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victory HAN UK AH over fear by FRED STEIN “There is nothing to fear but fear.” This is the meaning of Hanukah. Antiochus ruled over Asia Min or, ruled with a ruthless hand. "The gods of his fathers he re garded not and he regarded no god but raised himself above everything,” says a Jewish his torian of that day. His arrogance turned to ven- gence and spite, when pursuing his plans for the conquest of Egypt, Rome quietly stepped in. The Ro man Senate had dispatched Popi- las Laenas with a message for him to leave Egypt. “I would like a little time to consider,” said Antiochus. Arrog ant as he might be against the Ju- daens, he knew better than to chal lenge the power of Rome. For answer to Antiochus, Popilas drew a circle in the dust about him. "Before I step out of this circle, I must have your answer,” he said. Antiochus had no other recourse but to withdraw his legions. His pride wounded, he found an outlet for his passions by descend ing on Judaea. He had heard that many of the Judaeans were sym pathetic to Rome. Antiochus let his soldiers lose in Judaea, killing men, women and children, burning homes and looting the Temple of its golden candlesticks and other treasures. He issued a decree com manding the Judaeans to cease the worship of their faith and offer sacrifices to swine. The priests were ordered to eat swine flesh. Fear and panic seized the Ju- daens. “There was great mourning in the land,” writes the Book of Maccabees. “The princes and elders mourned, the virgins and young men were made feeble and the beauty of women changed.” All the darkness of the world, the rabbis of old wrote, contem plating the Hanukah candle, can not extinguish the light of one lone candle. The lone candle that could not be extinguished but instead lighted others, shone in a small village of Modin, thirty miles northwest of Jerusalem, in the person of the fearless old priest Mattathias and his five sons. "E\en if all the nations fall away from their fathers, I, my sons and my brothers will remain true to the covenant of our faith,” he said to the officer of Antiochus when it was demanded that he sacrifice to the heathen gods. When he saw another Judaean approach the altar and offer such sacrifice, he and his sons, armed with long knives, fell on the sol diers and overwhelmed them. “Whoever is zealous for the co venant let him follow me,” he called out. A small number of the faithful gathered. The little candle had kindled other candles. An old man, Mattathias, was soon to die but he left his sons to continue the battle, conferring the leadership upon Judas, surnamed the Maccabee (Hebrew for ham mer), “Now therefore, my sons,” he said dying, “Be ye zealous for the Law and give your lives for the Covenant of your fathers. Be ye valiant and show yourself men. Fear not death, for if ye die in the battle, ye shall receive reward.” Judas Maccabeus was described by a contemporary as a man who was like a raging lion in battle but like a dove of gentleness in peace. Judas Maccabeus successfully continued the guerilla warfare which his father had initiated and the number of his followers grew with each victory. His forces were always greatly outnumbered and out equipped by the enemy forces, yet he offset these disadvantages by continually surprising the en emy troops, falling on them when they were off guard. The anger of Antiochus mounted. Previously he had sought simply to wipe out the Jewish faith. Now he proposed to wipe out the peo ple as well. He sent his top mili tary man, General Gorgius with a formidable force of chariots, ele phants and horses. The general was so confident of victory that he had invited the slave dealers to come to the battlefield at Emmanus with money and chains to bear away the captive Jews into slavery. But General Gorgius had an other one of his little surprises. When he arrived at the place where he expected to do battle, there wasn’t a Jew to be seen. Aha, he said, Judas Maccabeus had got ten chicken and had run away. But Judas Maccabeus had mere ly led his army around the rear of the enemy and soon had them in confusion and flight. The enemy running away left great quantities of military equipment and the slave merchants in their haste to get away dropped their wallets of money, with which they had ex pected to buy the Jewish captives for slaves. So a sad story had a happy end ing and the little Hanukah candle glowing in the dark speaks to us of the greatest of messages. Be not afraid. The Southern Israelite 5