SInce Chanukah is coming up, here's a question I have on the subject:
In V'zot Habracha, on one of Levi's psukim - "They shall teach Jacob Thine ordinances, and Israel Thy law; they shall put incense before Thee, and whole burnt-offering upon Thine altar." (Deut. 33:11) - Rashi brings:
"Strike those who rise up against him, in the loins. This is similar to what is said, “Constantly cause their loins to slip” (Ps. 69:24). Here, Moses was referring to those who contested the priesthood. — [Sifrei 33:11] Another explanation: Moses saw [prophetically] that the Hasmonean and his sons were destined to wage war with the Greeks. He therefore prayed for them, because they were few in number, namely, the twelve sons of the Hasmonean and Eleazar, against many myriads [of the enemy]. Hence, Moses said here:“May the Lord bless his army (חֵילוֹ) and favorably accept the work of his hands." (Chabad translation)
This is something that seems odd to me: It's commonly known that Matityahu in the Chanukah story had five sons: Yochanan, Shimon, Yehuda, Yonatan and Elazar. Yet here Rashi says that "the Hasmonean ("Chashmonai", חשמונאי in Hebrew) had twelve sons that apparently don't even include Elazar. Did Rashi have some other version of the Chanukah story?
It's worth mentioning that in every chumash that I've seen this, the phrasing is "י"ב בני חשמונאי" Yud-Bet and not the word-version of the number (Shneim-Asar/Shteim-esreh), so I've heard a theory that י"ב is an acronym for something unknown and is not meant to be a number. But that seems a bit far-fetched to me.
Chabad brings the sources for Rashi commentary: "See Tanchuma Vayechi 14; Gen. Rabbah 99:2; Otzar Midrashim, Ma’aseh Hanukkah second version, p. 191; Midrash LaHanukkah , p. 193." The Tanchuma and the Midrash Rabbah just bring an idea that explains the significance of specifically the descendants of Levi fighting the Greeks.
Otzar Hamidrashim brings the following:
"חרבם תבוא בלבם וקשתותם תשברנה, אמר רשב"י אלו יונים שעשו מלחמה עם חשמונאי ובניו, ובשעה שנכנסו להיכל הלך יוני אחד ולקח ספר תורה והביא חנה בת יוחנן כ"ג שלא היה כיפיה בעולם והיתה נישאת לאלעזר בן חשמונאי, ורצה אותו יוני לבוא עליה בפני בעלה ואביה, אמר יוחנן כ"ג למתתיהו אני ושלשה בני ואתה ושבעה בניך הרי י"ב כנגד י"ב שבטים, מובטח אני שהקב"ה עושה נס על ידינו. מיד הרים אלעזר הסייף והרג אותו היוני ואמר עזרי מעם ה' עושה שמים וארץ. א"ר יצחק ששים רבוא אלף גייסות הוו וכל אחד מהם היה לו אלף איש תחתיו שבאו עם גליסקס הרשע להלחם עם בית חשמונאי, והיה אומר אותו הרשע מה לנו לירוא? הם שנים עשר כנגד חיל גדול! etc.
""Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be broken." said Rashbi: These are the Greeks that waged war with Chashmonai and his sons, and when they entered the Heichal, one of the Greeks went and took a Torah scroll and brought Chanah the daughter of Yochanan the high priest that there was none as beautiful as she in the world and was married to Elazar son of Chashmonai, and that Greek wanted to [be with her] in front of her husband and her father, said Yochanan the high priest to Matityahu I and my three sons and you and your seven sons are twelve [against/in parallel to] the twelve tribes, I am promised that Hashem shall make a miracle through us. Immediately Elazar raised his sword and killed that Greek and said: " My help cometh from the LORD, who made heaven and earth." Said Rabbi Yitzchak: "Sixty thousand thousand corps there were[...] that came with the evil Gliskus to do battle with the House of Chasmonai, and that evil man would say: "What are we to be afraid of? They're twelve against a great army, etc"
So there's an idea here of making a parallel between the twelve tribes and the maccabees. But it still doesn't make much sense to me: Even if one does go according to the version presented here, you see a figure named "Yochanan the high priest", who I always thought was Yochanan the son of Matityahu, yet he doesn't include himself in the count of Matityahu's sons. Moreover, it still says here that Matityahu had seven sons, and not five. And if, say, Yochanan isn't the son of Matityahu, then wouldn't that mean that not all of the twelve are "sons of Chashmonai"? This is assuming, of course, that Chashmonai is a reference to Matityahu, which may not be the case. Matityahu and Yochanan could have been brothers/relatives and their father or ancestor was known as "Chashmonai". But we still have the odd number 7 that doesn't match up to the better-known (even historically so) version of 5...
