In the nusach of הנרות הללו that we say when we light the menorah, it says in מסכת סופרים פרק כ הלכה ו that we're supposed to say הנרות הללו אנו מדליקים על התשועות ועל הניסים ועל הנפלאות, that these are the candles that we light for Your help, for the miracles, and for the wonders. And also in Tur Orach Chaim סימן תרע״ו it says the same lashon. And many siddurim the nusach is the same way, also in the siddur of the Alter Rebbe, of the Baal HaTanya, and many other places. There are some nuschaot that have a different order of the words תשועות, ניסים ונפלאות, and they have different additional things, but in Masechet Soferim and in other siddurim it says that we light these candles על התשועות ועל הניסים ועל הנפלאות, which means for the help, for the miracles, and for the wonders. Then at the end of הנרות הללו, we again mention these same three expressions, but the way the nusach is in the siddur of the Shlah, in the siddur of Rav Yaakov Emden, and also in the siddur of the Alter Rebbe, there it is with a different order. There we say להודות ולהלל לשמך הגדול על ניסיך ועל נפלאותיך ועל ישועותיך, to thank and to praise Your big name for Your miracles, for Your wonders, and for Your help. And even though Masechet Soferim there at the end is a different nusach, but nevertheless in the siddurim that we mentioned before, this is the nusach. So it comes out that according to many nuschaot, in the beginning of הנרות הללו, when we mention these three expressions, we say that we light these candles because of the help, the miracles, and the wonders that took place at that time. And then at the end we change, and we say that we thank and we praise Hashem for the miracles, the wonders, and the help. So lichorah we have to understand, why is this change? Why in the beginning we use the order of תשועות, ניסים ונפלאות, help, miracles, and wonders, and at the end the lashon is miracles, wonders, and help? The truth is that הנרות הללו, even though we say it at the time when we light the Chanukah menorah, nevertheless we also include in this nusach of הנרות הללו thanking Hashem for the miracles that took place at the time when we won the war. Because as we mentioned last shiur, two things happened the time of Chanukah: there was נצחון המלחמה, we won the war over the Yevanim, and also the miracle of the oil. So even though we say הנרות הללו in connection with the miracle of the menorah, and that's why we say it at the time when we light the candles, nevertheless we also include in הנרות הללו thanking Hashem for the miracles that took place at the time when we won the war.

And by the way, this answers an interesting question: Since we have to thank Hashem for winning the war, which is similar to what we do on Purim, that the whole Yom Tov of Purim is because we thank Hashem for winning the war against our enemies, so why is there a difference between Chanukah and Purim? Purim the din is that we have to thank Hashem at night and in the morning. We read the Megillah twice: we read the Megillah at night, and we read the Megillah in the morning, while on Chanukah, it seems as if we thank Hashem for the miracles only in the morning, because where do we thank Hashem for the miracles? In saying ועל הניסים in davenen. Now really מצד הדין, the original din was that תפילת ערבית רשות, that you don't really have to daven Maariv. So the way it was originally, the takanah, since you didn't have to daven Maariv, so then at night you wouldn't say ועל הניסים. There's another place where we say ועל הניסים, and that is in bentshen. But a person is not obligated to eat bread at night of Chanukah, bichlal you're not obligated to eat bread on Chanukah, mimeila you're not obligated to say ועל הניסים. And even more than that, the din is that if you forgot ועל הניסים in bentshen, you don't have to bentsch over. Mimeila the inyan of ועל הניסים in bentshen is not so strong. So it comes out that if we're going to learn that the only place we talk about the winning of the war is in ועל הניסים, so we only mention it in the morning, the obligation is only in the morning. So in the evening there is no chiyuv to mention the נצחון המלחמה, the winning of the war. So why is it different than Purim? By Purim we read the Megillah at night, so we talk about the winning of the war at night and in the morning, while on Chanukah not. But if we're going to say that in הנרות הללו we also talk about the winning of the war, and since we say הנרות הללו at night when we light the חנוכה מנורה, so we do mention the winning of the war at night also. Al kol panim, in any event, it comes out that when we say הנרות הללו we're also talking about the nissim that took place at the time of the נצחון המלחמה. And this is the reason why there is a change in the order, that in the beginning we say תשועות, ניסים ונפלאות, and at the end we say ניסים, נפלאות וישועות. In the beginning of הנרות הללו, we're talking about the way it happened לאבותינו בימים ההם בזמן הזה, the way it happened to our forefathers in those days. So we are talking about what took place at the time of the nissim. At the end, when we say להודות ולהלל לשמך הגדול, we're praising Hashem for the miracles. So there we are not talking about the miracles the way they took place then, but we are talking about the miracles the way a person feels to praise Hashem for the miracles. And that is the reason why in the beginning we first mention the help, then the miracles, then the wonders. Because as we're going to explain soon, the way the events took place at that time, first help took place, then miracles took place, and then wonders took place. On the other hand, when we thank Hashem, as far as the feeling of the person to thank Hashem, so first the feeling is to thank Hashem for miracles, then for wonders, and then for help, as we're going to explain now.

