Chanukah Pt.2

by Rav Yosef Zvi Rimon
Founder and Board Chairman, JobKatif

The poem “Maoz Tzur” or “Rock of Ages” was written by someone named Mordechai (מרדכי). His name is written using the first letter of each stanza. However, we don’t have any other information about him. The first letters of the last stanza spell out “strength” (חז”ק) which is common of many poems written in the same time period. This is a poem that has been with the Jewish people for at least the last 750 years.

The song describes the Jewish people during difficult times throughout history and how G-d saved us from all of them. Stanzas 2-6 speak about different exiles. The 2nd stanza is the exile in Egypt, the 3rd one is the exile of Babylon, the 4th one is during the kingdom of Persia, the 5th one is during the Grecian empire and the story of Chanukah, and the last one is during the kingdom of the Edomites.

Last week we went through the first stanza (see last week’s Dvar Torah). This week we will try to understand another piece of the poem. We’ve also included riddles that you can solve with your family after candle lighting. Enjoy!

Let’s look at the 5th stanza as it pertains directly to the story of Chanukah.

יְוָנִים נִקְבְּצוּ עָלַי אֲזַי בִּימֵי חַשְׁמַנִּים

Greeks gathered against me then in Hasmonean days

וּפָרְצוּ חוֹמוֹת מִגְדָּלַי וְטִמְּאוּ כָּל הַשְּׁמָנִים

They breached the walls of my towers and they defiled all the oils

וּמִנּוֹתַר קַנְקַנִּים נַעֲשֶׂה נֵס לַשּׁוֹשַׁנִּים

And from the one remnant of the flasks a miracle was wrought for the roses

בְּנֵי בִינָה יְמֵי שְׁמוֹנָה קָבְעוּ שִׁיר וּרְנָנִים

Men of insight – eight days established for song and jubilation

The Greeks gathered together to fight against the nation of Israel during the times of the Hasmoneans. It says that “they breached the walls of my tower”. Tower is used metaphorically to describe the Holy Temple. As seen in Song of Songs 4:4 “Your neck is like theTower of David built out of jewelry” the Gemarah in Brachot interprets tower to mean the Holy Temple. In the Mishnah Midote (2,3) it says that the Greeks actually breached the walls of the Temple in 13 places.  Then the Greeks soiled all the oil of the temple except for one flask on the side. From this flask came the miracle of Chanuka. The poem describes this flask as a rose since it was the light amongst darkness, or “a rose amongst thorns” (Song of Song 2:2). Then it says “Men of insight-established eight days for song and praise.” The Chachamim or the Wise Men established these eight days.

It is interesting that all the other stanzas recall G-d except this one. Why is this? During the story of Purim the miracle was a hidden one but there were prophets (Chaggai, Zechariah and Malachi-the last of the prophets) who made it clear that what happened in Persia was by the hand of G-d. During Chanukah the miracles were also hidden, but we no longer had prophets. The Wise Men, “men of insight” looked at what happened during the war and they looked at what happened with the Menorah and they understood that G-d was standing behind these miracles. They realized that we need to thank and praise Him for saving us. This is the way we must look at our exile. From this point in history until now any miracles that occur will not be obvious, we need to know how to search for G-d, to look for the pure oil jug. In the dark reality we must be able to realize His hand.

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Chanukah!

Riddles: (See the words of “Maoz Tzur” and its translation below to solve riddles)

  1. Who is described as a dog in the poem?
  2. Which sacrifice is mentioned?
  3. Who is Zerubavel? And how is he connected to the poem? (Hint: See Zechariah 4:9 and Ezrah 3:8-10)
  4. It says in Exodus 17:14 “…blot out the memory of Amalek…” How is this done in the poem?
  5. Limbs of the body are mentioned in the poem. Which ones? And to whom do they belong?

