The Greek’s Battle Against Torah
ִּימֵי מַתִּתְיָהוּ... כְּשֶׁעָמְדָה מַלְכוּת יָוָן הָרְשָׁעָה עַל עַמְּךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל לְהִַ־שְׁכִּיחָם תּוֹרָתֶךָ... וְאַתָּה בְּרַחֲמֶיךָ הָרַבִּים עָמַדְתָּ לָהֶם בְּעֵת צָרָתָם...מָסַרְתָּ... וּרְשָׁעִים בְּיַד צַדִּיקִים וְזֵדִים בְּיַד עוֹסְקֵי תוֹרָתֶךָ
In the days of Mattityahu... when the wicked Greek kingdom stood against Your people Yisrael to make them forget Your Torah... And You, in Your abundant mercy, stood by them in their time of trouble... and You delivered... the wicked into the hands of those who are occupied in Your Torah...” (Al Hanissim)
The decrees of the wicked Greek kingdom, as revealed by Chazal in their Divine wisdom, were aimed at one central goal: “to make them forget Your Torah.” This was the ultimate intent of the spiritual impurity of Greece. And when there is no engagement in Torah the inevitable result is “to cause them to abandon the statutes of Your will.” Without Torah, the spiritual oxygen of the Jew is cut off. His spiritual soul ceases to pulse until it fades and disappears into the darkness of the heart.
The spiritual spark, the Divine portion from above that lies at the root of the pure soul, becomes buried within and covered by layers of desires and indulgences, chas veshalom, by corrupted and distorted middos, and all other maladies that destroy the soul from within.
This was precisely the Greeks‘ goal. As explicitly stated in the Mishnah Berurah at the beginning of the laws of Chanukah (Orach Chaim 670:6), quoting the Levush, the essence of the Greek kingdom‘s decrees and Yisrael‘s salvation was rooted in this battle over Torah. Examine this teaching carefully and reflect on each of his holy words.
The spiritual impurity of Greece was aimed at making us forget Hashem‘s Torah. Without Torah therecan be no Jew and no Judaism. As the righteous have taught, the evil inclination, the old and foolish king, will permit a Jew nearly everything—even enthusiasm in prayer or acts of chessed—so long as he avoids studying a folio of Gemara. For the moment a Jew internalizes and injects Gemara into his heart and soul, he repels and dissolves the grip of the evil inclination.
Thus, with Divine justice, measure for measure, those wicked Greeks were delivered “into the hands of those who study Your Torah.” During Chanukah, the spark of the Oral Torah began to shine anew, filling the hearts of Yisrael with Torah as the Creator commanded us, “to be occupied in the words of Torah” with study and understanding. When one toils to comprehend learning deeply, one will taste the sweetness and truth of the Torah understood to its full extent.
By doing so, Jews quench their thirsty souls with the elixir of life, “Toras chayim”—a Torah learned with joy, comprehension, and heartfelt effort. This Torah, a true eitz chaim (tree of life), has been planted deep within us.
Oblivious to the Danger
Rav Shalom Schwadron, zt”l, the revered Maggid of Yerushalayim, recounted that during the fierce battles raging in the streets of the holy city, when the shells of the Jordanian Legion flew fearsomely over the homes of the Jewish people, causing loss of life, extensive damage, and above all, immense fear and panic from deafening explosions, he set out one morning with great messirus nefesh to attend Shacharis in the shul, determined not to miss tefillah with a tzibbur (davening with a minyan).
This was after a bitter and harrowing night, one of the darkest nights of the war when danger loomed outside, the sword devoured lives, and terror gripped homes. It was a night of relentless shelling and unceasing bombardment.
