I realize that you folk are just having fun playing around with your particular pride and prejudices but, this conversation is so historically odd...
The Jews DID NOT reject Hellenism.
Look people, I am an (ultra) Orthodox Jew who happily celebrates Chanukah every year; celebrates the victories of the Maccabees; and the miracle of the Chanukah lights.
However, the fact is that Israel WAS Hellenized.
Jews, as always, were quite happy to throw off the yoke of Torah and get all down and dirty with the fabulous hedonism of the Greek/ Middle Eastern Party!
According to all accounts, secular and religious history, it was just Mattathias and his sons who got all hot and bothered about worshiping Greek idols and playing naked games with the boys...
We're talking about six guys here folks.
So - what happened?
By all accounts, the Seleucid Greeks and the Ptolemaic Greeks (Syria to the North and Egypt to the South) were constantly fighting and Israel was caught up in the middle.
So, the Hellenized Jews were uncomfortable being pawns in these dynastic struggles.
They just wanted to go along and get along.
The Maccabees revolted against the Selucids at one point, gathered some followers, and won!
Other Jews said, Hell yeah, count me in.
However, what is often a missed point is that part of the Greek/ Selucid armies were Hellenized Jews who had no interest in those bible thumping fundamentalists taking over and, a long war was fought and re-fought and re-fought again, with the the descendants of the Maccabees, the Hasmonean Jewish kings, constantly allying themselves with one side or the other against each other in a never ending quest for control of Israel.
The Maccabean Revolt and the Wars against the Hellenized Jews effectively ended when the Roman Pompey was invited to ally with the last Hasmonean king against his rival and, Pompey came to Jerusalem.... and stayed, effectively putting Israel under Roman control and ending the reign of the Maccabees (the Herodian kings were not actual Jews, but that's another story).
Jewish history is one long story of falling in love with "Hellenization."
And, history demonstrates that G-d, in one way or another, has, sooner or later, put a stop to that nonsense and directed His People to reclaim the Torah and once more follow the path that G-d Chose for them at Mt. Sinai.
