SPECIAL NOTE: This Shabbos Chanukah, I am celebrating the bar mitzvah of my oldest son, Binyamin Eliezer. In honor of the special occasion, I published a new sefer (in Hebrew) called Lechem M’Merchack. That sefer and some of my other books are available for purchase on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3Bj2dlO
As the holiday of Chanukah approaches, I felt that it would be appropriate to focus our attention on one of the enigmatic terms associated with the holiday — Maccabee. Although conventional wisdom understands that word as a Latinized form of the Hebrew makevet (“hammer”), various other ways of explaining the term Maccabee have been proffered over the generations. Therefore, Part I of this essay explores the different ways that Maccabee has been explained, focusing on what the word might mean and how it should really be spelled. In Part II of this essay, we discuss various Hebrew words for “hammer” and attempt to determine whether or not those words are truly synonymous.
It should be stated from the onset that the term Maccabee does not appear in the Talmud or anywhere elsewhere in Chazal, and certainly not in the Bible. Yet, for reasons to be made clear below, the name has been associated with the Hasmoneans whose victory over the Syrian-Greeks led to establishment of the holiday of Chanukah. That appellation is especially associated with one of the heroes of the Chanukah story, Judah Maccabee, a son of Matityahu. But it also came to refer to all the Hasmoneans and those who fought on their side against the Syrian-Greeks.
One of the popular interpretations of the term Maccabee is that it is an acronym. An acronym is an abbreviation formed from the initial letters of words in a phrase and pronounced as a single word (e.g., NASA for “National Aeronautics and Space Administration”). Unlike an initialism, which is also formed from initial letters but pronounced letter by letter (e.g., F.B.I. for “Federal Bureau of Investigation”), an acronym combines the letters into a pronounceable term. In this case, Maccabee is said to be an acronym formed by the Biblical verse mi kamocha b’eilim Hashem – “Who is like You among the gods, O Hashem?” (Ex. 15:11). The first letters of the four words in that phrase uttered at the Song of Sea spell out Maccabee. The Tikkunim in the Zohar Chadash (73b) also uses this verse to explain the name of the angel Michael, and then adds that his name is also Maccabee, which the Biur HaGra (there) explains is an acronym in line with the above.
The earliest sources that cite this explanation of Maccabee include Peirush Rokeach (to Ex. 15:11), Rabbi Avraham Saba’s Tzror HaMor (Deut. 6:7), Alshich (to Ps. 118:12), and the Shelah (p. 259 in the old print). Siddur HaRokeach (p. 219, also cited in Seder HaDoros Year 3622) adds that the term Maccabee was written on Judah Maccabee’s flag or shield. This was probably done to remind the Jews that the Hasmonean victory should be attributed to Divine intervention, and not to mere human effort. Interestingly, the historical fiction writer Marcus Lehmann (1831–1890) wrote that Shlomo Molcho and David HaReuveni wrote the word Maccabee on their flag when they led the Jews on a triumphant return to Regensburg, but I am not sure if this historically happened.
Rabbi Moshe Sofer (Lishkat HaSofer to Even HaEzer §129:7, Torat Moshe Parashat Miketz) sees the term Maccabee as a sort of patronymic surname, interpreting it as an acronym that refers to Judah Maccabee’s illustrious father, Matityahu. The first letters of the phrase Mattityahu Cohen ben Yochanan spells out Maccabee.
Rabbi Moshe Cordovero (1522–157), also known as the Ramak, in his commentary Ohr Yakar (to Tikkunei HaZohar p. 66) sees the term Maccabee as related to the Hebrew term kibui (“extinguishing”). The way he explains it, war/battle can be likened to a raging fire that needs to be put out, and Judah Maccabee was suited for engaging in that fire and extinguishing it without getting burnt himself. The Ramak further offers a Kabbalistic layer to this, explaining how fire is associated with justice (and thus the archangel Gabriel), while Judah Maccabee was associated with mercy (and thus the archangel Michael).
Rabbi Yisroel Hopstein of Kozhnitz (1737–1814) offers a similar explanation in Avodat Yisroel (to Avot 5:3), seeing Maccabee as a term of humility, as though it were related to kibui. He explains that when one recognizes the Hand of Hashem in all his endeavors, then he looks at himself as akin to an extinguished candle vis-à-vis Hashem as the Great Candle, which is why this term also relates to the aforementioned initialism.
