Maccabim - sand turned into arrows?

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Forum -> Yom Tov / Holidays -> Chanukah

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amother

Thu, Dec 22 2022, 12:29 pm

So dh has been pestering me the last few days to ask this on imamother, to get women's opinions as well. He's asking all around.
- Were you back then or are your children now being taught in school that the Maccabim threw sand at the Greeks and it turned miraculously into arrows?
- If yes, was it presented as midrashic interpretation or as an actual event?
- Do you happen to know any source for this account?
- Did you learn any other details about the war between the Maccabim and the Greeks?

I'm leaving this anon, because he's asking around irl too... TMI

Chayalle

Thu, Dec 22 2022, 12:34 pm

DH just read me something about that (don't remember source). It was the first time I heard it.

amother

NeonPink

Thu, Dec 22 2022, 12:37 pm

Never heard about the sand turning into arrows in regard to the Maccabim.
However, I heard about this happening to Nachum Ish Gamzu...

Aurora

Thu, Dec 22 2022, 12:38 pm

Not at all. I think it's a mix-up with a story in the Talmud involving Nachum Ish Gamzu: https://www.chabad.org/library......htm.
It's in Taanit 21a-(21b?)

scruffy

Thu, Dec 22 2022, 12:40 pm

I learned that in school in connection with Avraham battling the 4 kings to save Lot.

preciousmommy

Thu, Dec 22 2022, 12:41 pm

I thought that was a midrash about Avrohom Avinu when he fought in the war of 4/5 kings.

preciousmommy

Thu, Dec 22 2022, 12:41 pm

scruffy wrote:

I learned that in school in connection with Avraham battling the 4 kings to save Lot.

Oh, I see we learned the same.

amother

Thu, Dec 22 2022, 12:45 pm

Good, good, keep them coming Smile

crust

Thu, Dec 22 2022, 12:51 pm

A"A and Nachum.
Never heard that about the Maccabim.

amother

Ivory

Thu, Dec 22 2022, 10:05 pm

I learned that the arrows that the yevanim shot at the maccabim turned back to them

mommy3b2c

Thu, Dec 22 2022, 10:56 pm

scruffy wrote:

I learned that in school in connection with Avraham battling the 4 kings to save Lot.

This.

amother

Electricblue

Fri, Dec 23 2022, 7:51 am

Never heard that.

The story of the maccabim is not really in Talmudic literature. There is a lot of information in megillas taanis, also there’s information in macabees I and macabees II, written in Greek originally, that are not part of our sifrei tanach. They are the bridge from the torah to the new testament.

Your husband can listen, or reach out to Rabbi Dovid Katz who is a Rav in Baltimore and a historian, from whom I have learn a lot about this topic from. https://rabbikatz.jewishpodcasts.org/

amother

Melon

Fri, Dec 23 2022, 8:59 am

The gemara in Shabbos 21b discusses the story of the oil, but it is brief.

Also, you could try Megillas Antiochus. It's not part of Tanach, but many Jewish communities used to read it on Chanukah. In Italy, Yemen, and Crimea, according to Artscroll.
https://www.sefaria.org/Megill.....ng=bi

The Artscroll book Chanukah -- Its History, Observance, and Significance / A Presentation Based on Talmudic and Traditional Sources is a good resource.

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