Earlier version
Short review of Sicha
Chanukah
1. It is stated in Tractate Shabbos1: "מאי חנוכה" ("What is Chanukah?") "When the Greeks entered the Sanctuary, they defiled all the oils in the Sanctuary; and when the kingdom of the house of the Chashmonaim prevailed and defeated them, they searched and found only one cruse of oil that was sealed with the seal of the Kohen Gadol, and it contained only enough to light for one day. A miracle was performed with it, and they lit from it for eight days. The following year they established them and made them festive days with Hallel and thanksgiving."
The Tur writes2 [in the name of the Maharam of Rothenburg, of blessed memory]: "שריבוי הסעודות שמרבים בהם הן סעודות הרשות" ("The many feasts that people increase on them are optional feasts, for they were established only for praise and thanksgiving, and not3 for feasting and rejoicing"). The Rambam, however, writes4 as follows: "התקינו חכמים שבאותו הדור" ("The Sages of that generation ordained that these eight days, which begin on the twenty-fifth of Kislev, should be days of rejoicing and Hallel"). And the Maharshal writes5 that according to the Rambam, "those feasts that are made on the days of Chanukah . . . are feasts of a mitzvah"6.
At first glance this is puzzling: the Gemara said, "They established them . . . with Hallel and thanksgiving," while the Rambam writes that they are (also) "days of rejoicing"7?
2. There is another difference between the Rambam and what is written in the Gemara:
In Tractate Shabbos there: "What is Chanukah? . . . And they found only one cruse of oil . . . A miracle was performed with it, and they lit from it for eight days. The following year they established them, etc." That is, the days of Chanukah were established on account of the miracle of the cruse of oil, and not on account of the miracle of the military victory;
whereas the Rambam8 explains, as the cause and reason9 for "the Sages ordained . . . that these eight days . . . should be days of rejoicing and Hallel," the salvation of the Jewish people and their rescue from the hands of the Greeks, and the return of sovereignty to Israel, and (afterwards) the miracle of the cruse of oil.
3. This will be understood by first introducing the well-known question10: "The main miracle was" the military victory, "the many into the hands of the few, the mighty into the hands of the weak, etc." Why, then, did the Gemara say that the days of Chanukah were established [not because of the miracle of the military victory and the salvation of the Jewish people from the hands of the Greeks, but rather] because of the miracle of the one cruse of oil, etc.? For seemingly, "how11 could they make the secondary into the main thing?"
Because of the force of this question, the Rambam holds that the Gemara's intent in asking "What is Chanukah?" is not "for which miracle did they establish it", but rather to give a reason for their having established it "with Hallel and thanksgiving." That is, even without the miracle of the cruse of oil, they would have established the day of the military victory as a Yom Tov12 (a day of rejoicing13); and what they said, "What is Chanukah? . . . one cruse of oil, etc.," relates to the particular detail of "Hallel and thanksgiving" — for the fact that "they established them and made them festive days with Hallel and thanksgiving" is on account of the miracle that occurred with the oil.
This is why, after the Rambam explains at length the events of Chanukah, he concludes: "ומפני זה התקינו חכמים" ("And because of this the Sages ordained . . . days of rejoicing and Hallel"). That is, because of the two kinds of events and miracles mentioned above, they ordained two matters — "days of rejoicing" and "days of Hallel":
"Days of rejoicing" — because "He saved them from their hands and rescued them . . . and sovereignty returned to Israel"14; and "days of Hallel" — these come primarily15 because of the miracle that occurred with the cruse of oil, that "they lit from it the lamps of the arrangement for eight days."
Accordingly, we can also appreciate why the Rambam divided these two events into two halachos [for the division of the halachos in the Rambam is also precise] — to indicate that from these two events come two laws: from the first event — the law of "days of rejoicing," and from the second event — the law of "days of Hallel" (and the law that "the lamps are lit on them, etc.").
Now, it is obvious that the Rambam would not innovate on his own a reason for the establishment of the days of Chanukah. His basis is "ועל הנסים" ("And for the miracles") and the teachings of our Sages, of blessed memory; and perhaps he also had before him Midrash Chanukah — in which case it is simply understood why he writes several details here: "they issued decrees, etc., etc."
4. The reason for this division — that because of the salvation of the Jewish people and their rescue, etc., they ordained "days of rejoicing," whereas because of the miracle of the cruse of oil came the ordinance of "days of Hallel" — is as follows:
Rejoicing concerns matters connected with the body [for "אין שמחה אלא בבשר" ("there is no rejoicing except with meat") and "there is no rejoicing except with wine"16]; whereas Hallel belongs to the service of the heart, to the soul. Therefore:
The salvation of the Jewish people and their rescue from the hands of the Greeks, who "stretched out their hand against their property, etc., and oppressed them greatly," and similarly the fact that "sovereignty returned to Israel" — a salvation and rescue that touches (also) the body — for this reason the ordinance, too, concerns something that touches the body: "days of rejoicing."
