Rav Yosef Adler, zt”l, the Rosh Yeshiva of MTJ before Rav Moshe Feinstein. His version of Megillas Antioches is disccused below.
December, 2022
There is something about the story of Chanukah.
Of all the events that we commemorate each year, there is no doubt that Chanukah is the one that many know the least about. As a child, I vividly recall my initial confusion when I first discovered that the events of Chanukah took place well after the story of Purim, and then, as I got older, discerning the dearth of a record of the events that are only passively recorded by chazal.
It only became more confounding from there.
Famously, the gemara only discusses, briefly, the ness of the oil (Shabbos 22b), while in al hanissim only the milchama is mentioned -and again, very pithily. Due to the ambiguity of these days in general, and its story in particular, we must ask regarding what the exact provenance is of the stories of Chanukah we do know.
While in the last chapter we discussed why there no sefer in tanach detailing the events of Chanukah, and why chazal seemed to avoid detailing these days and its laws, here our focus is on what we do know and from where it comes.
Let us start with a sefer mentioned many times in this volume: Megillas Taanis. This may be the earliest recording from our mesorah of the events of Chanukah.
Megillas taanis was gathered, or written, or, completed during the time of the second beis hamikdosh, and then redacted, or canonized, or codified by the tanna Chananya ben Chizkiya.
It delineates more than thirty joyous dates and salvations that our nation had witnessed.
According to the Chasam Sofer, megillas taanis was written before torah sh’baal peh was chronicled in writing. This megillah was therefore only written akin to a luach, divided into the months of the year, with a sentence or two by certain dates.
The Chasam Sofer goes on to explain that it was only later, during the period of the (later) tennaim, that the events behind these brief words were expounded upon in greater detail. For this reason, he explains, the gemara will quote from this megillah with the words ‘d’ksiv’ (as is written) – a phrase usually reserved for text from tanach or other such holy catalogues. However, he continues, when chazal quote from the fuller sections of this megillah, they use terms like ‘tanya,’ which is reserved for braissos and other tannaic/mishnaic writings.
(See Chasam Sofer to rosh hashnah 18b; see Maharitz Chiyus, maamer Divrei Neviim, Divrei Kabala; see the introduction to the Oz V’Hadar ed. Megillas Taanis for other views.)
With the words of the Chasam Sofer in mind, let us first read the earlier prose of Chanukah in megillas taanis.
It reads simply as follows:
“On the twenty fifth of the month is Chanukah, eight days on which we do not offer hespeidim.”
Underneath this, in the section that according to the Chasam Sofer was added later by early chazal, we find more details added:
“When the Syrian-Greeks entered the heichel they made all the oil impure. Then, the chashmonaim overwhelmed them, and defeated them. They searched and could not find any [oil] but one container that rested with the kohein gadol’s seal, and that was not made impure. However, there was only enough for one day, yet a ness happened where it lasted for eight. The next year, they established this as a yom tov…At the time of the ness, they sang praises of thanksgiving…Since the Syrian-Greeks had defiled all the vessels, there was nothing with which to light. When the chashmoniam were victorious, they brought seven spits of iron and covered them with tin and began to light [as a makeshift menorah]…”
It then goes on to record our obligation in the recital of hallel for each day of Chanukah, how we light the menorah outside of our homes, and the time frame of ‘mishetaka hachama ad sh’tichelh regel min hashuk.’
According to the meforshim there, the few references in shas to Chanukah are taken directly from this text.
However, readers may still not be satisfied, as they surely have heard more details regarding the Chanukah events than those recorded above.
Where did those particulars come from?
I recently learned the background of one of these mysterious sources of the Chanukah story, when a retired couple in my shul sold their empty-nest home after several decades in the neighborhood.
They called me to kindly offer to look through any of their old books and sefarim before sending them to the trash/shaimos.
I became like a kid in a candy store! I delighted in discovering disparate treasures: a first-issue record of Yosseleh Rosenblatt, several manuals for Jewish soldiers in World War II, and cheder rebbe-aid volumes from pre-war New York.
