In 167 BCE, Jason did away with Jewish law and rebuilt Jerusalem in a Greek model. This included banning genital mutilation and Jewish sacrifice, permitting Jews to marry gentiles and instituting an internationalist program exemplified by participation in the Olympic Games.
J.A. Myerson calls for celebrating the Hellenistic Jews and their struggle, rather than the violent extremists and their victory. The greatest Jewish tradition is not one of following any commandments whatever, but rather of investigating, examining, discovering. The secular Jewish tradition holds that it is through those processes that one learns truth, not through the revelation of commandment.
Read more in: Rethinking Hanukkah: The Dark History of the Festival of Lights
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