To understand more about how JSP uses this source sheet, see The Jewish Studio Project's Approach to Text Study.
Ritual of Rededication
(מב) ...ויצוום לטהר את המקדש ולהשליך את האבנים אשר נטמאו אל מקום טמא.
(מג) ויראו את מזבח העולה כי חולל, ויועצו לב יחדו כדת מה לעשות.
(מד) ותהי העצה היעוצה לנתוץ את המזבח עד רדתו, לבלתי היות להם למכשול, יען כי חיללוהו זרים. וייתצו אתו.
(מה) ויניחו את האבנים על הר הבית אל מקום פלוני אלמוני, עד אשר יקום נביא בישראל להורותם את אשר יעשון.
(מו) ויקחו אבנים שלמות אשר לא עלה עליהן ברזל, ככתוב בתורת ה' ויבנו מזבח חדש כתבנית הראשון.
(מז) וישובו לבנות את פרצי המקדש ואת כל אשר מבית להיכל, ויחטאו את החצר ואת כל אשר בו.
(מח) ויחדשו את כל כלי הקודש, וישימו את המנורה אל ההיכל ואת מזבח הקטורת ואת שולחן הפנים.
(מט) וישימו את הקטורת על המזבח, ועל המנורה העלו את נרותיה להאיר במקדש. ...
(נד) ויחוגו את חנוכת המזבח שמונת ימים, ויעלו עולות ותודות בשמחת לבבם. ...
(נז) ויצווה יהודה ואחיו וכל קהל ישראל לחוג את חנוכת המזבח ביום החמישה ועשרים לחדש כסלו שמונת ימים מדי שנה בשנה בהלל ובתודה לה'.
(42) ...They cleansed the sanctuary and removed the defiled stones to an unclean place.
(43) They deliberated what to do about the altar of burnt offering, which had been profaned.
(44) And they thought it best to tear it down, so that it would not be a lasting shame to them that it had been desecrated.
(45) So they tore down the altar, and stored the stones in a convenient place on the temple hill until a prophet should come to tell them what to do with them.
(46) Then they took unhewn stones, as the law directs, and built a new altar like the former one.
(47) They also rebuilt the sanctuary and the interior of the temple, and consecrated the courts.
(48) They made new holy vessels, and brought the lampstand, the altar of incense, and the table into the temple.
(49) Then they offered incense on the altar and lit the lamps on the lampstand, and these gave light in the temple...
(54) So they celebrated the dedication of the altar for eight days, and joyfully offered burnt offerings; they offered a sacrifice of well-being and a thanksgiving offering...
(57) Then Judas and his brothers and all the assembly of Israel determined that every year at that season the days of dedication of the altar should be observed with joy and gladness for eight days, beginning with the twenty-fifth day of the month of Kislev.
Note: The Books of the Maccabees (four books), none of which is in the Hebrew Bible but all of which appear in some manuscripts of the Septuagint.
Questions for reflection or discussion
What actions did Judas and his brothers take to rededicate the sanctuary? Try to slow down your reading of the text and list each of them out.
What strikes you about these steps?
Are there any actions that surprise you?
Are there any that you feel are missing that you might have expected?
What role did imagination play?
When thinking about what you might want to rededicate in your own life, which of these steps feel resonant? How might this text inform our own process of rededication?
Rededication Celebration
The original Hanukkah of 164 BCE was intended to make up for the missed Feast of Sukkot which the Jews were not able to celebrate due to the impurity of the Temple. In the first celebration of Hanukkah, the carrying of wreathed wands replaced the lulavim (palm branch ritually waved on Sukkot) and a rekindled menorah replaced the blazing torches used to illuminate the dance floor during Simchat Beit HaShoeva (part of the Sukkot celebration). See below:
(ח) ומאת ה' הייתה זאת לחטא את הבית בעצם היום ההוא אשר טימאו אתו הגויים, והוא יום העשרים וחמשה לירח כסלו.
(ט) ויחוגו חג לה' שמונת ימים כימי חג הסוכות, ויזכרו את הימים מקדם בחגגם את חג הסוכות בהרים ובמערות ...
(י) ויקחו ערבי נחל וכפות תמרים וישירו שיר שבח והודיה לה', אשר נתן להם עוז ותשועה לטהר את בית מקדשו.
(8) It happened that on the same day on which the sanctuary had been profaned, the purification of the sanctuary took place, that is, on the twenty-fifth day of the same month, which was Kislev.
(9) They celebrated it for eight days with rejoicing, in the manner of the Sukkot, remembering how not long before, during Sukkot, they had been wandering in the mountains and caves (i.e. they had been exiled from their holy place, unable to celebrate Sukkot, which was, at the time, their most important holiday)...
(10) Therefore, carrying ivy-wreathed wands and beautiful branches and also fronds of palm, they offered hymns of thanksgiving to the One who had given success to the purifying of God’s own holy place.
Questions
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What figured into the Macabee’s creation of their rededication ritual?
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What values were at play?
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What were they trying to accomplish?
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What role do you think imagination played?
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What does this text offer us in terms of how we might reclaim things in our own lives that have been lost or missed?
Rededication & Imagination
Pat B. Allen, Art is a Way of Knowing
"Our imagination is the most important faculty we possess. It can be our greatest resource or our most formidable adversary. It is through our imagination that we discern possibilities and options. Yet imagination is no mere blank slate on which we simply inscribe our will. Rather, imagination is the deepest voice of the soul and can be heard clearly only through cultivation and careful attention. A relationship with our imagination is a relationship with our deepest self."
(Pat B. Allen is an artist, writer, art therapist and teacher, interested in the borders between art, psychology, spirituality and social action, she is Senior Advisor for Jewish Studio Project.)
ALOK, “Imaginal Cells”, August 12, 2020
"So much of what I want and what I am feels impossible. But what is impossible is only what cannot be imagined. And what is imagined is only determined by the stories that are being told."
(ALOK is a gender non-conforming writer and performance artist. Their distinctive style and poetic challenge to the gender binary have been internationally renowned.)
Questions
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What do these texts evoke for you? How might they be in conversation with the previous texts?
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When has your imagination been a resource, when has it been an adversary?
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What role might imagination play in the process of rededication?
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To whom or to what might you want to rededicate your imagination?
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What rituals might you create to support this?
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