Which is the "miracle of Channukah"?

Question

I have seen questions and discussions which argue whether the miracle of Channukah was the military victory (rabim b'yad me'atim) or the finding/lasting of the pure oil. However, it seems that neither of these might be the case.

According to the Chabad page, "the purpose of the Chanukah lights is simply to remind us of the Chanukah miracle." The candles are not an literal reminder of oil, but a reminder of the miraculous events of the story (or the Channukat Hamizbe'ach, according to the Chiddushei Aggadot on Shabbat 21b)

In the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch (193) we read that women have the tradition of not working while the candles are lit (or 30 minutes, so no exploiting those 24 hour candles...). This expression of respect for the candles is mentioned here, citing the Mateh Moshe. It is further expressed on that page and this one that a woman's connection relates to the "first nights" issue and the daughter of the Kohen Gadol's (and/or Judith) bravery in killing a lascivious Greek tyrant (mentioned in the Taz to S"A 670:2:10). The Mishna Berurah to 670:1 writes,

לפי שנעשה נס על ידיהם because a miracle happened by their hands

(translation mine).

If the actions of this woman caused the invaders to flee (as referenced in the Kaf Hachayim, 670:2 "וכראות החיל כי מת גבורם וינוסו" and even moreso, the mishna Berurah "וברחו כולם"), and this action is the miracle that inspires women, (and some men according to the Maharil, as referenced in the Kaf Hachaim, 670:1), to not do any melacha while the candles which remind us of that miracle are burning, then why isn't this the true miracle of Channukah?

This seems to be more explicitly stated in הערות הגרי"ש אלישיב מסכת קידושין דף לד עמוד ב as

עיקר הנס היה על ידן, בפורים ע"י אסתר בחנוכה ע"י יהודית בפסח שבזכות צדקניות שבאותו הדור נגאלו, והדרנא לדינא כרע"א. (ועי' קוב"ש ח"ב סי' ל')

[side note -- the Lev Meivin differentiates in an understanding of "af hen hayu b'oto haneis" between a miracle happening through women or women being subjected to the evil decrees in general]

There needs be no "v'rabim b'yad m'atim" military victory nor any (possibly later) concept of oil. The Channukah events (though is it a miracle that cheese makes one thirsty, or wine, sleepy?) led to the victory and rededication of the temple (as the Chabad site writes, "the miracle itself came about through the heroism of a woman").

So why is this not the "miracle of Channukah" that would be mentioned explicitly in prayer and song?

Answer 1

The story about the woman Yehudis happened during the 1st Temple period and the miracle protected Yerushalaim from Assyrian invaders and not the Greek ones. There is a well-known book Judith in the Apocrypha, which provides details on the story. Usage of the story in the Chanukkah context and other details, such as Yehudis was a daughter of a Kohein Gadol rather than a widow might have been done by mistake, and the story needs to be taken as a midrash / parable.

The story of Chanukkah according to the 2nd book of Maccabees states that the Beis haMikdash was overseen by an evil Kohein Gadol Chonioh who changed his name to Menelaus. He was a representative of the hellenist Jews the enemies of Hashmonaim. Menelaus could not have a daughter who frightened the Greek soldiers, simply because Menelaus himself would be killed as a result.

Finally, as R. Lawrence Schiffman explains, the story of Channukah did not end well. After Yehudah the Maccabi rededicated the Beis haMikdash, he and his followers were defeated again by the Seleucids. Yehudah and his followers were displaced into the wilderness wandering until 162 BCE when the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes had already been dead. By that time Yehudah was killed and the forces were led by Yonathan his brother. Meanwhile, in Syria there were two brothers fighting to become the king of Helenist Syria and they turned to Yonathan for support with his 10,000 soldiers. In return Yonathan was promised to become a ruler of the independent land of Yehudah. Yonathan supported one of them, Demetrius I Soter, to become a king, who in turn appointed him as a Kohein Gadol and ruler over the Yehudah. That is the end of the Chanukkah story and it does not create any possibility for the story of Yehudis to take place.

Perhaps, the real history, as Hashem develops it, is the main miracle after all.

Answer 2

1. Your question falls under the general question of "why the Sages differ in their views and opinions?". My answer is that there's no reasonable explanation for this - just One Rabbi sew it one way and another saw it differently.

2. As Chanukkah happened long after the Prophets we had no heavenly explanation for what really happened and what part of it was the miracle, if anything.

3. A very important thing to keep in mind, that all the discussions we now have in written were held some 200-400-600 (Tannoyim through Amoroyim) years after the occasion, so those are the post-factum interpretations and not the apriori reasons.

4. NB This is very similar to the perception of the establishment of the Jewish State - the day it was established not many Rabbis understood what it was and decided to give it a chance. Some decades later it became clear that it is Kibbutz Galuyot and some sort of Geula so some Rabbis decided to turn this day into a festival (saying Hallel) while others still hesitate. Let's wait a hundred or two hundred years and see where the Haredi Judaism will take this event - maybe it will become another Hannukkah(?). Time will tell.