Narratives, Rituals, and Laws of Chanukah in Rabbinic Literature

• In Event: Identities and Borders in Ancient Judaism

Abstract

Recognizing that the ontological reality of rituals described in rabbinic literature is ultimately unrecoverable, scholars such as Beth Berkowitz, Ishay Rosen-Zvi and Mira Balberg apply ritual studies to rabbinic literature by more accurately defining the sources as textual representations of ritual. Even so, analyses of narratives about ritual remain distinct from myths associated with ritual. Chanukah provides an illuminating case for rethinking this separation since the ritual was originally promoted through the story of the Temple’s desecration and restoration by the Hasmoneans (Second Maccabees) and we find a new narrative with a new ritual in rabbinic literature. Drawing on the work of French structuralists as well as more recent work on the relationship between law and narrative, this paper examines stories and rituals associated with Chanukah and the Hasmoneans. Extending Levi-Strauss's famous dictum that myths "provide a logical model capable of overcoming a contradiction," scholars such as Jean Vernant and Pierre Vidal-Naquet demonstrated how myth and ritual work together to mediate societal ambiguities, ambivalences, and tensions in the ancient Greek world. After highlighting tensions associated with Chanukah and the Hasmoneans, such as Hellenism v. Judaism, kingship v. high priesthood, and Temple restoration v. military success, this paper demonstrates how rabbinic traditions dealing with Chanukah's legends and rituals can be productively analyzed through an updated approach to myth and ritual studies.

Author

• Matthew Kraus, University of Cincinnati