What is the significance of demanding that a Jew write on the horn of an ox that they have no portion in the G-d of Israel?

Question

In reflecting over the concepts of Hanukkah there seem, at first glance, to be many contradictory and conflicting messages.

In the blessing related to Hanukkah we acknowledge, thank and praise G-d for the miracles, relief and salvation, etc. which G-d did for us when the Greeks attempted to cause us to forget G-d’s Torah and to transgress G-d’s will.

It then enumerates, contrasts and compares the negative attributes of the Greeks with the positive attributes of the Jewish people.

This is the general summary of the commemoration of Hanukkah.

But in contrast to this, we find only a few centuries later that the Greeks, Greek wisdom (consider Rambam’s Moreh Nevuchim) and language are accorded places of special honor by none other than Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel like is taught in Megilla 9b and Sotah 49b. That only a Sefer Torah written in Koine Greek is considered holy and valid from all the other languages of the nations. And of the 1000 students in the Yeshiva of Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel’s father, 500 studied the wisdom of the Torah and 500 studied Greek wisdom! It would seem that all the lessons from the Hellenists and Maccabees were forgotten.

And yet when summarizing the true message of Hanukkah, Torah says (see Bereshit Rabbah 2:5 and 44:20) that the Greeks demanded of the Jews that they write on the horn of an ox that they have no portion in the G-d of Israel!

How does this act represent and encompass the essence of the message of Hanukkah and how is this message to be understood in the apparently contradictory behavior of Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel only a few centuries later?

Answer 1

This vort is really part of a much bigger essay that I heard, but for this specific point here's the short and simple pshat that I was told. In Lashon Hakodesh the letter "Shin" in the beginning of a root generally denotes "Tameness", while the letter "Peh" in the beginning of a root generally denotes "Wildness". (Try this out for yourself.) In line with this a "Par" is a bull, while a "Shor" is an ox. The difference between an ox and a bull is, an ox is a castrated male while a bull is uncastrated. Symbolically speaking the ox is pictured with a yoke on its back while a bull is running free with a red cape flying in the wind (Hence the "Parah" Adumah's clearly untamed description.) Now, the horns of a bull are intended to be used for fighting. However, a Shor which is a castrated and tamed version of its former self, it has absolutely no need for its horns! Its horns are vestigial! Therefore, on a simple level since the horn of an ox is the perfect representation of the concept of "old-fashioned/No-longer-relevant", the Greeks forced the Jews to write that their religion is also no longer relevant on the horn of an ox.

Answer 2

B"H, I recently discussed this chiddush with my chavrusa.

In Daniel 8:5, it writes:

and the goat had a conspicuous horn between its eyes

The Shelah HaKadosh writes (Torah Shebikhtav, Vayeshev, Miketz, Vayigash, Torah Ohr 143) that the exile under the Greek empire is named קרן (see also the Daas Zkenim on Bereishis 15:12) - horn. Why?

The Greeks darkened the eyes of Israel and wanted to deprive it of any vestige of holiness, even of the reduced level of holiness Israel still possessed and symbolized by the ox's single horn

Furthermore, the Shelah writes:

The Greeks demanded that the Jews inscribe on the horn of their oxen that they had dissociated themselves from the G–d of Israel.

But why on horns? The Shelah goes on to explain that in different places in Torah and Tanach, the word קרן is used in reference to:

• Moshe Rabbeinu; Shemos 34:29
• Torah itself; Habakkuk 3:4 with Rashi
• Priesthood; Tehillim 112:9
• B'nei Yisrael; Tehillim 148:14

Regarding the horns of B'nei Yisrael, the Shelah writes:

The Midrash continues that all of these "horns" were placed on the heads of the Jewish people, but they forfeited them due to their sins. [...] Provided Israel repents, G–d will restore these horns to their rightful place viz. Psalms 75,11: "And I will cut off all the horns of the wicked, but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up." This refers to the horns that the “Righteous One of the world,” i.e. G–d, had cut off. When is the time that He will restore them to their righful position? It is when G–d will raise the horn of His anointed: "He will raise the horn of His anointed" (Samuel I 2,10).

Answer 3

I don't know the full answer but I remember one remez from the Hida about this is that Yosef ha Tzadik was like an ox, and the Shechinah rested upon him, so it was like the Greeks made klah Israel renounce the Shechinah, like saying the Shechinah is not with you anymore because just like the sin of the golden calf, where a calf was built and the Shechinah departed, you are sinning now also so the Shechinah is departed from you now also, and writing on the ox's horn demonstrates this. If anyone knows the exact source please comment with exact wording, please comment, since I am going from memory and I didn't read it directly but heard it in a shiur.

Also this may not be the Hida but I remember that Sukkot was instituted after the miracle that happened after the sin of the golden calf, and Honukkah was instituted after this happened, which has a parallel because both came after sins involving an ox or calf.

Sorry it's not a full answer. There is very little Torah I can recall and post that you wouldn't already know better than me, but hopefully there is something here good for someone reading. It felt like more than a comment although not a full answer either.