One sefer in particular caught my eye. It was a pocket-size, black, very thin book -maybe fifty pages -in size. Its back jacket translated into English what was written on the front.
“Megillas Antioches; Ness Chanukah – Scroll of Antioches -Miracle of Chanukah.”
Now, many readers may be aware of this ‘megillah’, but what was even more fascinating about this edition is what was written underneath its title:
‘Mesivta Tiferes Yerushalim, 145-147 East Broadway New York City. 1936.’
While most would associate this yeshiva with Rav Moshe Feinstein, this volume was published about twelve months before Rav Moshe would arrive in America (he would arrive the following kislev, in fact).
The leader of MTJ at that time was Rav Yosef Adler. This gaon wrote a historical introduction to this volume for his yeshiva’s publication -what a find!
Who was Rav Adler?
A talmid of Volozhin, Rav Adler was a massive talmud chacham who arrived in America around 1910 (Toldos Anshe Shem, p. 1). While serving as a rav in New York, in 1924, he began teaching at Torah V’Daas. It was in 1931 when he was hired by MTJ. Soon before his shocking death in 1938 (by drowning, R”l), he hired Rav Moshe Feinstein, explaining to his talmidim, “No matter how much you continue to grow in your learning, you shall never surpass him!”
In any event, he writes there (translated):
“The chacham Tzvi Fillipowski discovered the manuscript of an Aramaic megilas antioches in the British Museum in London…Now the Mesivta Tifferes Yerushalim in New York accepted upon itself to distribute among the Jews this megillah in an Aramaic, lashon kodosh, and a new English translation. This so that we may know the true events of the miracle of Chanukah and the miracle of the oil from its most original source, from this megila whose ancient kedusha hovers above it. For it, and only it, has been seen through the eyes of our chazal…therefore it is a great mitzvah to print and publicize this volume, so that Jews do not follow the apocrypha…Perhaps it is due to the long-suffering exile, and our beaten down spirit, that this sefer is not known to most.”
This ‘megilla’ opens with the familiar refrain borrowed, seemingly, from esther:
“Vayehi bi’mey antioches melech yavan, melech gadol v’chazak hayah v’sakif b’memshalto, v’chol ha’melachim yishm’u lo…”
“And it came to pass in the days of Antiokhus, king of Greece, the great and mighty monarch, firm ruler over his dominion, to whom all kings hearkened…”
While Rav Adler references a specific edition of this sefer (from Tzvi Hersh Filipowski, London), this ‘megillah’ had been known-and used-for millennia. In fact, its first known printing was in Spain in 1482 (see Antiochus, Natan Fried, 1966).
It was originally published in Aramaic, and according to many, it was first referenced in the ninth century in the gaonic work Halachos Gedolos (Warsaw ed., p. 174), where its authorship is attributed to none other than the yeshivos of Hillel and Shammai.
A century earlier, the Behag had written the same thing about the megillah’s authorship (Hilchos Sofrim), although it is debated whether he was referring to the same work or to another Chanukah sefer (see below [MP3] for another ancient Chanukah sefer to which he may have been referring).
In the tenth century, this ‘megillah’ is mentioned again by Rav Saadia Gaon (d. 942), who quotes from it under a different title: “Ksav Bnei Chashmonai.”
Amazingly, he attributes its authorship to the protagonists of the story itself—the five sons of Mattisyahu!
He writes:
“Kemo shekasvu bnei Chashmonai, Yehudah v’Shimon v’Yochanan v’Yonasan v’Elazar bnei Mattisyahu sefer b’mah she’avar aleihem”
Like the sons of Mattisyahu, Yehudah, Shimon, Yochanan, Yonasan and Elazar wrote a sefer relating the events that occurred to them…”
(Sefer Hagaluy)
Although the sefer concludes with the destruction of bayis sheini – which would indicate that the heroes of the story couldn’t have possibly written it, at least not the entire volume – there are a number of possible resolutions to this.
