e-TiM: Letters from Chanukahs and Purims Past

In the second and first century BCE, Judean leaders in Jerusalem sent letters to Jews living in Egypt imploring them to observe the holidays of Chanukah and Purim. Why were these holidays so very important to these leaders, and what can these letters tell us about what Judeans thought about the Jewish diaspora, and their relationship to it? This shiur will explore the complex dynamics of Judea-diaspora relations in the ancient world, and how the observance of Chanukah and Purim were used to enforce the idea of Judean exceptionalism.