Everyone familiar with the Chanukah story knows how a small cruse, with sufficient oil to light the Temple menorah for a single day, miraculously burned for eight days.

Why isn't this miracle mentioned in Al HaNissim?

In the Al HaNissim prayer recited on Chanukah, we say: "The miracles . . . that You have done for our ancestors in those days, at this time: In the days of Matisyahu . . . when the wicked Hellenic government arose against Your people Israel to make them forget your Torah and to make them violate the decrees of Your will. . . . You delivered the mighty into the hand of the weak, the many into the hand of the few . . . Afterwards Your children entered the house of Your dwelling, cleansed Your Temple, purified Your sanctuary, kindled lights in Your holy courtyards, and instituted these eight days of Chanukah to give thanks and praise to Your great name."

Isn't something missing? Of course! Everyone familiar with the Chanukah story knows how a small cruse, with sufficient oil to light the Temple menorah for a single day, miraculously burned for eight days. It is in commemoration of this miracle that we kindle the Chanukah lights. It would appear that this miracle, much more than the military miracle, defines Chanukah. Yet Al HaNissim ignores the oil miracle! (There is a passing mention of "lights" kindled in "Your holy courtyards." This reference is not to the menorah — which was located inside the Sanctuary, not in the Temple courtyard — but to lights kindled in celebration throughout the Temple compound and the city of Jerusalem.)

By contrast, the Talmud concentrates on the miracle of the oil, virtually ignoring the military miracle. "What is Chanukah?" asks the Talmud, meaning, "Over what miracle was it established?" (Rashi, Shabbos 21b). The Talmud answers: "When the Greeks entered the Sanctuary, they contaminated all its oil. Then, when the royal Hasmonean family overpowered and was victorious over them, they searched and found only a single cruse of pure oil that was sealed with the seal of the High Priest, enough to light the menorah for a single day. A miracle occurred, and they lit the menorah with this oil for eight days. The following year, they established these [eight days] as days of festivity and praise and thanksgiving for G-d." Here we find only a passing reference to the military victory, with no mention that this battle pitted a small band of Jews against one of the mightiest armies on earth. The focus here is wholly on the oil miracle, as if it were the only significant event we commemorate on Chanukah.

There thus seems to be a complete separation between the "physical" and "spiritual" miracles of Chanukah, to the extent that the mention of one precludes any mention of the other. When the physical salvation of Israel is recalled, we make no reference to miracle of the oil; and when we relate to the spiritual significance of Chanukah — the triumph of light over darkness — we are oblivious to the physical, military victory.

The Spiritual Festival

The struggles and triumphs chronicled by the Jewish calendar always convey more than the battle for mere physical survival. The Exodus, commemorated and re-experienced each Passover, was more than a people's liberation from slavery to freedom; it was their extraction from a pagan Egypt to receive the Torah at Sinai and enter into a covenant with G-d as His "nation of priests and holy people" (Exodus 3:12). On Purim we remember that Haman wished to annihilate the Jews because "they are a singular people . . . whose laws are different from those of all other nations" (Esther 3:8). Purim celebrates not only the physical salvation of the Jew, but of the Jew's identity and way of life.

But the battle waged by the Hasmoneans against the Greeks was the most spiritual battle in Jewish history. The Greeks were liberal rulers. They respected the religions and cultures of the peoples under their dominion, and did not endeavor to impose Greek beliefs upon them. The Greeks merely wished to "Hellenize" their captives — to "enlighten" their lives with the culture and philosophy of Greece. Keep your books of wisdom, they said to the Jew, keep your laws and customs, but enrich them with our wisdom, adorn them with our art, blend them into our lifestyle. Worship your G-d in your Temple, but then worship the human body in the adjoining sports stadium we'll build for you. Study your Torah, but apply to it the principles of our philosophy and aesthetics of our literature.

The Hasmoneans fought for independence from Hellenic rule because the Greeks sought to "make them forget Your Torah and make them violate the decrees of Your will." They did not fight for the Torah per se, but for "Your Torah" — for the principle that the Torah is G-d's law, rather than a repository of human wisdom that can be commingled with other repositories of human wisdom. The Jews did not fight for the mitzvos as the Jewish way of life, but as "the decrees of Your will," as the suprarational will of G-d, which cannot be rationalized or changed. They fought not for any material or political end, not for the preservation of their identity and lifestyle, not even for the right to study the Torah and fulfill its commandments, but for the very soul of Judaism, for the purity of Torah as the Divine word and its mitzvos as the Divine will.

Therefore, when the Talmud answers the question "What is Chanukah?" it defines the festival solely in terms of its spiritual miracles — the discovery of the pure cruse of oil and the rekindling of the Divine light that emanated from the Holy Temple. Since Chanukah marks our most spiritual battle, its spiritual content predominates to the extent that it completely eclipses the holiday's physical aspect. Although the military miracles enabled the lighting of the menorah, they are ignored when we speak of the miracle that defines the essence of Chanukah. This is why the prayer instituted by our Sages to give thanks to G-d for the military salvation omits all mention of the miracle of the oil. For only when the military miracle is regarded on its own can it be appreciated; were it to be discussed along with the miracle of the oil, it would fade to insignificance. Within the super-spiritual context of Chanukah, the military miracle would be reduced to a minor detail. Chanukah's overriding spirituality is emphasized by the festival's principal mitzvah, the kindling of the lights. We are physical beings, enjoined to anchor our every experience to a physical deed. On Passover, we celebrate our freedom with matzoh and wine. On Purim, we read the Megillah and exchange gifts with friends. Chanukah does have its "ritualistic" element, in which a physical act and object embody the festival's significance. But here the vehicle of choice is light, the most spiritual of physical phenomena.

Body and Soul

Man is comprised of a soul and a body, of a spiritual essence that is "literally part of G-d above" (Job 31:2; Tanya, Ch. 2), and the physical vehicle by which it experiences and impacts the world. The body was designed to serve the soul in its mission to develop the world in accordance with the Divine will.

Of course, man has freedom of choice. The body can rebel against the dominion of the soul; it may even make the pursuit of material things the focus of its life, and may exploit the soul's spiritual prowess to this end. But in the body's natural, uncorrupted state, it is the soul's servant, channeling its energies and implementing its will.

There are, however, many levels to this submission of matter to spirit. The body might recognize that the purpose of life on earth lies with the soul's aspirations, yet also entertain an "agenda" of its own alongside the spiritual agenda. Or it might selflessly serve the soul, acknowledging the spiritual as the only goal worthy of pursuit while at the same time its own needs remain a pronounced part of life, if only out of natural necessity.

Chanukah teaches us that there is a level of supremacy of soul over body so absolute that the body is virtually invisible. It continues to attend to its own needs, because a soul can only operate within a functioning body; but these needs are completely eclipsed by the spiritual essence of life. One sees not a material creature foraging for food, shelter, and comfort, but a spiritual being whose spiritual endeavors consume his or her entire being. For all but the most spiritual tzaddik, it is not possible, nor desirable, to perpetually maintain this state; indeed, Chanukah lasts only eight days out of the year. But each and every one of us is capable of experiencing moments of such consummate spirituality, moments in which we so completely "lose ourselves" in our commitment to our spiritual purpose that our material cares become utterly insignificant.

Artwork by Pesach Gerber, from Nine Spoons, (see "Reading Aloud to Children," Odds and Ends).