(See bava basra 14b-15 regarding some of the sifrei Tanach; see also ‘Inside Chanukah,’ note #571, for more possible solutions.)
In any event, it would certainly make this the oldest mesorah for these events.
The Tosfos Rid (d. 1250) refers to a minhag in his time to read this megillah publicly on Chanukah, but he asserts that no brachah should be made on it (his comments on Sukkah 44b, s.v. “v’chabit”).
As for when it would be read, some older siddurim cite a minhag to read it on Shabbos at the end of minchah (after kaddish tiskabel), whereas others cite a custom to read it following the haftarah for Shabbos Chanukah. (For further study, see Kuntros Beis Aharon V’Yisrael, Kislev 1992, p. 111, Rav Nosson Fried.)
What about the Book of the Maccabees? Do some of our stories of Chanukah derive from this work as well?
First, it is interesting to note that the spelling and meaning of the word “Maccabee” is debated. Some say it comes from the Aramaic word meaning “hammer,” thereby describing their strength in battle.
This would mean that we should spell it with a kuf (see Mishnah Bechoros 7:1).
Others agree with this spelling but not with the meaning, arguing that the word is derived from Yeshayahu (62:2), where it means “to pronounce” or “to assert.”
Another source for the name spelled with a kuf, explains its meaning as ‘hamatzvi’ or ‘the general.’
Some then posit that, often, when translating into or from Greek, the tzadi is exchanged for a kuf.
However, many spell it with a chaf, asserting that it is an acronym/backronym for “Mattisyahu Kohen ben Yochanan,.” Others posit that this spelling is to stand for “Mi kamocha b’keilim (Y)Hashem” (from shiras hayam, and which refers to the fact that Hashem is the director of all wars).
While there are several books/sections to Books of the Maccabees, the first, and perhaps the second, may be reliable, or that are at the very least referred to in our sefarim.
Some opine that this was the very ‘Sefer Chashmona’im’ to which the Behag was referring.
Midrash Chanukah and other sefarim of mysterious origin are beyond the scope of our discussion here.
There is still one final question to be answered: Why did chazal not simply choose to record the events of Chanukah more clearly?
To this, I refer back a previous post where we shared the following two amazing ideas/sources:
In his first maamar on Chanukah in Pachad Yitzchak, Rav Hutner shares a fascinating insight.
Chazal ask, “Why is Esther compared to the morning (Tehillim 22:1)? They answer that this is to teach us that just as morning ends the night, so, too, Esther was the end of the period of miracles. In response to this, the Gemara wonders, ‘But what about Chanukah?’ The Gemara responds cryptically, ‘We mean to say that Purim was the last of the nissim to be recorded in writing’” (Yoma 29a).
Here Rav Hutner finds an answer to our question. When the Gemara says that Chanukah was not intended to be written down, it is not describing, chas v’shalom, some sort of deficit in Chanukah; instead, it is defining its essence.
The Greeks failed to defeat us. Although they sought to diminish the value of the Written Torah by watering it down with translation (the Septuagint) and their cultural influences (Hellenism), one can never take away the true secret of our survival—Torah Sheb’al Peh and mesorah. Because this is what saved us—and saves us still!—the story of Chanukah is transmitted largely by oral tradition, both in Tanach and in Mishnah! The Sfas Emes offers a similar idea (5684).
Rav Yitzchak Sender offers a remarkable insight. The word “Chanukah” is given many meanings, such as “Chanu chaf hei, they rested (from war) on the 25th (of Kislev), but it also represents something deeper. There are 24 books in Tanach, and the canon “rested” when it came to the 25th book—the story of Chanukah!
In fact, there is an even greater allusion to this idea. “Chanukah” stands for ches, eight (books) in nun, nine (neviim); vav, six (books) in chaf, nine (kesuvim); and finally, hei, five megillos!
All of these ideas serve to explain why much about the events of Chanukah remains shrouded in mystery and why we rely on our mesorah for information about it more than with any other Yom Tov.
May we embrace the mesorah and Torah Sheb’al Peh even more fully during these days.
Shul Chronicles 
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