Are today's American Tea Party patriots anything like the Jewish Maccabees of ancient times?

The Jewish eight-day holiday of Hanukah began Friday night. The holiday marks the successful BCE revolt of the Jews of Judea over their Greco-Syrian occupiers.

For many years, the Jews of Judea were resigned to their fate and accepted the presence of their conquerors. With the passage of time, however, the Greco-Syrian occupiers began to force their pagan ways upon the Jews and prohibit Jewish religious practices.

The loss of rights proved too much to bear for many Jews and a grassroots opposition movement began, led by Jewish patriots called Maccabees (hammers), and their leader, Judah the Maccabee. Hopelessly outnumbered, these Maccabee warriors miraculously overcame the intruders through a hard-fought bloody revolt. After their victory, the Jewish Holy Temple, which had been defiled by the pagan worshipping Greeks, was cleansed and rededicated. Hanukah means "re-dedication."

In a way, today's American Tea Party patriots are following the lead of the Jewish Maccabees of ancient times;average citizens awakened by systematic government takeovers, and the specter of vanishing freedoms. Galvanized with outrage, these Tea Party patriots have swarmed town hall meetings, fired off angry e-mails and letters, rallied at Tea Parties across the nation, marched on Washington, and invaded the political arena.

Like the Jewish Maccabees of old, they want to throw out the politicians who embrace the ideology of foreign nations and rededicate our United States to the original principles of the Constitution and the Founding Fathers.

May all American patriots find inspiration from the Hanukah story. The only question is, "Who will be our American Judah Maccabee"?