Judah and his Jewish fighters defeated the Greeks one more time, then came to Jerusalem, where they cleansed the Temple of the statues of the Greek gods and dedicated it once more to the worship of the Lord. That's where the Feast of Chanukkah- or Dedication- comes from.

The Hasidim, the Pious Jews, started the rebellion against the Seleucids when Mattathias, the old priest, killed people in Modein who tried to offer sacrifices to the Greek gods. Mattathias died soon after, but his son Judah raised up a rebel army that hammered the Greeks time and time again.

King Antiochus III of the Seleucids took over the territory of Jerusalem and Judea from the Ptolemaic kingdom of Egypt. His son, King Antiochus IV, in an attempt to strengthen his southern border, and to prevent rebellion, tried to destroy the Jewish religion and tried to get the Jews to worship the Greek gods. It didn't work.

The Greeks came to Jerusalem and set up idols and honored their gods in the dramatic presentations. This created a cultural hostility with the Jewish prohibition on graven images. Greeks, and later some Christians, viewed the physical world as lowly, even sinful, but the Jews saw creation as good because God created it.

Philip of Macedon gained hegemony over the Greek states, and his son Alexander led the Greeks on an epic campaign to conquer the Persian Empire. Alexander died at the age of 33 years old, but not before spreading Greek culture into every corner of the previous Persian Empire.

After defeating the Persians, Athens established their empire, which was actually a hegemony, or domination of the other Greek states. This led to war against Sparta and disaster. Following the warfare, the giants of Greek philosophy emerged- Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, who was the teacher of Alexander the Great.

The culture of Athens lives on today in the modern world. The Greeks gave us Democracy and Dramatic Theatre, and we're still using words from ancient Greek, and we have buildings that use principles from Greek architecture. Greek civilization, as we will see later, stands against Jewish culture.

King Cyrus and the Persians quickly conquered the Babylonian Empire, then they turned their attention to the Greeks. The Persians met with defeat twice, at the beach of Marathon and later in one of the greatest naval battles of all time.

King Cyrus established the Medo-Persian Empire, then came against and destroyed the Kingdom of Lydia. This brought the Persians in contact with the Greeks. Meanwhile, the Jews lived in exile in Babylon, studying the Torah, and Jerusalem remained as a pile of rubble.

This is the start of a new topic- a look at the ancient Jewish state, started by the Hasmonean family. We'll be taking a look at the Chanukkah story, along with most of ancient history- the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, and the start of the Christian religion.

Israel had survived. The Jews declared independence and fought for their new state, and when the shooting stopped, Israel was still there. The Arabs vowed revenge, but in 1967 Israel won an even more spectacular victory. Israel still stands as a strong power in the Middle East, and Arabs try new strategies to get rid of the Jews.

When the cease-fire expired, Israel quickly gained the upper hand and the Arabs asked for another cease-fire. The Israelis made one last attack on the gates of the Old City but failed to break in. The shooting ended, but enmity between Arabs and Israelis continued.

Israel brought in tons of supplies during the cease-fire. The terrorists of the Irgun also tried to bring in their own weapons on the ship SS Altalena. Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion would not allow the Irgun to have their own arms, so violence broke out between the Irgun and Haganah. The result was a single military entity.

The situation had become desperate for Israel. The Jews in Jerusalem were on the verge of starvation, and they would soon be forced to accept whatever terms the Arabs demanded. Israel accepted a cease-fire agreement from the UN, and to everyone's surprise, the Arabs also accepted it.

The Israelis tried again to dislodge the Arabs from Latrun, so they could food to the starving Jews in Jerusalem. Military power couldn't do the job, so they started to build a new road around the Arab blockade. They couldn't build the road fast enough, so Israel depended on the two feet of marching men to get food into Jerusalem.

After two weeks of intense combat, the Jews in the Jewish Quarter finally surrendered. The Arabs destroyed the Hurva synagogue, the last stronghold of the Jewish fighters. The Jews lost all connection to the Old City until 1967, but they came back and today the Hurva, after lying in ruins for 60 years, is being rebuilt.

The Jews in Jerusalem were starving, so David Ben-Gurion ordered the Haganah to attack the strong Arab Legion positions at Latrun. The Haganah commander wanted to wait, but Ben-Gurion persisted. The first battle at Latrun turned out to be Israel's worst military disaster.

The struggle for Jerusalem continued- the Jews hung on to the Jewish Quarter, and they fought the Arab Legion at the Notre Dame hospice. They fought while they faced starvation- they were down to a daily ration of just a little bread and jam.

