The poem is loosely based on the late-antique/early medieval Aramiac prose work Megillat Antiochus, a legendary account of the Maccabean Revolt.
From the odd ordering of the poem, the focus on Nikanor, the mention of banning the Torah instead of the new moon, and the teeth enabled circumcision, one wonders whether the poem was fully based on the megillah at all, or whether it had more of an independent life and some elements were selected or reworked and re-ordered as they had a more contemporary relevance, or just added for ‘shock value’.41Belatedly for Hanukkah.Either way, it is another celebration of the Chanukah miracle that at least two of the scribes in the Genizah, (one, our FOTM, written by a man of some considerable standing in the community), felt worthy to bring to our attention.
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