For all that we did to ourselves,
We had a price to pay.
If we had guessed the outcome,
We'd have known we shouldn't say
That things were better for us
When we lived the Gentile way.
We learned the hard way what would come
If we forsook Yahweh.
At first it didn't seem so bad,
As with all novelties.
We got to try baklavas,
stuffed grape leaves, and feta cheese.
It didn't stop with that, though;
Soon they had us in the gym,
"Apericles" the athlete*
Said that we should look like him!
We gave an inch, they took a mile;
Usurpers always do.
Through any spot unguarded
They'll just come on barreling through.
The even took Jerusalem;
The Temple was defiled.
It got so bad they'd kill a mom
Who circumcised her child.
"What's on the altar there? A pig?!
We can't let this get worse!"
The Maccabees rose up,
But killed the hometown traitor first.
They had to run and hide in caves
To buy some time to plot.
I'd rather be a caveman too
Than live like who I'm not.
These Hasmonean Heroes
Just could not afford to lose,
Or by the time Messiah came
There would have been no Jews.
They'd all have mixed with Hellenists,
Been lost without a trace,
If Judah hadn't hammered
Antiochus back in place.
Success was all dependent
On how well they knew the Land.
Those who valued Torah
Kept on making one more stand.
So though they brought their pachyderms
And had a bigger spear,
The Greeks just couldn't grasp
How love for Yahweh outlasts fear.
The fight went on for years
After the lights had been re-lit.
More sacrificed their lives to prove
The Greeks just didn't fit.
We owe the Maccabees,
For if the Greeks had had their way
There would have been no Torah left
For us to learn today.
We owe it to the Maccabees
To carry on their flame--
Those who restored to daily usage
Yahweh's Holy Name.
We owe them dedication now
To carry on the fight
Until all nations finally walk
By Tzion's awesome light.
