I know that there are translations of I Maccabees from the Greek back into Hebrew (some stand-alone editions, some within a Hebrew translation of other books of the Apocrypha). I don't know, however, what editions are currently in print.
The Tanakh canon may have been closed in 90-100 C.E., but that doesn't mean that any book written before that date was eligible for canonization. For books to be eligible, they had to have be written (or thought to have been written, some may say) before the cessation of prophecy, placed in Ezra's time (ca. 444 B.C.E.). The ArtScroll "Chanukah" is an interesting book. The first sections of the book paraphrase an English translation of parts of I and II Maccabees (interpolating some additional material from traditional sources). It also discusses and examines the apocryphal book of Judith (and Hebrew sources of that story), Megilat Antiochus, and the story of the martyred mother and her seven sons, among other things. A big section of it establishes a chronology of the Second Temple period, managing to place the establishment of Chanukah in 165 B.C.E., agreeing with secular historians (though some place it in 164 B.C.E.), as opposed to other Jewish sources which date Chanukah to about 143 B.C.E. In the Jewish Timeline Book (I don't remember the exact title, but it has a chronology of Jewish history providing the context of world history), also from an Orthodox viewpoint, there is harsh criticism on the way ArtScroll went about establishing its chronology; e.g., saying they misinterpreted sources. Happy Chanukah to everyone! -Stanley Nachamie [EMAIL PROTECTED] Authority Control Librarian (currently on leave) City University of New York __________________________________ ========================================================================== HaSafran - The Electronic Forum of the Association of Jewish Libraries Submissions for HaSafran, send to: Hasafran at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listserver at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 at osu.edu AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org/
