Israel's difficult balance between particularism and universalism is often highlighted around Ḥanukah, which celebrates the victory of a radical minority over the forces of cultural imperialism.
We refer to our enemies in this period as “Yevanim” not for geopolitical reasons, but for the primordial cultural force that they represented and spread via their temporal power.
Judea's intense struggle for freedom against the Seleucid Greek Empire was among the first recorded wars of liberation and it laid a model for nearly every revolution that followed.
Some gave up
On the long abandoned fire that yet burned valiantly on the stone floor
And turned instead
To one they saw as more inviting
An artificial flame
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