Yehuda the Maccabee יהודה המכבי
commander of the revolt who won back the Temple
The name "Maccabee" is explained in different ways: from the Aramaic makkaba, a hammer, or as an acrostic of the verse "Mi kamokha ba-elim, Hashem"—"who is like You among the mighty, O Lord." Both explanations are late; in the book of Maccabees the name stands unexplained.
He had to fight a regular army with war elephants using farmers and priests. He chose what could not be taken from him: surprise, narrow passes, defeat in detail. At Beit Horon Seron was broken, at Emmaus Gorgias, at Beit Tzur Lysias. In the autumn of AM 3597 Jerusalem and the Temple Mount were retaken; the defiled altar was dismantled and rebuilt of whole stones, and the old stones were laid aside "until a prophet should come and tell what to do with them."
On the 25th of Kislev the Menorah was lit, and the eight days of rededication became a festival. Yehuda did not live to see independence: the Greeks returned, his allies left, and at Elasa he stood with eight hundred men against thousands. Refusing to retreat—"far be it from us to flee"—he fell. His brothers carried the body home and buried him in Modi'in.
On the timeline
Places
Sources
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- Shabbat 21b — the jar of oil and the establishing of the eight days
Rishonim
- Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Hanukkah 3:1–3 — the victory and the return of sovereignty to Israel for over two centuries
Documents of the period
- 1 Maccabees 3:1–4:25 — the victories at Beit Horon, Emmaus and Beit Tzur
- 1 Maccabees 4:36–59 — the purification of the Temple and the eight days of rededication
- 1 Maccabees 9:1–22 — the battle of Elasa and his death
Basis: documents and evidence.