Congratulations, you found clue #4! Mattathias and sons led a revolt, eventually besting the Greeks and re-capturing Jerusalem and the בית המקדש, the Holy Temple. In honor of the 8 days it took to re-dedicate the Temple, we light a cadelabra called a chanukkiah for 8 days each year in the month of Kislev.
Wojciech Stattler, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
(כח) וירץ אחרי כן בתוך העיר ויקרא בקול גדול ויאמר: מי האיש החרד לתורת אלוהיו ומחזיק בבריתו - יבא אחרי.
(28) And Mattathias cried throughout the city with a loud voice, saying, Whosoever is zealous of the law, and maintaineth the covenant, let him follow me.
In addition to Kings and Priests (Kohanim), the generations that followed the Macccabees also produced many scholars. The most important of them led the Great Assembly, which we sometimes call the Sanhedrin. Some of their sayings live on in our songs today. A famous one, taught by Shimon the Righteous, says that the world stands on 3 things: on Torah, on service, and on acts of loving-kindness.
- Read Shimon the Righteous's famous words and their interpretation in chapter 4 of Avot d'Rabbi Nathan.
- Find the story of how Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai made a deal with the soon-to-be-Emperor Vespasian.
- Click on the story to open the resource panel and find Clue #5.