Whereas the miracle of the cruse of oil, that "they lit from it the lamps of the arrangement17, etc." — since it is a spiritual salvation, they ordained18 on its account "days of Hallel"19.
5. Now, the above interpretation of "What is Chanukah? . . . one cruse of oil, etc." — that the miracle of the cruse of oil is not the reason for the entire matter of Chanukah, but only for the particular detail of Hallel and thanksgiving — is also compelling according to the Mordechai (the longer version)20, who writes as follows:
"And in Megillas21 Taanis they said that they established them as Yom Tov because of the dedication of the altar, and so wrote [א״ן — OCR unclear], and so it is implied in Midrash Rabbasi, Parshas Behaalos'cha; and here22 it says that they established them as Yom Tov because of the miracle (of the lights)23. And one may say that on account of that [the dedication of the altar] they established feasting and rejoicing, but praise and thanksgiving they established because of the miracle."
Except that according to the Mordechai, the establishment of feasting and rejoicing is because of the dedication of the altar, whereas according to the Rambam, the ordinance of "days of rejoicing" is24 because "the G‑d of our fathers had mercy on them and saved them, etc.," as mentioned above.
And since, of "the three pillars of instruction . . . the Rif, the Rambam and the Rosh, of blessed memory, two of them (the Rif and the Rosh) agree to one view," and they cited only what is stated in the Gemara — the Beis Yosef ruled the halachah in accordance with them, based on what he wrote in his introduction to the Beis Yosef.
(From the sichos of Motzaei Zos Chanukah and Shabbos Parshas Vayigash, 5734)
Notes
1) 21b.
2) Orach Chaim, siman 670 (according to the Prague edition, etc.; and so it was also copied in the Beis Yosef). And so ruled the Mechaber there, se'if 2.
3) And so it is also in the Mordechai, Pesachim, siman 605 — cited in the Beis Yosef there. And see below, section 5, what is cited from the longer Mordechai.
4) Hilchos Chanukah, ch. 3, halachah 3.
5) Yam Shel Shlomo on Bava Kamma, ch. 7, siman 37. See also the Bach on Orach Chaim there, that from the words of the Rambam it is somewhat evident that "on Chanukah one should conduct rejoicing and feasting." Seemingly, one must say that the expression "one should conduct" refers to "and feasting," but regarding "rejoicing" it is an absolute obligation (according to the Rambam). It is worth noting that the Rema on Orach Chaim there writes "that there is somewhat of a mitzvah in increasing feasts," and he cites the Mahara of Prague; and in the Darkei Moshe there, from the Mahara of Prague: "they established feasting and rejoicing."
6) It is worth noting that regarding Purim, of which it is written "days of feasting and rejoicing," one must say, according to the Rambam (Hilchos Megillah, ch. 2, halachah 15), that meat meals are required (for "there is no rejoicing except with meat"; Maggid Mishneh there). See Nimukei Orach Chaim, siman 695, sub-section 2. It requires some study why the Yam Shel Shlomo there writes "those feasts that are made, etc.," and does not write that one must make a feast (even though he is speaking there according to the view of the Rambam).
7) For the reason that the Rambam writes only "days of (rejoicing and) Hallel" — and does not mention "thanksgiving" — see below, note 19.
8) Hilchos Chanukah, there, halachos 1 and 2.
9) And in his wording in halachah 3: "And because of this they ordained, etc." It is obvious that one cannot say that the Rambam's intent in "because of this" is only to the miracle of the cruse of oil — for according to that, the entire narrative of the events in halachah 1 would be superfluous.
10) The Mitteler Rebbe in Shaarei Orah 22a. See also Sefer HaMitzvos (Derech Mitzvosecha) of the Tzemach Tzedek, beginning of the mitzvah of Chanukah (71a). See also Pri Chadash on Orach Chaim there: "For it is not reasonable . . . (that) the main thing, the day of victory when they rested from their enemies . . . they would not establish for all generations."
11) As Rashi explains, Shabbos there.
12) Note also Likkutei Torah, Tzav (16a), which asks why Chanukah and Purim are on the day of rest and not on the day the miracle occurred* — from which it is evident that the establishment of Chanukah is because of the miracle of the military victory.
