Meaningful Moadim
  • Welcome to Meaningful Moadim
    • Index
    • The Shamash's Lesson
    • CHANUKAH >
      • Chanukah: The Festival of Lights >
        • What is Chanukah? >
          • TAKING A MOMENT OUT FOR A CHANUKAH THOUGHT
          • The Name of the Holiday >
            • The Dreidel Teaches the Eternity of the Jewish People >
              • Deeper Meaning of the Dreidel Letters
              • Chanukah: Renewal
              • Allusions to Chanuka in Parshas Mikeitz
              • Connection Between Shabbos and Chanukah
              • Why is there no Mesechta Chanukah?
              • Matisyahu and His Sons
              • What is Chanukah? #2
              • The Maenorah cannot be placed lower than 10 Tefachim
            • Why is Shehechiyanu recited only on the first night of Chanukah?
            • Biblical Allusions
            • Another explanation of the name Chanukah
            • Ve-Al Hnissim, not Al Hanissim
            • Mai Chanukah?
            • Only Chanukah can be performed in a Mehadrin or Mehadrin min Hamehadrin manner
            • Varying Levels of Fulfilling the Mitzvah
            • Mazal Kislev Keshes
            • The Shamash (Candle)
            • Why didn't the Kohanim themselves defile the oil if everyone was tamei, ritually impure due to the war? >
              • Chanukah Always has a Shabbos >
                • Bais Shamai and Bais Hillel (2)
                • Chanukah Always Falls our Around parshas Mikeitz
        • The Lesson of the Dreidel
        • Chanukah: A Winter Festival
        • KISLEV - Great Expectations
        • The Light of the Jewish Soul Glows on Chanukah
        • Pirsumei Nisa on Chanukah
        • Chanukah: A War of Conflicting Philosophies >
          • Why was a holiday established specifically for the war that led to the Chanukah miracle?
          • Uphold Good or Destroy Evil?
          • LeHashkicham Torasecha U’LeHa’aviram MeiChukei Retzonecha
          • Are we celebrating the victory over the Greeks or the Miracle of the Oil?
          • U’Leamcha Yisrael Assisa Teshua Gedola U’furkan K’Hayom Hazeh…
          • Alexander The Great and The Jewish Sages
          • Miracle Oil?
          • Give the Gift of LIGHT!
        • Customs, Symbols & Observances >
          • More Reasons for Doughnuts on Chanukah
          • THE DREIDEL
          • The Letters on the Dreidel >
            • The Lesson of "Chanukah Gelt"
          • More Customs >
            • More About the Dreidel
            • The Lesson of the Dreidel
            • More on Dreidel
            • Another Gematria of the Dreidel Letters
            • Chanukah Gelt
            • L'Hodos U'LaHallel
          • More Symbolism >
            • Symbolism of Olive Oil
            • The Greeks vs. The Jews
            • The Little Jug that Traveled Through Time
            • Gazing at the Neiros Chanukah
            • Patriarchal Prayers
          • The Custom to serve Dairy and Cheese Products on Chanukah
          • Tzedaka - Charity
        • The Shamash >
          • The Secret of the Shamash
        • The Jewish People Are Above Nature >
          • A MODERN DAY CHANUKAH MIRACLE
        • Putting Away the Menorah?
        • Month of Teves: Catastrophic Events
        • Mazal Teves Gedi - Goat
        • Recommended Reading
  • The Final Judgement stretches out to Zos Chanukah
  • The Greeks Wanted to Destroy the Jews Status as the Chosen Nation
  • More on the uniqueness of Klal Yisrael
  • Chanukah Illuminates The Month of Teves
  • The Chasam Sofer on Asara B’Teves
  • Lag B'Omer-

​The Greeks Wanted to Destroy the Jews' Status as the Chosen Nation

The Greeks Protested the Chosen Nature of the Jewish Nation The exclusive nature of the Jewish Nation vexed the Greeks. They tried assimilating them by prohibiting the three Mitzvos which separate Jew from gentile; Chodesh, Shabbos, and Bris Milah.

Shabbos and Chodesh, the establishment of the Jewish calendar through the lunar months, (a system unique to the Jewish People) separates us from the other nations in the realm of time. Bris Milah marks the Jewish body as different.

