For the first installment of Arutz Sheva’s eight part Hanukkah special – In The Footsteps of The Maccabees – Israeli historian Dr. Hagai Ben-Artzi brings you to the ancient synagogue in Modiin, where the rebellion against the Syrian-Greek Empire first began.

From these hills the call of Matityahu the Kohen, leader of the Hasmoneans and initiator of the Jewish Revolt, first rang out: “Whoever is zealous for the Lord, follow me!”

And from the nearby caves the small band of rebels defied attempts to snuff out their nascent revolution, and launched a full-scale uprising against the occupiers of Jerusalem.