On this final day of Chanukah, it’s worth asking – what have we actually been celebrating for the last 8 days?

Yes, we know: nes gadol hayah sham.

But what was the nes, exactly?

Was the nes the military victory of the Maccabees? No doubt, it was an impressive victory, but we do not have holidays for other, perhaps even more impressive military victories. We don’t celebrate the conquering Jericho, King David’s military victories over the Philistines, or the defeat of Amalek after the crossing of the Red Sea. 

Was the nes the oil? One day’s worth lasting for eight days is certainly remarkable.

But we do not celebrate other great miracles we experienced. We do not celebrate the manna, forty years of miraculous food. Or the moment when an entire army was struck blind, or the day the sun stood still.

And while the oil and the military victory are impressive, Jewish history reminds us that the end of the revolt, and of the Maccabees, was not simple.

The Chanukah revolt saved Judaism from extinction, yet the Hasmonean dynasty eventually became corrupt, Hellenized monarchs who illegally combined the roles of king and high priest. Their reign saw brutal civil wars, deep internal division, and moral decay. Their infighting grew so intense that they invited Roman intervention, leading directly to the loss of Jewish sovereignty and ultimately to the destruction of the Second Temple.

This may be one reason why the Book of Maccabees is not part of our Tanach. 

This is the end of our nes gadol?

It gets even stranger: Not only do we celebrate the nes for eight days, but Chanukah is marked by pirsumei nissa, the publicizing of the miracle, spreading it for the world to see.

Even other holidays with elements of pirsumei nissa do not go nearly as far.

We do not read Megillah in the streets. We do not hang matzah in our windows.

So what is this really about?

To understand, we can at the word nes. What is a nes?

In the Jewish bible, it turns out the word nes does NOT mean miracle.

The Torah uses other words for miracles: mofet and ot, signs and wonders. This the language of the 10 miraculous plagues.

But the word nes does not appear for the Plagues, or the splitting of the Sea, or the manna.

It appears first after the battle with Amalek:

“וַיִּבֶן מֹשֶׁה מִזְבֵּחַ וַיִּקְרָא שְׁמוֹ ה נִסִּי”

A battle, a........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)