{"id":28311,"date":"2006-06-29T19:10:00","date_gmt":"1970-01-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/production.ou.org\/holidays\/chanukah\/maoz_tzur_translation_etc\/"},"modified":"2016-08-09T15:34:14","modified_gmt":"2016-08-09T15:34:14","slug":"maoz_tzur_translation_etc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/maoz_tzur_translation_etc\/","title":{"rendered":"Maoz Tzur: Translation & Explanation – Jewish Holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stanza One<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

O mighty stronghold of my salvation,
\nto praise You is a delight.
\nRestore my House of Prayer
\nand there we will bring a thanksgiving offering.
\nWhen You will have prepared the slaughter
\nfor the blaspheming foe,
\nThen I shall complete with a song of hymn
\nthe dedication of the Altar.<\/p>\n

This stanza pleads for the reestablishment of the Temple Worship. It praises G-d as the “stronghold of our salvation,” Who has always come to our aid. He will take vengeance on His enemies, and restore the Temple as a House of Prayer for all nations.<\/p>\n

Stanza Two<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

My soul had been sated with troubles,
\nmy strength has been consumed with grief.
\nThey had embittered my life with hardship,
\nwith the calf-like kingdom’s bondage.
\nBut with His great power
\nHe brought forth the treasured ones,
\nPharaoh’s army and all his offspring
\nWent down like a stone into the deep.<\/p>\n

This stanza praises G-d for our liberation from the Egyptian bondage. Maharal explains that Israel’s destiny as a nation is not dependent on the general natural, physical, social or economic laws that govern the destinies of the other nations. Israel as a nation is placed directly under G-d’s protection. It was this nation that was brought forth from Egypt, in order that they “obey faithfully and keep his covenant.”<\/p>\n

Stanza Three<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

To the holy abode of His Word He brought me.
\nBut there, too, I had no rest
\nAnd an oppressor came and exiled me.
\nFor I had served aliens,
\nAnd had drunk benumbing wine.
\nScarcely had I departed
\nAt Babylon’s end Zerubabel came.
\nAt the end of seventy years I was saved.<\/p>\n

This stanza recalls the period of time when we lived in peace in Eretz Yisrael, when the First Temple, built by Shlomo, was with us. Yet somehow, we fell prey to the blandishments of idol worship, and, for that sin, the Kingdom of Babylon, under the leadership of Nevuchadnezzar, besieged Yerushalayim, and destroyed the Temple. But after a brief (historically speaking) time of seventy years, Babylon fell to the Persians, and under the leadership of Zerubavel (identified with the Prophet Nechemiah) we once again obtained permission to rebuild the Temple.<\/p>\n

Stanza Four<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

To sever the towering cypress
\nsought the Agagite, son of Hammedatha,
\nBut it became [a snare and] a stumbling block to him
\nand his arrogance was stilled.
\nThe head of the Benjaminite You lifted
\nand the enemy, his name You obliterated
\nHis numerous progeny – his possessions –
\non the gallows You hanged.<\/p>\n

This stanza recalls the potential disaster, due to our sins, and our miraculous salvation, due to our repentance, from the fiendish plan of Haman, at the time of Purim. Haman wished to destroy Mordechai and, with him, all the Jews, male and female, young and old. But G-d, by a hidden miracle, using apparent coincidence, plus the bravery of Queen Esther, saved the Jews. Haman’s plan was overturned, and he, together with his ten sons, were hung on the very same gallows which he’d prepared for Mordechai.<\/p>\n

Stanza Five<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Greeks gathered against me
\nthen in Hasmonean days.
\nThey breached the walls of my towers
\nand they defiled all the oils;
\nAnd from the one remnant of the flasks
\na miracle was wrought for the roses.
\nMen of insight – eight days
\nestablished for song and jubilation<\/p>\n

This stanza takes us back to Chanukah and describes the spiritual (not to mention physical) attack of the Greeks, under Antioches IV Epiphanes, the Seleucid monarch of Syria, who was the central foe in the Chanukah story. He advocated an intense campaign of Hellenization; that is, the spreading of Greek culture and ideas, and the Jews in Eretz Yisrael who remained loyal to the Torah, became his main targets.<\/p>\n

The Greeks breached the walls of the Temple and defiled all the oils prepared for use in the daily lighting of the Menorah in the Temple. But one cruse of oil was found, and the Miracle of Chanukah was performed in behalf of the “roses,” a reference to Shir HaShirim (The Song of Songs), in which the mutual love between G-d and the Jewish People is the main theme. The Chashmonaim also achieved a miraculous victory, with the help of G-d, and they eventually gained independence for Israel for a time.<\/p>\n

Stanza Six<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Bare Your holy arm
\nand hasten the End for salvation –
\nAvenge the vengeance of Your servants’ blood
\nfrom the wicked nation.
\nFor the triumph is too long delayed for us,
\nand there is no end to days of evil,
\nRepel the Red One in the nethermost shadow
\nand establish for us the seven shepherds.<\/p>\n

