(d. 160 BCE). Leader of the Hasmonean (Maccabean) uprising after the death of his father, Mattathias. Although only the third of his five brothers, Judah, one of the outstanding military leaders of antiquity, was chosen by his dying father to carry on the revolt he had started against the Syrians, who had attempted to suppress Judaism. The title or nickname "Maccabee" (Makkabaios in Greek), although appended to Judah alone, later came to be applied to all the brothers, and is synonymous with the term "Hasmoneans" to denote the ensuing political dynasty.In the year 167 or 166 BCE Judah assumed overall leadership, which at the time meant primarily the military control of the revolt. Despite the poorly prepared and poorly armed fighters at his disposal, Judah brought about victory after victory in the first years of his command, defeating the far superior Greek-Syrian forces. Although the Jewish fighters' ideological commitment to their cause was certainly a spur towards the string of victories, it was Judah's brilliant generalship which confounded and routed his enemies.
The mobilization for battle against the combined three-pronged force at Emmaus, west of Jerusalem, considered by some as the most brilliant of Judah's military successes, was typical of the religious climate of the war. The fighters were first gathered at Mizpah, the ancient Israelite religious center. Here, amid fasting and prayers to the God of Israel, Judah appointed "captains of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens" in accordance with the ancient Mosaic injunctions for doing battle (I Macc. 3:43-60).
By December of the year 164 (25 Kislev), the polluted, paganized Temple in Jerusalem was purged and rededicated for Jewish use (celebrated in the annual festival of ḥanukkah). Judah went on to score further successes, with his crowning victory achieved against the general Nicanor in the battle of Adasa (north of Jerusalem), but a year later (160 BCE), Judah was defeated by Bacchides, falling in battle at Elasa.
In seven brief but eventful years, Judah brought about a string of military victories against the far mightier Seleucid empire; official repeal of the anti-Jewish decrees and the threat of spiritual extinction; restoration of the heart and soul and symbol of the nation's religious autonomy, the Jerusalem Temple; and the laying of the groundwork for the future geopolitical expansion of the Maccabean dynasty.
