Chanukah Tour with Travelujah

Last week, as part of my work with the Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding and Cooperation, I attended a day-long tour of Chanukah related sites sponsored by Travelujah, a Christian faith-based social network that connects people to the Land of the Bible.

The tour started at the Neot Kedumim Biblical Landscape Reserve, examined several historical sites associated with the ancient city of Modi'in, the home of the Maccabbees, culminating in a visit to an ancient synagogue from the first century CE. I was the featured speaker at the last site.

Neot Kedumim is absolutely impressive when one considers that all of the trees visible on and adjacent to the reserve were planted since the state of Israel was established.

Centuries of overgrazing and firewood consumption denuded the landscape of foliage; indeed, many parts of the region still suffer from the same ecological tragedy of the commons.

Since independence, the folks at Neot Kedumim have painstakingly replanted the 620 acre site with trees, bushes, and grasses that thrived during the Biblical period. Every species mentioned in the Bible can be found growing throughout the reserve.

Most relevant to Chanukah is the impressive display of olive oil production technology. After looking at the different means of crushing, pressing, and extracting olive oil, it is not difficult to understand why the Maccabbees were interested in finding clean, pure oil to burn in the menorahs of the rededicated Temple.

The earliest methods of crushing olives was in a trough carved from the bedrock; the olives were crushed by feet and roller and the oil was collected from basins next to the site.

Later methods utilized large grindstones donkey powered.

The mash made by the grindstone was collected in net bags, stacked one on top of the other, and crushed in a large press.

This one here is from the 19th century but the technology was clearly known in Biblical times.
The donkey was especially patient.


The location of the tombs of the Maccabbees as well as where the site of their hometown of Modi'in lies is far from certain. Dr. Shimon Gibson, the renowned archaeologist, was on hand to discuss these issues as well as suggest several possible contenders. We visited the three main sites. After ruling out the first, we traveled to his personal favorite on a hilltop next to the modern city of Modi'in.


According to the Talmud, the city of Modi'in was the jumping off point for pilgrims heading up to the Temple in Jerusalem. Leaving from the central market in the morning, pilgrims would walk through these hills and could reach the Temple by early afternoon with enough time to make their afternoon offerings.


Josephus writes that Shimon, the surviving Maccabbee brother, built a large tomb structure in Modi'in to honor his father and brothers, which could be seen by ships at sea. From Professor Gibson's site, looking west, the sea is clearly visible.

The Deputy Mayor of Modi'in arrived and took us to different site. Adjacent to that site are the foundations to an ancient synagogue from the First Century CE. The site is closed but for this occasion, the Deputy Mayor opened it for the group. In fact, we were told that this was the first group to visit the site.

There, it was my turn to discuss the Maccabbees from textual sources, Christian and Jewish, as well as the spiritual significance of Chanukah in contemporary terms.

We learned about the events surrounding the Chanukah story from selections from the Book of Maccabbees, Josephus, and the Talmud. Our discussions focused on the lack of reference to the Chanukah lights in the first two sources and the lack of reference to the military victories in the latter source.

The rabbis were not fans of the Hasmonian dynasty that emerged from the Maccabbees; however, the timeless theme of the Light of the Torah was seen as an eternal miracle, renewed after neglect and persecution, that was clearly of Divine origin.



For me, it was an incredible honor and experience to give one of the first rabbinic talks in this synagogue in almost 2000 years.



Many thanks to Elisa Moed for inviting me and to Shmuel Jackson for carrying my books and handouts (and the last two images).