During the days of the holiday of Chanukah, our Sages established an edict to commemorate the miracle that Hashem performed for our forefathers: the lighting of Chanukah candles for eight days. It would seem, however, that the lighting of the Chanukah candles does not commemorate all the miracles that occurred during the days of Chanukah, rather it only commemorates the miracle of the single, pure jug of oil that was found in the Holy Temple, which was only enough to last for one day but subsequently lasted for eight. However, regarding the miracle that Hashem performed that few defeated many and Israel was saved from spiritual extinction, we do not find our Sages enacting any particular memorial.
What requires further explanation is the fact that in the text of the “Al Hanissim” prayer added into the Amida and Birkat Hamazon, we find mention of the miraculous victory of the Maccabees over the Greeks in that the wicked Greeks “tried to make your nation forget your Torah and to impede them from carrying out your laws, and You, Hashem, etc. handed over the mighty ones into the hands of the weak and the many into the hands of the few.” We find no mention, however, about the miracle of the oil. If our Sages deemed the miracle of the canister of oil so important that they established the Mitzvah of lighting Chanukah candles because of it, why is it that the main miracle of Chanukah is completely omitted from the daily prayers and Birkat Hamazon?
The Gemara (Ta’anit 25a) recounts how once the daughter of the saintly Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa mistakenly lit Shabbat candles using vinegar instead of olive oil. She started to cry when she realized that the candles would soon go out and the family would sit in darkness the entire Shabbat. Her father saw her distress and told her, “My daughter, why are you crying? The One who commanded the oil to burn will command the vinegar to burn as well.” His words came true as the vinegar-filled lamps stayed lit the entire Shabbat and did not go out until the following night. We see that a similar miracle that occurred to the Chashmonaim in the Holy Temple with the jug of oil occurred to Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa as well. If this is the case though, it would seem that one might not be so impressed with the miracle of the oil in the Temple for we see Hashem changing the forces of nature in this matter for others of His righteous followers as well. If so, why did our Sages feel that this miracle of the oil was of utmost importance such that they needed to establish a commemoration for it, while the seemingly primary miracle of the victory over the Greeks lacks any tangible commemoration?
Rather, we must answer that the main miracle of Chanukah was in fact the victory of the Maccabees over the wicked Greeks. Nevertheless, the battles that the Maccabees waged against the Greeks were not entirely supernatural, and a skeptic might claim that the victory was actually due to the supreme might of the Maccabees. And even though they were only a few and the Greeks were many, still in all they were able to defeat the Greeks with their sheer strength and wisdom in war tactics (like the Ran writes in Chullin 95b that it is completely natural for two or three brave-hearted individuals to chase away many who are frightened). However, the miracle of the oil will cancel all claims of such skeptics for it was, without a doubt, purely supernatural. The miracle of the oil demonstrates that all of the miracles of Chanukah were supernatural, just that some were revealed and some were hidden, but we praise Hashem for them all by saying Hallel and fulfilling the rabbinic enactment of lighting Chanukah candles for eight days.
For the same reason, the holiday of Chanukah is not known for its festive meals and delights as is customary during the other holidays of the year, for Chanukah is not a celebration of the salvation of the physical body from the Greeks, on the contrary the Greeks had no interest in killing the Jewish body, rather they tried to slay the collective soul of the Jewish nation. Therefore, it is only fitting to commemorate the miracle with something spiritual, i.e. the light of the Chanukah candles, which symbolize one’s soul and the spiritual light that emanates from it. Even the physical salvation that we experienced in the days of the Maccabees is in essence contingent on the spiritual salvation, for if they wanted to, the Maccabees could have also surrendered to and joined the lifestyle of the Hellenistic Greeks and by doing so the Torah would have been forgotten from Israel, G-d forbid. If so, our happiness is not about the miraculous victory, rather it is a spiritual happiness about a spiritual salvation. Therefore, we must mark this salvation in a spiritual fashion, for the miracle of the jug of oil was a purely spiritual one, and the light that this miracle brought about still shines brightly until this very day. In the merit of this light we shall G-d willing continue on the path of Torah and fear of Heaven until the arrival of our righteous Mashiach who will bring about our ultimate redemption speedily in our days, Amen.
