One unique liturgical feature of this holiday is the recitation within the Amidah, and Birkat Hamazon of Al Hanissim acknowledging the miracles of that long ago era, of history’s first open conflict , the struggle for freedom of religion between pagan domination and monotheism; Greek culture versus Judaism.

According to Rabbi Elie Munk in his classic commentary on the siddur, “The World of Prayer” [Feldheim, 2007] “The earliest source containing the text of Al Hanissim is tractate Soferim 20, but the Geonim and later authorities have handed down versions varying slightly from this original.” Rabbi Munk goes on to further detail the variant texts of this prayer and of the responsa of several authorities on the content and word use contained in the received text.

Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik in his commentary on Al Hanissim in the recently published “The Koren Mesorat Harav Siddur” [Koren Publishers, OU Press, 2011] makes the following observation concerning the concept of ritual purity in the liturgy as recited in Al Hanissim.

“The impure into the hands of the pure”

“The Hasmoneans fought not only against enslavement to an imperial power, but also, and perhaps especially, against defilement. They fought for purity of the soul of the entire Jewish collective, and were successful in that struggle as in their political battles. They proved that aside from defeating an enemy on the battlefield, they could purify the spiritual defilement of a whole population – one which has sunk deeply into impurity of the soul and contamination of the spirit.”

The spiritual theme of this teaching taken from the Rav’s writings on Chanukah,”Days of Deliverance”, [Ktav Publishers, Toras HaRav Foundation, 2007] is further elaborated upon by the Rav wherein he states that , “the victory did not consist so much in the political achievements as in religious freedom, in the purification of the Temple and re-kindling the eternal Jewish light.

“It is true that political freedom was also achieved, but that was not the major point. The political holiday was the temporary Chanukah; the Chanukah for generations is a holiday of purifying the temple and of lighting candles.”