Modi'im
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Modi'im, home of the Maccabees, lies 12km/7.5mi east of Lod, southwest of the Arab village of Midya, in an area near the Herzl Forest accessible only on very minor roads.
History
In 167 B.C. envoys from the Syrian ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes, then pursuing a policy of Hellenisation, came to Modi'im and called on the people to sacrifice to the pagan gods. Mattathias, a priest, refused, and when another Jew showed himself ready to offer sacrifice Mattathias and his five sons killed the man and the king's envoys and fled into the hills. This was the beginning of the Maccabee rebellion which, under the leadership of Mattathias's sons, particularly Judas Maccabeus, led to the establishment of the Maccabean or Hasmonean state, which survived until Herod I put an end to it in 37 B.C. (1 Maccabees 2,15-30).
The lofty monument which the high priest Simeon, the last of the five brothers, erected over the tombs of his father and brothers (1 Maccabees 13,27) no longer exists, but the rock-cut tombs themselves, with their large grave slabs, can still be seen. Every year on the first night of the Hanukkah festival a torch is lit here and carried to Jerusalem, where the President of Israel kindles the Hanukkah lights with it. Hanukkah commemorates the victory of the Maccabees over the Assyrians who killed the Jews and prevented them practicing their religion.
History
In 167 B.C. envoys from the Syrian ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes, then pursuing a policy of Hellenisation, came to Modi'im and called on the people to sacrifice to the pagan gods. Mattathias, a priest, refused, and when another Jew showed himself ready to offer sacrifice Mattathias and his five sons killed the man and the king's envoys and fled into the hills. This was the beginning of the Maccabee rebellion which, under the leadership of Mattathias's sons, particularly Judas Maccabeus, led to the establishment of the Maccabean or Hasmonean state, which survived until Herod I put an end to it in 37 B.C. (1 Maccabees 2,15-30).
The lofty monument which the high priest Simeon, the last of the five brothers, erected over the tombs of his father and brothers (1 Maccabees 13,27) no longer exists, but the rock-cut tombs themselves, with their large grave slabs, can still be seen. Every year on the first night of the Hanukkah festival a torch is lit here and carried to Jerusalem, where the President of Israel kindles the Hanukkah lights with it. Hanukkah commemorates the victory of the Maccabees over the Assyrians who killed the Jews and prevented them practicing their religion.
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