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November 29, 2002
Trouble after Chanukah
Alexandra of Judea shares life after the Maccabees.
KYLE BERGER REPORTER
We all know the basic story of Chanukah right? In 167 BCE, after
the First Temple was destroyed by the Syrian Greeks, the much smaller
army of Jews, led by Judah Maccabee, rose up and pushed back the
Syrian army.
Only one drop of oil was found in the destroyed Temple in order
to light the sacred menorah. However, somehow the oil lasted for
eight days and nights, so we celebrate one of the miracles of Chanukah.
And all the Jews lived happily ever after. Right? Wrong.
According to Josephus, a former general of Judea born in 76 CE,
who might be more commonly known as the Jewish community reporter
of Judea (he also recorded the details of the fall of Masada), the
next 100 years in Judea were nothing for the Jews to brag about.
Josephus's work was presented to me as I sat in the first of a two-part
adult education class Nov. 19 called Maccabees: The Next Generation,
led by Beth Tikvah's rebbetzin, Laurie Donahue Leff.
Leff became somewhat of a scholar on the history of Judea after
the miracle of Chanukah - from the eyes of Josephus – after
she wrote a readers' theatre play on the topic while living in Israel
a couple of years ago.
She had been working for an Israeli law firm but found that once
the current intifada broke out, she had a lot of spare time on her
hands. And so she studied and wrote.
The Nov. 19 class started with a brief introduction to the time
period and the characters before we began to read from Leff's play
titled Alexandra of Judea.
Based on Josephus's writings, the story opens in the year 104 BCE
in Jerusalem where Johanan Hyrcanus, son of Simeon Maccabee and
then leader of Judea, lay on his death bed. Against common practice,
Hyrcanus declared that, rather than one of his five sons, his wife,
Miriamne, would take over control of Judea.
However, the eldest son, Aristobulus, was not impressed, as he believed
that no female should rule over any people and he should rightfully
take over control of Judea. Frustrated with his father's dying wish
and wanting no one to challenge him, once Hyrcanus did pass away,
Aristobulus declared himself to be king of Judea and immediately
sent his three younger brothers to prison. The fourth, Antigonus,
supported his older brother's plan and was not sent to prison.
The story goes on to tell of more deception in the land of Judea
as Antigonus was eventually killed when deceived by Aristobulus's
jealous aide.
Aristobulus eventually died from an unknown illness and his brother,
Alexander, took the throne and married Aristobulus's wife Alexandra.
The first class ended after reading to the end of the second of
four acts, with the rest of the story to be told in two weeks.
Though she didn't want to give it all away, Leff said that in the
final two acts, Judea becomes the battlefield in a dispute over
the Egyptian throne between Cleopatra III and her son, Ptolemey.
A civil war breaks out after an unfortunate incident involving an
etrog.
The second part of Maccabees: The Next Generation will take place
Dec. 3 at 7:30 p.m. at Beth Tikvah. Leff said new participants are
more than welcome to join in the readers' theatre production. For
more information, call 604-271-6262.
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