United States Capitol building in Washington, D.C:
- the structural design is Greek architecture
- the form of government it houses was born in Greece
- the logic, philosophy and rhetoric that animate its debates originated in Greece
CULTURAL DOMINATION
If you're traveling somewhere in the world and you want to know if American culture has reached that place, don't look for an American flag. Look instead for McDonalds "Golden Arches."
Imagine: There are places in the world today where Levi jeans sell on the black market for 200 dollars. Croatia is starting to produce basketball players talented enough to be NBA All-Stars. And somewhere behind the Great Wall of China, countless teenagers are lining up for pirated CDs of rap music.
The Greeks would have been awfully jealous because this is exactly what they were trying to do with their culture. They wanted their philosophy, entertainment, arts, literature, theater and athletic games to become the defining elements for peoples' lives everywhere.
The Greeks were different from other empires. They didn't want your land, your resources or your riches. They wanted your mind.
And the Jews weren't willing to give that up!
http://www.aish.com/graphics/articles/greece_230.gif
The Midrash compares the Greek exile to the darkness at the beginning of creation.
"No other two races have set such a mark upon the world. Each of them from angles so different have left us with the inheritance of its genius and wisdom. No two cities have counted more with mankind than Athens and Jerusalem. Personally, I have always been on the side of both." - Sir Winston Churchill
In the Chanukah story, the Jewish people put up no resistance when Alexander the Great's troops arrived. But they were quick to resist the enlightening cultural forces that the Greeks brought with them.
Why? After all, the Jews were a people who revered education, literacy and deep thinking. In this regard the Greeks should have been their soul mates -- another enlightened people in an otherwise darkened world.
PHILOSOPHICAL CLASH
Yet for all its beauty, Greek society was morally abhorrent to the Jewish world view.
In Greek society it was common for parents to kill newborn infants. Babies in Greece were routinely murdered by leaving them outside in a clay jar to die from exposure and starvation. The reasons parents would kill their children:
* Too many mouths to feed
* Too many heirs for a father to divide his estate amongst
* Sickness and deformity (in a society that revered the beautiful form of the human body)
Right behind infanticide on the list of what we today consider deviant behavior was pederasty. (Today we call it child molestation.)
"In most Greek communities the women were kept at home, and men spent their days with other men or boys. Artists paid special attention to the nude masculine form; and pederasty abounded. It was far more favored than homosexual relations between men and youths of the same age, and indeed a whole philosophy was built up around the pederastic situation, founded on the concept that the lover was the beloved's educator and military trainer."
- "The Founders of the Western World: A History of Greece and Rome," by Michael Grant
In Greece, the highest and purest form of love was something Jews considered to be the most heinous of crimes!
The Jewish people have always placed the utmost value on human life, and considered the relationship between a husband and a wife to be holy. That's why when the Greek culture came, the Jews said: "No!"
THE GREEK EXILE
Jewish historians label the period during which the events of Chanukah occurred as the "Greek exile." In the literal sense, however, no exile ever took place -- not one Jew was banished from the Land of Israel! Why then, do we refer to this period of history as exile?
The Midrash explains by comparing the Greek exile to the darkness at the beginning of creation. The first two lines of Genesis read: "In the beginning... the earth was empty... and darkness was upon the face of the deep." God's exclamation "Let there be Light" (Genesis 1:3) then banished the darkness. That was Day One.
But what exactly is this "Light" the Torah refers to? It cannot be referring to the physical light we're accustomed to; the sun and moon did not come into existence until Day Four!
This first "Light" must be understood as a reference to raw spiritual energy. The Greek exile is therefore seen as comparable to a universe lacking all spirituality -- a time of spiritual darkness immediately before the light of God is released into the world. Indeed, the 25th word of the Torah is Ohr -- "light" -- a reference to the 25th day of Kislev, when Chanukah begins!
Chanukah pushes away the Greek darkness.
http://www.aish.com/graphics/articles/Defiling230x150.gif
The Greeks wanted to tear out the heart of Judaism and reduce it to mere symbolism.
What was the Greek strategy for destroying Judaism?
Surprisingly, when the Greeks attacked the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, they didn't try to destroy it or burn it down. Rather, they defiled it. They offered pig sacrifices and brought a statue of Zeus into the Temple. The Greeks transformed the Temple into a house of idol worship. No longer did light stream from the Temple; the word of God was silenced.
The Greeks didn't want to totally destroy Judaism. Unlike Pharaoh in Egypt, Haman of the Purim story, or Hitler, the Greeks did not want to exterminate the Jews.
Rather, it was "Judaism as a way of life" that the Greeks opposed. They sought "li-Challel" -- literally, to make it empty. They wanted to defile Jewish holy objects. To tear the heart and meaning out of Judaism. To take away the depth and reduce it to symbolism. To sap its spiritual core and to render it impotent.
This explains why the Greeks carefully scoured the Temple grounds searching for pure flasks of oil (bearing the seal of the High Priest). They knew that defiling the oil would silence the light of the Menorah -- the light of Torah which reflects the depth and meaning of Jewish national and religious life. The Greeks knew that was the way to best "conquer" the Jewish nation.