A bit long, but does anyone have any ideas?
In V'zot Habracha, on one of Levi's psukim - "They shall teach Jacob Thine ordinances, and Israel Thy law; they shall put incense before Thee, and whole burnt-offering upon Thine altar." (Deut. 33:11) - Rashi brings:
"Strike those who rise up against him, in the loins. This is similar to what is said, “Constantly cause their loins to slip” (Ps. 69:24). Here, Moses was referring to those who contested the priesthood. — [Sifrei 33:11] Another explanation: Moses saw [prophetically] that the Hasmonean and his sons were destined to wage war with the Greeks. He therefore prayed for them, because they were few in number, namely, the twelve sons of the Hasmonean and Eleazar, against many myriads [of the enemy]. Hence, Moses said here:“May the Lord bless his army (חֵילוֹ) and favorably accept the work of his hands." (Chabad translation)
This is something that seems odd to me: It's commonly known that Matityahu in the Chanukah story had five sons: Yochanan, Shimon, Yehuda, Yonatan and Elazar. Yet here Rashi says that "the Hasmonean ("Chashmonai", חשמונאי in Hebrew) had twelve sons that apparently don't even include Elazar. Did Rashi have some other version of the Chanukah story?
It's worth mentioning that in every chumash that I've seen this, the phrasing is "י"ב בני חשמונאי" Yud-Bet and not the word-version of the number (Shneim-Asar/Shteim-esreh), so I've heard a theory that י"ב is an acronym for something unknown and is not meant to be a number. But that seems a bit far-fetched to me.
Chabad brings the sources for Rashi commentary: "See Tanchuma Vayechi 14; Gen. Rabbah 99:2; Otzar Midrashim, Ma’aseh Hanukkah second version, p. 191; Midrash LaHanukkah , p. 193." The Tanchuma and the Midrash Rabbah just bring an idea that explains the significance of specifically the descendants of Levi fighting the Greeks.
Otzar Hamidrashim brings the following:
"חרבם תבוא בלבם וקשתותם תשברנה, אמר רשב"י אלו יונים שעשו מלחמה עם חשמונאי ובניו, ובשעה שנכנסו להיכל הלך יוני אחד ולקח ספר תורה והביא חנה בת יוחנן כ"ג שלא היה כיפיה בעולם והיתה נישאת לאלעזר בן חשמונאי, ורצה אותו יוני לבוא עליה בפני בעלה ואביה, אמר יוחנן כ"ג למתתיהו אני ושלשה בני ואתה ושבעה בניך הרי י"ב כנגד י"ב שבטים, מובטח אני שהקב"ה עושה נס על ידינו. מיד הרים אלעזר הסייף והרג אותו היוני ואמר עזרי מעם ה' עושה שמים וארץ. א"ר יצחק ששים רבוא אלף גייסות הוו וכל אחד מהם היה לו אלף איש תחתיו שבאו עם גליסקס הרשע להלחם עם בית חשמונאי, והיה אומר אותו הרשע מה לנו לירוא? הם שנים עשר כנגד חיל גדול! etc.
""Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be broken." said Rashbi: These are the Greeks that waged war with Chashmonai and his sons, and when they entered the Heichal, one of the Greeks went and took a Torah scroll and brought Chanah the daughter of Yochanan the high priest that there was none as beautiful as she in the world and was married to Elazar son of Chashmonai, and that Greek wanted to [be with her] in front of her husband and her father, said Yochanan the high priest to Matityahu I and my three sons and you and your seven sons are twelve [against/in parallel to] the twelve tribes, I am promised that Hashem shall make a miracle through us. Immediately Elazar raised his sword and killed that Greek and said: " My help cometh from the LORD, who made heaven and earth." Said Rabbi Yitzchak: "Sixty thousand thousand corps there were[...] that came with the evil Gliskus to do battle with the House of Chasmonai, and that evil man would say: "What are we to be afraid of? They're twelve against a great army, etc"
So there's an idea here of making a parallel between the twelve tribes and the maccabees. But it still doesn't make much sense to me: Even if one does go according to the version presented here, you see a figure named "Yochanan the high priest", who I always thought was Yochanan the son of Matityahu, yet he doesn't include himself in the count of Matityahu's sons. Moreover, it still says here that Matityahu had seven sons, and not five. And if, say, Yochanan isn't the son of Matityahu, then wouldn't that mean that not all of the twelve are "sons of Chashmonai"? This is assuming, of course, that Chashmonai is a reference to Matityahu, which may not be the case. Matityahu and Yochanan could have been brothers/relatives and their father or ancestor was known as "Chashmonai". But we still have the odd number 7 that doesn't match up to the better-known (even historically so) version of 5...
A bit long, but does anyone have any ideas?
