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After the war against the Greeks, the cultural struggle returned to the fore. The Jews still had to defend themselves against the torrent of Hellenism that had engulfed the surrounding cultures. Greek culture was very powerful, which is why it succeeded in spreading throughout the civilized world. Even when Rome became the world’s major military power, Greek culture remained the dominant cultural force. Although the Hasmonean revolt impeded the Hellenization process, it did not stop it entirely. A few decades later, Hellenism once again struck deep roots, especially among Jews in close contact with gentiles. The majority of Hellenists of the Hasmonean era were known as Sadducees. They did not preach total assimilation, but rather believed it was possible to combine loyalty to both the Written Torah and Greek culture within a Jewish framework.
One of the great tragedies of Jewish history is that the descendants of Mattathias, who had sacrificed his life to fight Hellenism, were themselves drawn to Hellenism. Some even persecuted the Sages of Israel. This explains the criticisms that certain Sages leveled against the Hasmoneans, which included arrogating the role of High Priest to themselves and neglecting to appoint a king from David’s descendants. Instead, they assumed political leadership, first as chieftains and afterwards as kings. The Hasmoneans’ involvement in matters of state interfered with their priestly duties, the goals of which were to sanctify the people and strengthen their observance of Torah and mitzvot. Consequently, Hellenism's impact continued to grow, and many Jews abandoned Torah study and mitzva observance.
From a political standpoint too, the Hasmonean kingdom was far from perfect, as it existed in the shadow of the Greeks and later of the Romans. Eventually, the Hasmoneans' slaves – foremost Herod – annihilated the entire Hasmonean line and ruled in their stead. Things continued to get worse until the Romans destroyed the Second Temple, decimated the Land of Israel, and exiled the Jews. The exile was extremely harsh and lasted for two thousand years, during which the Jews suffered all the curses predicted in the Torah (Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28).
