Chanukah Dvar Torah
by Rebecca Shiner
The על הניסים prayer, which is inserted into שמונה עשרה and ברכת המזון on חנוכה, describes the war of חנוכה in a series of contrasts: ״מסרת גיבורים ביד חלשים, רבים ביד מעטים, טמאים ביד טהורים, ורשעים ביד צדיקים, וזידים ביד עוסקי תורתך״. The last two sets of contrasts, however, seem superfluous — they are implied in the first three sets.
Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik therefore explains that the apparent redundancy is meant to illustrate the dual nature of the war of חנוכה. The מכבים fought the Seleucid Greeks, while simultaneously fighting the Hellenized Jews. The מכבים won.
While the Jewish people did not achieve complete unity following the חנוכה story, because much of the infighting between the מכבים and the Hellenized Jews continued and later translated into the dichotomy between the פרושים and צדוקים, we pray that the Jewish merit to achieve true unity with the rebuilding of the בית המקדש במהרה בימינו.