The Kabbalists point out that the Hebrew name of Greece, Yavan, is spelled with the three "straight" Hebrew letters -- Yud, Vav and final Nun. Yavan's entire goal was to create a culture which was clean, straight -- and devoid of true substance.
This is precisely what the Maccabees were fighting against. Which explains why, when the Jews were victorious, they made it their first order of business to purify the Temple and light the Menorah.
OUR MESSAGE FOR TODAY
Is there anything really so objectionable about the Greek emphasis on beauty, athletics and the arts? What's so terrible about, "my son the sculptor," "my son the architect," or for that matter, "my son the javelin thrower."
How do we approach our own Judaism? Have we become Jews who reduce our observance to mere ritual, devoid of any meaning? Do we buy an expensive Mezuzah case, but settle for a cheap xerox copy of the holy passages inside? Do we host lavish Bar Mitzvah celebrations, but fail to give the Bar Mitzvah boy an authentic Jewish education?
It is perhaps the greatest irony that Chanukah, more than any other Jewish holiday, has been widely secularized. We give presents, spin dreidels, eat chocolate coins and fry latkes. The meaning of Chanukah remains largely unknown to the majority of Jews. Many American Jews stopped their Jewish education after Bar/Bat Mitzvah -- and are walking around with a 13-year-old's understanding of our heritage! We're handing the Greeks a posthumous victory!
In the flurry of winter gift-giving, Chanukah has lost much of its spiritual glow. It was this very trivialization that Judah and the Maccabees fought so hard against.
Should we give gifts? Of course! But there is more. This year, as the Chanukah flames burn bright, take the opportunity to re-ignite your love for Torah. There is no better way to honor the Maccabee victory... and to honor your own Jewish soul.
SOURCE (http://www.aish.com/chanukahthemes/chanukahthemesdefault/Hellenism_Who_Cares$.asp)
---------------------
Of course I took the liberty of posting my own little comment that has yet to be posted (not that it ever will) ..but do fell free to take this trash apart..
by Rabbi Shimon Apisdorf
Hellenism, the culture that blossomed in Athens, is the primary source of western civilization. In many ways America is the cultural by-product of ancient Greece.
We ourselves, whether we like it or not, are the heirs of the Greeks and the Romans. In a thousand different ways, they are permanently and indestructibly woven into the fabric of our own existence. ("The Founders of the Western World," by Michael Grant)
Hellenism, the culture that blossomed in Athens, is the primary source of western civilization. In many ways America is the cultural by-product of ancient Greece. Before the Greeks, everyone who lived in Europe was unlettered, uncultured and somewhat barbaric. It was the Greeks (followed by the Romans), who brought philosophy, the study of history, athletic competition, sophisticated literature, poetry, theater, architecture, urban planning and the concept of democracy to the modern world.
Historians insist that there is almost nothing in our society that doesn't have its roots in ancient Greece. Consider the United States Capitol building in Washington, D.C:
- the structural design is Greek architecture
- the form of government it houses was born in Greece
- the logic, philosophy and rhetoric that animate its debates originated in Greece
CULTURAL DOMINATION
If you're traveling somewhere in the world and you want to know if American culture has reached that place, don't look for an American flag. Look instead for McDonalds "Golden Arches."
Imagine: There are places in the world today where Levi jeans sell on the black market for 200 dollars. Croatia is starting to produce basketball players talented enough to be NBA All-Stars. And somewhere behind the Great Wall of China, countless teenagers are lining up for pirated CDs of rap music.
The Greeks would have been awfully jealous because this is exactly what they were trying to do with their culture. They wanted their philosophy, entertainment, arts, literature, theater and athletic games to become the defining elements for peoples' lives everywhere.
The Greeks were different from other empires. They didn't want your land, your resources or your riches. They wanted your mind.
And the Jews weren't willing to give that up!
http://www.aish.com/graphics/articles/greece_230.gif
The Midrash compares the Greek exile to the darkness at the beginning of creation.
"No other two races have set such a mark upon the world. Each of them from angles so different have left us with the inheritance of its genius and wisdom. No two cities have counted more with mankind than Athens and Jerusalem. Personally, I have always been on the side of both." - Sir Winston Churchill
In the Chanukah story, the Jewish people put up no resistance when Alexander the Great's troops arrived. But they were quick to resist the enlightening cultural forces that the Greeks brought with them.
Why? After all, the Jews were a people who revered education, literacy and deep thinking. In this regard the Greeks should have been their soul mates -- another enlightened people in an otherwise darkened world.
PHILOSOPHICAL CLASH
Yet for all its beauty, Greek society was morally abhorrent to the Jewish world view.
In Greek society it was common for parents to kill newborn infants. Babies in Greece were routinely murdered by leaving them outside in a clay jar to die from exposure and starvation. The reasons parents would kill their children:
* Too many mouths to feed
* Too many heirs for a father to divide his estate amongst
* Sickness and deformity (in a society that revered the beautiful form of the human body)
Right behind infanticide on the list of what we today consider deviant behavior was pederasty. (Today we call it child molestation.)
