CU4-22


 * 4:22 **  **The Maccabees **
 * Goal ** Students will learn about the rule of Antiochus and the Maccabean revolt and will discuss and debate the issue of assimilation, emphasizing that the Maccabees warred against the Greeks and the assimilationist Jews.
 *  1. **** Gain the attention of the learner ** Ask who in the class celebrates Christmas with their families.
 *  2. **** Relevant past learning ** Recall the story of the Maccabean revolt.
 *  3. **** Present new material ** The Seleucids gained control over Judea and, for a time, pursued a policy of tolerance. Within Judea itself, however, the population was split among Hellenizers, who were attracted by Greek culture and sought increasingly to integrate it into everyday Judean life, nationalists, who resisted Greek culture and sought to retain a distinctive Judean identity, and Hassidim (Pietists), who sought strict adherence to traditional Jewish religious practices revolving around the Temple. Seleucid tolerance changed during the reign of Antiochus V, who for a combination of reasons sought to eradicate national identities and create a homogeneous Greek culture throughout the empire, including in Judea. Situate the story of Mattathias’s revolt within this dual-faceted context: a revolt against an external ruler who banned Jewish practices and a civil war against internal assimilationist factions.
 *  4. **** Provide for guided practice **Lead a discussion about the celebration of Christmas. For those students who do celebrate this holiday, ask why. (Because a parent is Christian? Because the larger culture celebrates it? Other reasons?) Include a discussion of the ways in which such a celebration can coexist with a Jewish identity. (By secularizing the holiday? By understanding one’s identity as plural? Other ways?)
 * <span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial"> 5. ****<span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> Provide for independent practice **<span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> Divide the class into two groups. Ask each group to prepare one side of a debate over the question of assimilation raised in the guided practice.
 * <span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> 6. Close the lesson **<span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Hold the debate. Finish by relating to personal freedom vs. national freedom, and note that most modern Jews (including most religious Jews) are philosophically descended from assimiliationists.