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Article: HANUKKAH REMINDS JEWS ASSIMILATION IS NOT NEW.(Editorial)(Editorial)
- Article from:
- Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)
- Article date:
- December 7, 1999
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Daily News. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Michael Gotlieb Local View
JEWS tend to think the challenge facing Judaism today is assimilation; that assimilation is the unique outgrowth of post-enlightenment living. Jewish history, however, has taught that is not the case. The ancient story of Hanukkah illustrates the point.
While Hanukkah is popularized by the rabbinic myth of a container of oil, used to light the temple's candelabra, miraculously lasting eight days, its primary message comes to remind Jews that assimilation is not a new phenomenon.
Toward the end of the second century B.C., Israel fell under the rule of Antiochus Epiphanes of Syria. Antiochus IV, as he was known, ...