The Israelis seized Zion Gate and carried supplies to the beseiged Jewish Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem. But then the Jews left Zion Gate, and the feared Arab Legion finally arrived. The Jews did everything they could to withstand the onslaught of the Arab Legion's cannons.

The Jewish Quarter of the Old City was under siege and about to fall, so the Israelis attacked Jaffa Gate. After a fierce fight, the Jews withdrew and the Arabs begged for the Arab Legion to come.

After declaring independence, Israel was attacked by five Arab armies. Was it a miracle that the new state survived, or were the Arab armies just ineffective? In the first days of fighting, Arabs nearly captured the Jewish Quarer of the Old City, even without the help of the powerful Arab Legion.

Some Jewish leaders had second thoughts about declaring independence. They feared the attacks of the Arab nations, and the US promised to send help if the Jews held off declaring independence. On May 14, 1948, the British left Palestine, and the Jews went ahead and declared independence.

Everyone made plans for the end of the British Mandate in Palestine - the British packed up their stuff and prepared to leave, the Jews tried to take more territory in Jerusalem, the Arab states mobilized their armies and their people, and the United States urged the Jews to postpone their declaration of independence.

The Irgun and Stern Gang, Jewish terrorist groups, attacked the village and massacred the people. This led to an Arab ambush on a convoy of doctors and professors. The world has condemned Deir Yassin, which led Israel to distance itself from the Irgun and Stern Gang. Few people, however, say anything about the Arab ambush.

To keep the road to Jerusalem open, the Jews captured the village of Kastel. The story of how the Jews and Arabs fought for this village helps us to understand why the Palestinian Arabs do not have an independent state today, 60 years after the Jews established their state.

The Jews suffered a tremendous disaster when they lost many of their vehicles and weapons trying to supply Kfar Etzion. This was when Ben-Gurion decided to launch an all-out effort to clear the Bab el Wad and drive a huge convoy of food to the starving Jews in Jerusalem.

The bombings continued as the Arabs bombed the Jewish Agency building, the center of Jewish government in Palestine. The bad news continued, as the Zionists realized that little money would come from America. This prompted Golda Meir to make her own plea for help. Then, Jerusalem came under seige.

The Arabs set off a truck bomb at Ben Yehuda Street, and Jews took out their anger on the British. It was becoming clear that the British had lost control in Palestine. To end the violence, the US State Dept proposed a new Trusteeship plan, and to abandon the Partition plan, which would have given the Jews an independent state.

Violence between Jews and Arabs continued through the month of January, 1948. Jewish leaders apologized for the Semiramis Hotel bombing, but the Irgun set off a bomb at Jaffa Gate, and Arabs blew up the Palestine Post newspaper building. Did this bombing play a part in getting the Dead Sea Scrolls out of the war zone?

The war between Jews and Arabs continued, and just as Jerusalem was cut off from the rest of the Jewish settlement, so the Jewish Quarter of the Old City was being cut off from Jerusalem. Jews tried to drive Arabs out of their neighborhoods, and even blew up the Semiramis Hotel to drive Arabs out of Katamon.

The key to Jerusalem was the Bab el Wad, the steep mountain pass over which ran the road from Tel Aviv. Arabs raided Jewish convoys carrying supplies to Jerusalem and nearly starved the city into submission.

The Arabs responded to the UN vote on Partition by attacking and looting the Commercial Center. The war between Jews and Arabs had begun, as over 70 people on both sides were killed in the first two weeks of December, 1947.

The historic day finally came- the UN voted to partition Palestine into two separate states; one for the Jews, one for the Arabs. After intense lobbying pressure from the Zionists, the UN voted in favor of Partition. People in Jerusalem went wild with celebration, even though they knew war would soon follow.

Facing pressure from all sides, Great Britain referred the matter of Palestine to the United Nations, which created UNSCOP, or UN Special Committee on Palestine. The committee visited Palestine during a time when the Irgun killed British soldiers and the British forced the Zionist ship "Exodus" to return to Europe.

The war was finally over, but the Zionist struggle to establish a Jewish state in Palestine continued. Great Britain came under pressure from the Arabs to get Jews out of Palestine, under pressure from the US to get more Jews into Palestine, and under pressure from Jewish terrorists who killed British soldiers and civilians.

As the Allied forces began to win the war against Hitler and the Axis nations, Jewish terrorist organizations in Palestine stepped up their attacks on Great Britain and the White Paper.

World War II started, and Hitler tried to exterminate the Jews in Europe. The British had already turned against their promise to create a Jewish state, and Jews fought against each other in Palestine. It looked like the Jews were without any friends, until Americans began to support the Jewish state.