ותקותם בכל דור ודור
“You have been their eternal salvation and their hope throughout the generations.” (Piyut Shoshanas Yaakov)
Following the Megillah reading, we sing the piyut of Shoshanas Yaakov which includes the statement: ותקותם בכל דור ודור - “You have been their eternal salvation and their hope throughout the generations”. What does this phrase mean?
Prior to singing Shoshanas Yaakov, we actually say a berachah on concluding the Megillah reading: ברוך אתה ה' אלקינו מלך העולם הרב את ריבנו והדן את דיננו והנוקם את נקמתנו והמשלם גמול לכל אויבו נפשנו והנפרע לנו מצרינו ברוך אתה ה' הנפרע לעמו ישראל מכל צריהם הא-ל המושיע - “Blessed are You, Hashem, our G-d, King of the universe, Who takes up our grievance, judges our claim, avenges our wrong; exacts vengeance for us from our foes, and Who brings just retribution upon all enemies of our soul. Blessed are you Hashem, Who exacts vengeance for His people Yisroel from all their foes, the G-d Who brings salvation.” The language of this berachah is in the present tense.
On Chanukah, we say in Al HaNissim a similar tefillah except it is in the past tense: רבת את ריבם דנת את דינם נקמת את נקמתם - “He fought our fight; He judged our claim; He avenged our wrong”. What is the significance of this change in tense, why on Chanukah are the verbs in the past tense and on Purim are they in the present tense?
The Vilna Gaon says regarding the pasuk: להגיד בבקר חסדך ואמונתך בלילות - “To speak of Your kindness in the morning, and of Your faithfulness at night” (Tehillim 92:3), that morning (בוקר) connotes days of redemption. Redemption is bright like the morning sun. When Klal Yisroel are redeemed, when they are in Eretz Yisroel at peace in their land, then things appear to us like morning. Likewise, evening and nighttime are metaphors for galus [exile]. When we are in galus, it is a time of: ואמונתך בלילות - “Your Faithfulness at night,” meaning we do not see the yad [hand] of Hashem, which is hidden. At such times, it appears as if we are abandoned, chas v’sholam. The quality that sustains us through the night of our galus is our: ואמונתך בלילות, that that despite our galus, Hashem is still interested in us and still cares about us.
The paradigm of the quality of, ואמונתך בלילות, is the Yom Tov of Purim. Purim is the Yom Tov of galus. During the Persian galus, it looked for a time as though Hashem had abandoned Klal Yisroel. (“The decree went forth to destroy and eradicate every Jew from young to old in a single day.”) The attribute of: ואמונתך בלילות - “Your Faithfulness at night,” is what kept them going. Purim is a paradigm of an event in history when Klal Yisroel thinks they are abandoned but then discovers that Hashem is still interested and He still loves us. He is still fighting our battles even when we are in galus.
That is why on Purim our tefillah is in the present tense: הרב את ריבנו והדן את דיננו והנוקם את נקמתנו – “Who fights our battles, who judges our claims, who avenges those who wrong us.” Even when we are in galus, when it appears so many times that things are lost — until this very day we are surrounded by people who want to destroy us — even now Hashem is presently fighting our battles.
Chanukah is a miracle that occurred when we had a Beis HaMikdosh. We knew that the Ribbono Shel Olam was involved at such a time in history. That era is in the past, so we speak of the Chanukah narrative in the past tense. However, on Purim while we are still in galus, we need to hear that the Ribbono Shel Olam not only DID IT for us in the past, but he DOES IT for us in the present as well.
Purim is a Yom Tov that speaks to us presently and that is why Chazal wrote in Shoshanas Yaakov the words: ותקותם בכל דור ודור - “And their hope throughout the generations.” Our hope is that what happened on Purim will keep happening for us even now. Our hope is not only for then but also for every generation (including the present) where they are: עומדים עלינו לכלותינו - “Standing up against us and attempting to destroy us”.
Another answer I saw as to why after Megillah we say: הרב את ריבנו והדן את דיננו - “Who fights our battles, who judges our claims”, whereas on Chanukah in Al HaNissim we say: רבת את ריבם דנת את דינם - “He fought our fight; He judged our claim.” Is that on Chanukah the gezeirah [decree] of the Yevanim was on Torah and mitzvos like we say: להשכיחם תורתך ולהעבירם מחקי רצונך – “To make us forget the Torah and mitzvos”. When there is a gezeirah against Torah and mitzvos the way of the world is, we leave it for others to sort out the problems and to work on being mevatel the decree. On Purim, however, it was a decree on the bodies of Klal Yisroel, they wanted to literally wipe out the Jews. When it comes to such a type of decree then suddenly everyone gets involved and does what they can. Therefore, on Chanukah we say, רבת את ריבם דנת את דינם, in the plural, as people left the uprooting of the decree for others, on Purim, however, when everyone felt it was upon them to sort out the decree we say, הרב את ריבנו והדן את דיננו, in the singular.