It was to maintain their status as the Am HaNivchar of Hashem, that Mattisyahu, the son of Yochanan and his army assembled to fight. The gematria of the words "בימי מתתיהו בן יוחנן" is חדש, שבת, מילה. (They both equal 1099).

Mattisyahu’s objective in his G-dly war was to uphold these cherished Mitzvos that elevate and preserve Am Yisrael as the nation of Hashem.
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  • Welcome to Meaningful Moadim
    • Index
    • The Shamash's Lesson
    • CHANUKAH >
      • Chanukah: The Festival of Lights >
        • What is Chanukah? >
          • TAKING A MOMENT OUT FOR A CHANUKAH THOUGHT
          • The Name of the Holiday >
            • The Dreidel Teaches the Eternity of the Jewish People >
              • Deeper Meaning of the Dreidel Letters
              • Chanukah: Renewal
              • Allusions to Chanuka in Parshas Mikeitz
              • Connection Between Shabbos and Chanukah
              • Why is there no Mesechta Chanukah?
              • Matisyahu and His Sons
              • What is Chanukah? #2
              • The Maenorah cannot be placed lower than 10 Tefachim
            • Why is Shehechiyanu recited only on the first night of Chanukah?
            • Biblical Allusions
            • Another explanation of the name Chanukah
            • Ve-Al Hnissim, not Al Hanissim
            • Mai Chanukah?
            • Only Chanukah can be performed in a Mehadrin or Mehadrin min Hamehadrin manner
            • Varying Levels of Fulfilling the Mitzvah
            • Mazal Kislev Keshes
            • The Shamash (Candle)
            • Why didn't the Kohanim themselves defile the oil if everyone was tamei, ritually impure due to the war? >
              • Chanukah Always has a Shabbos >
                • Bais Shamai and Bais Hillel (2)
                • Chanukah Always Falls our Around parshas Mikeitz
        • The Lesson of the Dreidel
        • Chanukah: A Winter Festival
        • KISLEV - Great Expectations
        • The Light of the Jewish Soul Glows on Chanukah
        • Pirsumei Nisa on Chanukah
        • Chanukah: A War of Conflicting Philosophies >
          • Why was a holiday established specifically for the war that led to the Chanukah miracle?
          • Uphold Good or Destroy Evil?
          • LeHashkicham Torasecha U’LeHa’aviram MeiChukei Retzonecha
          • Are we celebrating the victory over the Greeks or the Miracle of the Oil?
          • U’Leamcha Yisrael Assisa Teshua Gedola U’furkan K’Hayom Hazeh…
          • Alexander The Great and The Jewish Sages
          • Miracle Oil?
          • Give the Gift of LIGHT!
        • Customs, Symbols & Observances >
          • More Reasons for Doughnuts on Chanukah
          • THE DREIDEL
          • The Letters on the Dreidel >
            • The Lesson of "Chanukah Gelt"
          • More Customs >
            • More About the Dreidel
            • The Lesson of the Dreidel
            • More on Dreidel
            • Another Gematria of the Dreidel Letters
            • Chanukah Gelt
            • L'Hodos U'LaHallel
          • More Symbolism >
            • Symbolism of Olive Oil
            • The Greeks vs. The Jews
            • The Little Jug that Traveled Through Time
            • Gazing at the Neiros Chanukah
            • Patriarchal Prayers
          • The Custom to serve Dairy and Cheese Products on Chanukah
          • Tzedaka - Charity
        • The Shamash >
          • The Secret of the Shamash
        • The Jewish People Are Above Nature >
          • A MODERN DAY CHANUKAH MIRACLE
        • Putting Away the Menorah?
        • Month of Teves: Catastrophic Events
        • Mazal Teves Gedi - Goat
        • Recommended Reading
  • The Final Judgement stretches out to Zos Chanukah
  • The Greeks Wanted to Destroy the Jews Status as the Chosen Nation
  • More on the uniqueness of Klal Yisrael
  • Chanukah Illuminates The Month of Teves
  • The Chasam Sofer on Asara B’Teves
  • Lag B'Omer-