Answers:

  1. Our enemies. (see stanza one: ”מצר המנבח” means “barking enemies”)
  2. The Thanksgiving Offering קרבן תודה (see stanza one: “תודה נזבח”)
  3. Zerubavel was the leader of the people in Israel during the building of the second Holy Temple. Therefore we mention him in the poem as part of the end of the Babylonian exile. (see stanza three- “קץ בבל.זרבבל” “At Babylon’s end, Zerubavel came”. If you would like to learn more about Zerubavel see the book of Chaggai, chapters 1-2)
  4. In the fourth stanza it mentions someone by the name of אגגי, Aggagi. If you recall in the Migillah,Haman was called Haman the Aggagi. Haman is the descendant of Amalek. In this stanza it talks about the hanging of Hamman.
  5. In the second stanza: “ובידו הגדלה”, “With His great hand” this is referring to G-d. In the fourth stanza: “ראש ימיני נשאת”, “The head of the Binyaminite You lifted” is referring to the head of Mordechai in the story of Purim, who was from the tribe of Binyamin. In stanza six: “חשוף זרוע קודשך”, “Bare Your holy arm” is the arm of G-d.

מעוז צור ישועתי, לך נאה לשבח,

תיכון בית תפילתי, ושם תודה נזבח.

לעת תכין מטבח מצר המנבח.

אז אגמור בשיר מזמור חנוכת המזבח.


רעות שבעה נפשי, ביגון כוחי כלה,

חיי מררו בקשי, בשעבוד מלכות עגלה.

ובידו הגדולה, הוציא את הסגולה,

חיל פרעה וכל זרעו ירדו כאבן מצולה.


דביר קדשו הביאני,

וגם שם לא שקטתי,

ובא נוגש והגלני, כי זרים עבדתי.

ויין רעל מסכתי

כמעט שעברתי

קץ בבל זרבבל

לקץ שבעים נושעתי.

כרות קומה ברוש בקש,

אגגי בן המדתא,

ונהיתה לו למוקש,

וגאוותו נשבתה.

ראש ימיני נשאת,

ואויב שמו מחית -

רוב בניו

וקנייניו

על העץ תלית


יוונים נקבצו עלי,

אזי בימי חשמנים,

ופרצו חומות מגדלי,

וטמאו כל השמנים,

ומנותר קנקנים,

נעשה נס לשושנים,

בני בינה

ימי שמונה

קבעו שיר ורננים.

חשוף זרוע קודשך,

וקרב קץ הישועה.

נקום נקמת דם עבדיך,

מאומה הרשעה.

כי ארכה לנו הישועה

ואין קץ לימי הרעה,

דחה אדמון

בצל צלמון

הקם לנו רועים שבעה

Stanza One

O mighty stronghold of my salvation,
to praise You is a delight.
Restore my House of Prayer
and there we will bring a thanksgiving offering.
When You will have prepared the slaughter
for the barking enemy,
Then I shall complete with a song of hymn
the dedication of the Altar.

Stanza Two

My soul had been sated with troubles,
my strength has been consumed with grief.
They had embittered my life with hardship,
with the calf-like kingdom’s bondage.
But with His great hand
He brought forth the treasured ones,
Pharaoh’s army and all his offspring
Went down like a stone into the deep.

Stanza Three

To the holy abode of His Word He brought me.
But there, too, I had no rest
And an oppressor came and exiled me.
For I had served aliens,
And had drunk benumbing wine.
Scarcely had I departed
At Babylon’s end, Zerubavel came.
At the end of seventy years I was saved.

Stanza Four

To sever the towering cypress
sought the Aggagite, son of Hammedatha,
But it became [a snare and] a stumbling block to him
and his arrogance was stilled.
The head of the Benjaminite You lifted
and the enemy, his name You obliterated
His numerous progeny – his possessions -
on the gallows You hanged.

Stanza Five

Greeks gathered against me
then in Hasmonean days.
They breached the walls of my towers
and they defiled all the oils;
And from the one remnant of the flasks
a miracle was wrought for the roses.
Men of insight – eight days
established for song and jubilation

Stanza Six

Bare Your holy arm
and hasten the End for salvation -
Avenge the vengeance of Your servants’ blood
from the wicked nation.
For the triumph is too long delayed for us,
and there is no end to days of evil,
Repel the Red One in the nethermost shadow
and establish for us the seven shepherds.

Share: