After the Yidden won the war, they came to the בית המקדש, cleaned and purified it, “and they lit candles in the courtyards of Your holy בית המקדש” (ךָש ד ת ק רוֹצ ח ב נֵרוֹת ו הִד לִיקוּ).
Since these candles were lit “in the ___________” (plural), they are not the lights of the מנורה (of which there was only one), and which was lit inside the בית המקדש, not in the courtyard. Rather, these were many lights that were lit in celebration of the miracle.
QUESTION:
Based on the above, in ועל הנסים we thank Hashem ______ for the miracle of winning the war. Why do we not also mention of the miracle of the oil?
ANSWER:
The main threat of the י ו נִ ים was a ____________ one, not a physical one. The ג זֵ ירוֹת of the י ו נִ ים were not against Yidden, but against Yiddishkeit. They wanted to stop Yidden from learning תורה and doing מצוות. More specifically, they wanted Yidden to stop learning תורה as Hashem’s תורה, and stop doing מצוות as Hashem’s commandments.
The physical battle only happened because of the spiritual war. And since the main battle of the יונים was a spiritual one, the main victory is the spiritual victory, that we were able to return to the בית המקדש, light the מנורה, and live as Yidden. The spiritual victory is so important, that in its context the physical victory loses its significance.
So in order to properly highlight each miracle, we focus on each one separately. We focus on thanking Hashem for the miracle of the ____________ victory by saying ועל הנסים. And we focus on thanking Hashem for the miracle of spiritual victory by lighting the מנורה.
Further discussion:
Where is there a hint to the miracle of the oil in ועל הנסים? And where is there a hint to the miracle of winning the war when we light the candles? (See footnotes 52-54 in the שיחה)
