The Al Hanisim Prayer II: Well Planned
The Al Hanisim Prayer II: Well Planned

With the holiday of Chanukah upon us, conversation usually centers on the lighting of the candles. In fact, many Sages refer to the candles of Chanukah as one of the most beloved of commandments, uniting the family together in a profound manner. Every evening is dominated by the lights present in Jewish homes around the world. There was another area that the Sages chose to change – tefilah, or prayer. As we know, the prayer of Al Hanisim was instituted for both Chanukah and Purim. It behooves us to try and understand the important messages being sent in the brilliant compositions of our Sages.

After the introduction of Al Hanisim, the prayer re-tells the story of the Greek attempts to destroy the Jews, and the subsequent intervention by God, leading to the miraculous military victory and rededication of the Temple. As we know, the Sages were extremely precise in their language; therefore, when first examining the words, some troubling questions come to the surface.

The prayer begins as follows:

In the days of Matityahu, the son of Yochanan the High Priest, the Hasmonean and his sons, when the wicked Hellenic government rose up (amda) against Your people Israel to make them forget your Torah and violate the decrees (chukei) of Your will

The apparent question here lies in the mentioning of both forgetting the Torah as well as the violation of the decrees. What is each one teaching us?

In the next part, we the Sages describe God’s intervention:

But You, in Your abounding mercies, stood (amadta) by them in the time of their distress. You waged their battles, defended their rights, and avenged the wrong done to them. ”

Once again, we see multiple actions – God “waging battles”, “defended their rights”, and “avenged the wrong done to them”. Why the three? Why not just cut to the chase, the last one that alludes to the war?

There is one other subtle issue here that begs for an explanation. In describing the Hellenic planning, the word “amda” is used. Astonishingly, the same word is used when describing God’s intervention. Why would the Sages use the same word in describing each?

Turning to the first question, a commentator, the Dover Shalom, writes that there were two distinct plans enacted by the Greeks. The first was to prevent the learning of Torah, while the second was decrees to force the Jews to violate the commandments. This two pronged assault would eventually destroy the ideology of Judasim. Without learning, the system of knowledge cannot be perpetuated. And with the violation of commandments, there is no adherence to the system. In other words, the totality of the plan would result in the destruction of Judaism.

The Abudraham offers an alternate possibility. He writes that the first step involved making the Jews violate the commandments, while the second was the enactment of decrees forbidding the practice of the commandments. This is a more complex explanation, as it does not seem that there is a need for both descriptions. What the Abudraham is hinting at is an important idea. In forcing the Jews to violate the commandments, the Greeks demonstrated their understanding of how to spiritually eradicate the Jews. The first step is to take the world of prohibition and make it regular. Over time, this will redefine the world of sin to normative human behavior. As we are in so many ways defined by our actions, our ability to perceive the reality of Jewish law would be slowly destroyed. Once we became desensitized to sin, the enactment of decrees would result in zero resistance from the Jewish people.

Based on the above interpretations, we see something fascinating about the phenomenon of Hellenism. Rather than attempt to annihilate the Jews, an objective sought out by enemies such as Haman and Hitler, the Greeks were focused on destroying our ideology. One could surmise that there was a unique goal set forth by the Greeks. It was common knowledge that the Jewish people were personified by their attachment to knowledge, their desire to learn, their “smarts”. The Greeks wanted to incorporate those features into their super-society; in order to do so, the Jews had to abandon any inkling of religion. Of course, they failed to realize that without our ideology, we are nothing.

In the Sages description of God’s intervention, another commentator, the Iyun Tefilah, notes the issue of the three portrayals and offers a compelling explanation. The concept of “waging battles” refers to God’s evaluation of the present situation. After this, God judges the people, determining if they are worthy of intervention. If they are, only then does God avenge the wrong and saves the Jews. Obviously, this example is quite anthropomorphic, as suggesting God operates in a step-by-step fashion is heretical.

Instead, the Sages are attempting to reinforce the idea that we should never look at God’s intervention as some type of impulsive action. Man can be moved solely by mercy, and sometimes instinctively acts in line with this emotion. What we see from this imagery concerning God is that we should attempt to see the entire picture, and strive to act in line with what is correct, rather than that which engenders sympathy. God determined that we indeed merited His intervention, and we were therefore saved.

We can now have a better understanding of the use of “omed” twice. Our enemies are not simply bloodthirsty savages who seek our deaths. We need to internalize the reality that our enemies understand us quite well, studying us to find ways to cleanse us of our ideology. They understand that what makes us Jewish is our belief in God, adherence to His Torah, and following of His ways. Our most dangerous enemies are not those who simply preach violence and murder. They are those who try to undermine Judaism, and they use their minds to conceive of diabolical plans and schemes to plot our downfall. We must study them and understand them.

In a similar vein, we study God as well, seeing how His actions reflect infinite wisdom and true compassion. We must be wary projecting simplistic human emotion onto God; rather, we need to see God as always operating based on His infinite wisdom. As well, we need to always remember that our relationship with God is always based on merit. When we are functioning as He intended, God will intervene on our behalf. When we do not, we suffer at the hands of our enemies.

With Chanukah upon us, let us use the lessons of this special prayer to elevate ourselves to a higher level of perfection and merit the ultimate intervention, the time of Redemption.