*) From this it is evident that the Alter Rebbe holds that the military victory was on the twenty-fourth of Kislev (as stated explicitly in Shaarei Orah and Sefer HaMitzvos cited in note 10, and in accordance with the view of the Meiri, Shabbos there), unlike the view of the Rambam, Hilchos Chanukah (ch. 3, halachah 2), that it was on the twenty-fifth of Kislev (and nevertheless it was established to begin lighting the Chanukah lights on the night of the twenty-fifth — see Pri Chadash; Birkei Yosef (on Shulchan Aruch, Hilchos Chanukah); Or Gadol on Yoma, ch. 7, mishnah 4; Binyan Shlomo on the Rambam there).
13) Or one may say (and see Pri Chadash there) that the Gemara's intent in "What is Chanukah?" [even though because of the miracle of the military victory too (even without the miracle of the cruse of oil) they would have instituted a Yom Tov] is: why did they institute eight days of Chanukah; and to this it answers, "When the Greeks entered the Sanctuary, etc., and they lit from it for eight days."
14) As for why they ordained eight days of rejoicing — one may say: since they ordained Hallel also for the military victory (as stated in "And for the miracles"), and there had to be eight days of Hallel (because of the miracle of the cruse of oil; see the following note), they ordained that these eight days — since "they begin (on) the twenty-fifth of Kislev," the day on which "Israel prevailed over their enemies and destroyed them" — should also be days of rejoicing.
Accordingly, we can appreciate the Rambam's wording, "which begin on the twenty-fifth of Kislev" — for seemingly he should have said "from the twenty-fifth of Kislev onward" or the like — because "which begin (all these days) on the twenty-fifth of Kislev" is the reason for "that these eight days . . . should be days of rejoicing."
15) Even though because of the miracle of the war, too, "they established these eight days of Chanukah to give thanks and to praise."
16) Pesachim 109a.
17) Regarding the Rambam's addition here of "of the arrangement," see Tzafnas Paneach (of the Rogatchover Gaon) on the Rambam. Accordingly, it is all the more spiritual.
18) See along these lines in the Levush on Orach Chaim there. Except that in the Levush there, also the salvation of the Jewish people from the hands of the Greeks — since "they sought nothing from them but . . . to make them abandon their religion . . . therefore they established them only for praise and thanksgiving, and not for feasting and rejoicing"; whereas according to the Rambam — since "they stretched out their hand against their property, etc., and oppressed them greatly," therefore, when "He saved them from their hands and rescued them," they ordained days of rejoicing.
One may say (see also Likkutei Sichos, vol. 5, beginning of p. 452) that also according to the Rambam, their stretching out their hand, etc., came as a result of the fact that "they issued decrees . . . and abolished their religion, etc." (which he wrote before this). Accordingly, we can appreciate that the dispute between the Tur (according to the explanation of the Levush) and the Rambam is not a dispute about the facts (whether they oppressed them physically), but in reasoning: whether rejoicing is established for rescue from physical oppression that came as a result of a decree against the religion.
19) Based on what is stated in the text, one can also explain why the Rambam mentions only "Hallel" and does not mention "thanksgiving." For in explaining "with Hallel and thanksgiving," the Tur writes (Orach Chaim, siman 690): "to say Hallel on them, and to give thanks — to say 'And for the miracles' in the thanksgiving blessing." Since the thanksgiving of "And for the miracles" is (mainly) for the miracle of the military victory ("You delivered the mighty, etc."), one cannot say (according to the Rambam) that the Gemara's intent in "thanksgiving" (which they instituted because of the miracle of the cruse of oil) is "to say 'And for the miracles.'" Therefore the Rambam holds that "Hallel and thanksgiving" in the Talmud are two details within Hallel (as it says in Hallel: "Praise," "Give thanks"). And in Megillas Taanis here: "And why did they see fit to complete the Hallel on them, etc., as it says, 'And they sang with praise and thanksgiving to the L‑rd, etc.'" (And the term "Hallel" in the Rambam also includes the detail of "thanksgiving.")
20) Cited in the Darkei Moshe, Orach Chaim there.
21) Ch. 9.
22) In the Talmud, Shabbos 21b.
23) It is worth noting that the miracle of the cruse of oil is also mentioned in Megillas Taanis. Perhaps the Mordechai had a different version of Megillas Taanis.
24) Even though the Rambam and the Mordechai perhaps hold the same view that Chanukah days are days of rejoicing.
Key Lesson
This Sicha explains that, according to the Rambam, Chanukah was established for two distinct miracles: the physical salvation from the Greeks, which brings "days of rejoicing" that touch the body, and the spiritual miracle of the cruse of oil, which brings "days of Hallel" that belong to the soul. A Jew's celebration of Chanukah should therefore include both genuine joy and heartfelt praise and thanks to G‑d.