"In most Greek communities the women were kept at home, and men spent their days with other men or boys. Artists paid special attention to the nude masculine form; and pederasty abounded. It was far more favored than homosexual relations between men and youths of the same age, and indeed a whole philosophy was built up around the pederastic situation, founded on the concept that the lover was the beloved's educator and military trainer."
- "The Founders of the Western World: A History of Greece and Rome," by Michael Grant
In Greece, the highest and purest form of love was something Jews considered to be the most heinous of crimes!
The Jewish people have always placed the utmost value on human life, and considered the relationship between a husband and a wife to be holy. That's why when the Greek culture came, the Jews said: "No!"
THE GREEK EXILE
Jewish historians label the period during which the events of Chanukah occurred as the "Greek exile." In the literal sense, however, no exile ever took place -- not one Jew was banished from the Land of Israel! Why then, do we refer to this period of history as exile?
The Midrash explains by comparing the Greek exile to the darkness at the beginning of creation. The first two lines of Genesis read: "In the beginning... the earth was empty... and darkness was upon the face of the deep." God's exclamation "Let there be Light" (Genesis 1:3) then banished the darkness. That was Day One.
But what exactly is this "Light" the Torah refers to? It cannot be referring to the physical light we're accustomed to; the sun and moon did not come into existence until Day Four!
This first "Light" must be understood as a reference to raw spiritual energy. The Greek exile is therefore seen as comparable to a universe lacking all spirituality -- a time of spiritual darkness immediately before the light of God is released into the world. Indeed, the 25th word of the Torah is Ohr -- "light" -- a reference to the 25th day of Kislev, when Chanukah begins!
Chanukah pushes away the Greek darkness.
http://www.aish.com/graphics/articles/Defiling230x150.gif
The Greeks wanted to tear out the heart of Judaism and reduce it to mere symbolism.
What was the Greek strategy for destroying Judaism?
Surprisingly, when the Greeks attacked the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, they didn't try to destroy it or burn it down. Rather, they defiled it. They offered pig sacrifices and brought a statue of Zeus into the Temple. The Greeks transformed the Temple into a house of idol worship. No longer did light stream from the Temple; the word of God was silenced.
The Greeks didn't want to totally destroy Judaism. Unlike Pharaoh in Egypt, Haman of the Purim story, or Hitler, the Greeks did not want to exterminate the Jews.
Rather, it was "Judaism as a way of life" that the Greeks opposed. They sought "li-Challel" -- literally, to make it empty. They wanted to defile Jewish holy objects. To tear the heart and meaning out of Judaism. To take away the depth and reduce it to symbolism. To sap its spiritual core and to render it impotent.
This explains why the Greeks carefully scoured the Temple grounds searching for pure flasks of oil (bearing the seal of the High Priest). They knew that defiling the oil would silence the light of the Menorah -- the light of Torah which reflects the depth and meaning of Jewish national and religious life. The Greeks knew that was the way to best "conquer" the Jewish nation.
The Kabbalists point out that the Hebrew name of Greece, Yavan, is spelled with the three "straight" Hebrew letters -- Yud, Vav and final Nun. Yavan's entire goal was to create a culture which was clean, straight -- and devoid of true substance.
This is precisely what the Maccabees were fighting against. Which explains why, when the Jews were victorious, they made it their first order of business to purify the Temple and light the Menorah.
OUR MESSAGE FOR TODAY
Is there anything really so objectionable about the Greek emphasis on beauty, athletics and the arts? What's so terrible about, "my son the sculptor," "my son the architect," or for that matter, "my son the javelin thrower."
How do we approach our own Judaism? Have we become Jews who reduce our observance to mere ritual, devoid of any meaning? Do we buy an expensive Mezuzah case, but settle for a cheap xerox copy of the holy passages inside? Do we host lavish Bar Mitzvah celebrations, but fail to give the Bar Mitzvah boy an authentic Jewish education?
It is perhaps the greatest irony that Chanukah, more than any other Jewish holiday, has been widely secularized. We give presents, spin dreidels, eat chocolate coins and fry latkes. The meaning of Chanukah remains largely unknown to the majority of Jews. Many American Jews stopped their Jewish education after Bar/Bat Mitzvah -- and are walking around with a 13-year-old's understanding of our heritage! We're handing the Greeks a posthumous victory!
In the flurry of winter gift-giving, Chanukah has lost much of its spiritual glow. It was this very trivialization that Judah and the Maccabees fought so hard against.
Should we give gifts? Of course! But there is more. This year, as the Chanukah flames burn bright, take the opportunity to re-ignite your love for Torah. There is no better way to honor the Maccabee victory... and to honor your own Jewish soul.
SOURCE (http://www.aish.com/chanukahthemes/chanukahthemesdefault/Hellenism_Who_Cares$.asp)
---------------------
Of course I took the liberty of posting my own little comment that has yet to be posted (not that it ever will) ..but do fell free to take this trash apart..