This stanza asks the Master of the Universe to bare His holy arm and end our longest exile, the exile of Edom, the Red One, and usher in the Epoch of the Mashiach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stanza One O mighty stronghold of my salvation, to praise You is a delight. Restore my House of Prayer and there we will bring a thanksgiving offering. When You will have prepared the slaughter for the blaspheming foe, Then I shall complete with a song of hymn the dedication of the Altar. This stanza pleads […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":730,"featured_media":37943,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[344],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chanukah"],"yoast_head":"\nMaoz Tzur: Translation & Explanation - Jewish Holidays<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A translation and explanation of each of the 6 stanzas of Maoz Tzur which summarizes different periods in Jewish History.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/maoz_tzur_translation_etc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Maoz Tzur: Translation & Explanation - Jewish Holidays\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A translation and explanation of each of the 6 stanzas of Maoz Tzur which summarizes different periods in Jewish History.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/maoz_tzur_translation_etc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jewish Holidays\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OrthodoxUnion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"1970-01-01T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-08-09T15:34:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/iStock_000060195324_Small-e1470756419362.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"837\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"559\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"OU Staff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"OU Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/maoz_tzur_translation_etc\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/maoz_tzur_translation_etc\/\",\"name\":\"Maoz Tzur: Translation & Explanation - Jewish Holidays\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/maoz_tzur_translation_etc\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/maoz_tzur_translation_etc\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/iStock_000060195324_Small-e1470756419362.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"1970-01-01T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-08-09T15:34:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#\/schema\/person\/9c39ad0f9b2550fe954412311bba3b65\"},\"description\":\"A translation and explanation of each of the 6 stanzas of Maoz Tzur which summarizes different periods in Jewish History.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/maoz_tzur_translation_etc\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/maoz_tzur_translation_etc\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/maoz_tzur_translation_etc\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/iStock_000060195324_Small-e1470756419362.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/iStock_000060195324_Small-e1470756419362.jpg\",\"width\":837,\"height\":559,\"caption\":\"Hard work.The person rolls the rock on mountain\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/maoz_tzur_translation_etc\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Maoz Tzur: Translation & Explanation – Jewish Holidays\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/\",\"name\":\"Jewish Holidays\",\"description\":\"Learn about Jewish holidays\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#\/schema\/person\/9c39ad0f9b2550fe954412311bba3b65\",\"name\":\"OU Staff\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/41f3b263e2651da41869efe41b7331cd4ac5453e1719e202d7f0c46360626601?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/41f3b263e2651da41869efe41b7331cd4ac5453e1719e202d7f0c46360626601?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"OU Staff\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/author\/oustaff-me\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Maoz Tzur: Translation & Explanation - Jewish Holidays","description":"A translation and explanation of each of the 6 stanzas of Maoz Tzur which summarizes different periods in Jewish History.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/maoz_tzur_translation_etc\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Maoz Tzur: Translation & Explanation - Jewish Holidays","og_description":"A translation and explanation of each of the 6 stanzas of Maoz Tzur which summarizes different periods in Jewish History.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/maoz_tzur_translation_etc\/","og_site_name":"Jewish Holidays","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OrthodoxUnion","article_published_time":"1970-01-01T00:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-08-09T15:34:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":837,"height":559,"url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/iStock_000060195324_Small-e1470756419362.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"OU Staff","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"OU Staff","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/maoz_tzur_translation_etc\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/maoz_tzur_translation_etc\/","name":"Maoz Tzur: Translation & Explanation - Jewish Holidays","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/maoz_tzur_translation_etc\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/maoz_tzur_translation_etc\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/iStock_000060195324_Small-e1470756419362.jpg","datePublished":"1970-01-01T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2016-08-09T15:34:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#\/schema\/person\/9c39ad0f9b2550fe954412311bba3b65"},"description":"A translation and explanation of each of the 6 stanzas of Maoz Tzur which summarizes different periods in Jewish History.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/maoz_tzur_translation_etc\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/maoz_tzur_translation_etc\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/maoz_tzur_translation_etc\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/iStock_000060195324_Small-e1470756419362.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/iStock_000060195324_Small-e1470756419362.jpg","width":837,"height":559,"caption":"Hard work.The person rolls the rock on mountain"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/maoz_tzur_translation_etc\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Maoz Tzur: Translation & Explanation – Jewish Holidays"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/","name":"Jewish Holidays","description":"Learn about Jewish holidays","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#\/schema\/person\/9c39ad0f9b2550fe954412311bba3b65","name":"OU Staff","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/41f3b263e2651da41869efe41b7331cd4ac5453e1719e202d7f0c46360626601?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/41f3b263e2651da41869efe41b7331cd4ac5453e1719e202d7f0c46360626601?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"OU Staff"},"url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/author\/oustaff-me\/"}]}},"acf":[],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/730"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28311"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39965,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28311\/revisions\/39965"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}