Channukah VS Purim

Rabbi Menachem Frank who is a colleague of mine from the Minneapolis Kollel sent me the following question. I thought it was so fascinating I wanted to share it with you


Upon analyzing the difference between the Chanukah story and the Purim story, we find a striking contrast in both the nature of the persecution, as well as the nature of the Jewish response.

In the Purim story, the Jewish people are faced with genocide. Complete extermination by evil Haman and his cohorts.

Whereas in the Chanukah story, the Jewish people are faced with religious persecution – albeit under pain of death. The Greek-Assyrians really wanted us very much alive, so long as we adopted their culture, pagan temples, and gymnasiums etc.

I would compare the Purim persecution of physical danger to the Holocaust and the Chanukah persecution of spiritual danger to Communist Atheism.

Question for the Shabbos Table:

Why when confronted with physical danger in the Purim story was the Jewish response one of prayer, repentance, and political maneuvering (Queen Esther in the palace), while our response to the religious persecution in the Chanukah story was very physical in nature; to fight to the death despite our minimal numbers and negligible training (Maccabbes/ Hasmonean wars)?

My comment:

When the Jewish people are facing physical persecution it is an indication that God is not happy with our level of spirituality. There are several places throughout the Tanach where it is clear that Israel lost wars and battles due to their lacking in their service to God. Both temples in Jerusalem were destroyed (physical destruction) because of our spiritual decline. Therefore, the appropriate response has to be spiritual in nature. We have to pray, fast and contemplate how we can improve ourselves as servants to God.

Spiritual persecution is an opportunity for the Jewish people to demonstrate that their entire existence is for the purpose of serving God. It is not a time to exclusively pray but to take physical action and demonstrate that we are willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of our relationship with God. We are not willing to live a life of denouncing God and committing to a new religion. Therefore, it is imperative that we must put up a fight.