Rabbi Moshe Yair Weinstock (1899–1982) in his commentary to Seder Olam Zuta (Yemot Olam 8:4) writes that the appellation Maccabee is clearly related to the Biblical personal name Machbanai borne by one of King David’s warriors (I Chron. 12:14), and to the place name Machbeinah (I Chron. 2:49)
All of the above-cited explanations presume that the word Maccabee ought to be spelled with the letter KAF after the initial MEM. In fact, that is how it is spelled in the popular work Yossifon, a 10th century Hebrew rendition of Josephus produced in Southern Italy. That work relates that on his deathbed, Matityahu charged his son Judah Maccabee with the role of military leader in the rebellion against the Syrian-Greeks. In that context, Yossifon actually spells the word Maccabee in Hebrew with a KAF. But that work also makes explicit reference to Judah Maccabee being called so on account of his great “strength” (see there Book I ch. 20), without further explaining the connection between the term Maccabee and “strength.”
Much of our knowledge of the history of the Hasmoneans and their fights against the Greeks comes from a book called the Book of Maccabees. That book was written after the canonization of the Hebrew Bible, so it could not be included, but it is still included in the apocrypha (books outside of the Hebrew Bible that are revered by Christians). As far as we know, the Book of Maccabees was originally written in Greek and then translated into Latin. In that work (I Mac. 2:1), Matityahu’s son Judah is referred to as makkabaios (Greek) or maccabaeus (Latin). The term maccabeus is also used by the original Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews Books 12–13) in describing Judah. These are the earliest references to the name Maccabee, but it is difficult to know how the appellation is supposed to be spelled in Hebrew. Although Yossifon spells Maccabee with a KAF, when the apocrypha was translated into Hebrew (under the title Sefarim Chitzonim) by scholars like Abraham Kahana (1874–1946) and Rabbi Eliyahu Shmuel Hartom/Artom (1887–1965), they chose to spell the word Maccabee with a KUF, not a KAF.
This alternate spelling was not Kahana’s or Hartom’s invention, but rather has precedent in other sources. For example, the name Maccabee appears in the Aramaic Megillat Antiochus that dates back to at least the late Geonic period (because Rabbi Saadia Gaon translated that work into Judeo-Arabic), yet the spelling of that word depends on which edition one uses: In the Yale Manuscript 51 (which was copied in 1558), the word is spelled with a KAF. But in Rabbi Shlomo Aharon Wertheimer’s edition (Batei Midrashot vol. 1 p. 323) and in other editions it is spelled with a KUF.
Kahana and Rabbi Hartom chose to spell the word Maccabee with a KUF because they understood the appellation Maccabee to be related to the Biblical Hebrew word makevet, derived from the Biblical Hebrew root NUN-KUF-BET. They explain that Judah was called a Maccabee — which means “hammer” — because he fought like a hammer that was able to smash its opponents. Kahana compares this to the name of the Frankish king Charles Martel (688–741), whose appellation martel in Old French means “hammer” (see Rashi to Jud. 4:21, Jer. 10:4, 23:29, and Megillah 25a, Shabbat 102b, 122b, Bava Kamma 98a, Chullin 25b) in allusion to his great military capabilities in warding off the Moslems who invaded France from Spain in 732 — as though he struck them with a hammer.
As Abraham Kahana and Rabbi Hartom note, this explanation also fits with the Yossifon’s understanding that the appellation Maccabee had something to do with Judah’s “strength.” The understanding that Maccabee is related to the Biblical Hebrew word makevet can be traced back as early as the Italian Rabbi Yochanan Treves (1490–1557) in his commentary to the Machzor Kimcha DeAvishona used by the Jewish community in Rome (Yotzarot to Shabbos Chanukah).
Interestingly, another Aramaic version of the Chanukah story found in the Cairo Genizah (published in JQR 1899 vol. 11:2 as an addendum to the Targum for Chanukah) states that Matityahu called his son Judah a makanai (“zealous one”). The editor of that text, Israel Abrahams (1858–1925), suggested that the word makanai was an error and should really have read Maccabee. However, Rabbi Yehoshua Leib HaCohen Fishman/Maimon (1875–1962) in Chagim U’Moadim (p. 99) takes the opposite approach, conjecturing that this text actually preserves the original wording, and the term Maccabee found in the Book of Maccabees is actually a corruption of that term (possibly due to the letter BET being orthographically similar to the letter NUN).
Others have suggested that Judah was associated with the “hammer” because he was professionally a blacksmith before he led the Hasmonean army in its uprising against the Syrian-Greeks. Alternatively, it has also been suggested that Judah was related to the “hammer” because he was somehow associated with one of the pagan gods who was said to hold a hammer in his hand. I’m not sure what this means, but it should be noted that many pagan gods were depicted as holding a hammer, including: the Norse god Thor, Greek Zeus, Greek Hephaestus, Germanic Donnar/Thunor, Celtic god Sucellos, Baltic Perkunas, Etruscan Sethlans, Hindu Indra, and the Roman Vulcan.
Various acronyms have been proposed that try to explain the term Maccabee using the KUF spelling, including machatz kamav bal yekumun (“smashes those who rise against him, they shall not arise” based on the verbiage of Deut. 33:11) or machatz kadkod b’oyvim yevanim (“smashes the skulls of Greek enemies”), but these explanations have not gained much traction.
