How few were the few?

 

ורבים ביד מעטים How few were the few? In מס' סופרים  פ"כ the נוסח of בימי מתתיהו there is the letter ו (Vav) at the beginning of the word חשמונאי which translates AND Chashmonai. In other words, there were two heads of family, one was מתתיהו and the other was חשמונאי. Together with their children, they  fought the יונים. There are numerous conflicting Midrashim regarding the  חשמונאים and its history. One of the Midrashim claims there were only three sons of מתתיהו and seven sons of חשמונאי which brings to a total of 12 people who fought the יונים. Rashi in (וזאת הברכה (ל"ג:י"א writes (based on this Midrash). the מעטים were 12 Some, mistakenly, think that Rashi held that there were 13 in total being, he mentions the 12 plus אלעזר (One of the the 3 sons who started the revolt by decapitating the יוני)