[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: orion Code-words and Hanukkah
>> >>
>> >>Since the miracle of the oil isn't mentioned in any literature until
>> >>centuries later (not in the Mishnah nor in the Yerushalmi, first mentioned
>[...]
>> >>
>> >>Judith Romney Wegner
>> >>jrw@brown.edu
>> >
>> >What about the Feast of Dedication? (John 10:22)
>> >
>> >Keith Schoville
But I never said there was no *celebration* of a "Feast of Dedication" in
those earlier times -- just that there is no story of the *miracle of the
oi* recorded until the Babylonian Talmud, therefore we can't assume, for
instance, today's custom of lighting an 8-branched hanukkiah -- either in
the Temple or at home.
The 7-branched menorah in the Temple was obviously lighted routinely, not
just on Hanukkah. There are of course refs. in Macc. to the fact that they
celebrated Hanukkah somehow or other, so the ref. in John merely confirms
the fact of a celebration but does not speak to the question of the
"miracle of the oil" or of a ritual specifically commemorating THAT.
>> "Among the various means employed by the Maccabees to promote their
>> acceptance as rulers of the Jews was their encouragement of observance of
>> the holiday of Hanukkah (see the two letters at the beginning of 2 Macc.)."
>> S. Goranson goranson@duke.edu
True, but see above.
> >If you look at those two letters at the beginning of 2 Macc, you will find
>*a* miracle of the oil (naphtha). It just isn't *the* miracle of the oil
>we expect.
>Sigrid Peterson
True. But that story is about petroleum-type oil (naphtha -- ) which
has no connection with the olive oil (zayit) used for the Temple
menorah.and in any case is not said to have occurred in connection with
Hanukkah itself but back in the days of Nehemiah.
I might say that
"zayt is zayt and nepht is nepht, and never the twain shall meet" --
were it not for the curious fact that modern Arabic actually uses the
word *zayt* to designate petroleum oil -- despite the fact that zayit
(olive) is a vegetable product and naphtha a mineral product!
a fact which I find extraordinary, given that one zayt is a vegetable
product and nepht a vegetable product.
Judith Romney Wegner
jrw@brown.edu