Many scholars including Rabbi Mendel Wahlman (1859–1933), Rabbi Chaim Yechiel Michel Michlin (1867–1937), Solomon Rabinowitz (Sefer HaMishkalim), and others have explained that the term Maccabee is a corruption of the Hebrew word matzbi derived from the Biblical Hebrew root TZADI-BET-AYIN (which refers to “legions/army,” like tzava). The letter TZADI is pronounced very similarly to the soft c-sound in Greek, and it is not uncommon for that Greek sound to be rendered as a KUF/KAF in Hebrew (like ceaser becomes keisar, and capacodcia becomes kaputkia). According to this theory, Judah Maccabee was appropriately called a matzbi because of his ability to raise an army and serve as its military leader. This is the explanation of Maccabee favored by Rabbi Ernest Klein (1899–1983) in his etymological dictionary of English.
Rabbi Hartom also suggests that the nickname Maccabee was given to Judah Maccabee at the time of his birth. According to this, the appellation has nothing to do with his strength (pace Yossifon), but rather has to do with the supposition that Judah Maccabee’s head was shaped like a hammer. In fact, the term makavan appears in the Mishnah (Bechorot 7:1) in reference to a sort of blemish that disqualifies a Kohen from functioning in the Temple, and the Talmud explains that a makavan refers to a person who is hammer-headed.
Additionally, Rabbi Hartom offers another fascinating way of explaining the term Maccabee: The name Maccabee is a shortened form of the Hebrew makav-yahu (derived from nakav, meaning “to mark” or “to designate”), which can be interpreted as “the one designated by Hashem.” In this way, Judah was the one chosen by Hashem to lead the Jewish people in their revolt against Hellenistic culture. According to this, Maccabee would be a declension of the Biblical Hebrew root NUN-KUF-BET, which conveys the idea of “stating explicitly” or “specifying” (for examples, see Gen. 30:28, Num. 1:17, Isa. 62:2, and Amos 6:1).
That root can also be used for the act of “piercing a hole” and, by extension, to the acts of “blaspheming/cursing.” For instance, in the Asher Yatzar blessing, we refer to bodily orifices as nekavim nekavim (“holes”). Rabbi Moshe Tedeschi-Ashkenazi (1821–1989) offers an explanation for the connection between these meanings. He suggests that when one makes something explicit, it is metaphorically akin to creating a hole that allows light to penetrate. Similarly, speaking explicitly “sheds light” on what one intends to say, particularly when specifying the name of the referent.
Rabbi Tedeschi-Ashkenazi further draws a parallel between the Hebrew word nekev (“hole”) and its ostensible synonym chor (“hole”). He notes that the initial CHET in chor can be interchanged with an ALEPH to become ohr (“light”), emphasizing the idea of a “hole” serving as the means for letting “light” pass through.
This also helps explain why “blaspheming” involves specifying the deity or object being cursed. In the case of the blasphemer described in Leviticus, the individual’s father was Egyptian (Lev. 24:11). If the blasphemer had cursed “god/G-d” without specifying which deity he meant, the act could have been interpreted as him cursing an Egyptian god, which would not have rendered him liable for capital punishment under Jewish law. However, because he “explicitly” referred to Hashem, he was held accountable and punished. Similarly, when Laban said to Jacob, “Specify [nakvah] your wages” (Gen. 30:28), he understood generally that Jacob sought compensation, but asked him to articulate clearly and precisely the exact terms of his request.
To end off on a sad note, the English word macabre, referring to something “gruesome” or “horrifying,” has a surprising connection to the Maccabees. This connection arises from medieval Christian art and drama that depicted the Dance of Death, a motif emphasizing the inevitability of mortality. Early references to this theme described it as the danse macabre (“Dance of the Maccabees”), borrowing the term “macabre” from the Maccabees, whose story became linked with death due to their association with martyrdom. Specifically, the account of the martyrdom of Chanah and her seven sons in the Second Book of Maccabees resonated deeply in Christian tradition, symbolizing ultimate sacrifice in the face of oppression. Over time, the word macabre shed its explicit Biblical connotation but retained its dark, death-related imagery in English, reflecting the morbid associations rooted in this historical and cultural evolution.
To be continued…n
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein is an author and freelance researcher based in Beitar Illit. He studied in Yeshiva Gedolah of Los Angeles, the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem, and Beth Medrash Govoha of America in Lakewood, and received semichah from leading rabbis. He also holds an MA in Jewish Education from Middlesex University/London School of Jewish Studies. Rabbi Klein authored two popular books that were published by Mosaica Press, as well as countless scholarly articles published in various venues. His articles on Hebrew synonyms are commissioned by Yeshivas Ohr Somayach in Jerusalem and have appeared on their website since 2016.