The difference between these three expressions, help and miracles and wonders, is as follows: When a person has a war against somebody else, in a case when they're both equal, not in a case when one is stronger than the other, when they're both equal, whether it's in quantity or in quality, whatever it is, but they're both equal, still a person has to have ישועת השם, you have to be helped by Hashem in order to win the war. Because naturally it's possible that sometimes one will win, sometimes the other one will win. And so that means that even if you have the power to win, but it doesn't necessarily mean that you'll win. In order to win, you must be helped by Hashem to win. This is not a miracle. Naturally you could win. But nevertheless you have to have a yeshuah of Hashem, Hashem has to help you to win the war because it's possible you won't win. So the inyan of help is not a miracle. It comes from Hashem, but it's not a miracle. It's nature, but you need the help of Hashem even within the nature. A miracle is when Hashem helps a person beyond nature. For instance, when a person wins a war in a case where he is weaker, the other one is stronger, he has less men, the other one has more. So here naturally you can't win the war. So if you win the war, this is a miracle. So it's a miracle higher than nature, and that's the concept of a nes. The expression niflaot, that means wonder. What does a wonder mean? A wonder means that it's not completely against nature, because then it would be a complete miracle, but it is also not so simple within the limits of nature. It's something that if it happens, you don't necessarily say it's a miracle, but nevertheless it brings out within the person a wonder. In other words, it's a wondrous thing, not necessarily a miracle beyond nature, but within the nature itself it is a דבר נפלא, it is a wondrous thing. And that's why the Gemara says in Niddah דף ל״א עמוד א׳ that there are certain miracles that אפילו בעל הנס אינו מכיר בניסו, that even the one that miracle happens to doesn't recognize that it's a miracle. So concerning this type of miracles, the Gemara says, the pasuk says עושה נפלאות לבדו, that He does His niflaot all by Himself and no one recognizes it. But there it uses the לשון נפלאות. Why? Since the people don't recognize the miracle, they don't see openly how this is a miracle, so we don't call it a nes, we call it niflaot. Because these are flaim, these are wondrous things, but since the person doesn't see how it's against nature, we can't call it a nes. The truth is, sometimes we find the expression niflaot which means even greater miracle than a nes. But that's only when we compare it to something else. For instance, in the pasuk where it says כימי צאתך מארץ מצרים אראנו נפלאות, that just like you went out of Mitzrayim, so too will I show you wonders when Mashiach will come. And there it means that they will be even greater miracles than at the time of Yetzias Mitzrayim. So there the word niflaot means that in the level of miracles itself, they are a higher level of miracles. But there it is because the פסוק uses the word niflaot in comparison to כימי צאתך מארץ מצרים. And since we know that at the time of Yetziat Mitzrayim there were miracles, and here it says נפלאות לגבי then, so obviously this means wondrous miracles even legabei other miracles. But normally, when it says the לשון פלא, a wonder, it doesn't mean a miracle. It is also not so simple within nature itself, it's not a simple thing like a yeshuah which is just a help which could be natural, but it also is not a miracle which is beyond nature. And these three things took place at the time of the war that the Chashmonaim waged against the Yevanim, and when we'll see the history, we will see that it took place in that order. Afterwards more miracles took place, but the first things that happened were in the order of teshuot, then nisim, then niflaot.

It says in Yosifon פרק כ׳, and since Yosifon is brought down in sefarim, so obviously it is reliable, so it says that the beginning started, the war started in Modi'in, when the Yevanim came there and they wanted to sacrifice a chazir, a pig, and the Chashmonaim ganged up on the Yevanim and killed them and won them. This is brought down in Yosifon, as we said. It is also mentioned in Sefer Chashmonaim, but we don't know exactly how reliable Sefer Chashmonaim is, because it's not really brought down in poskim. The Bahag in Hilchot Soferim brings it down once, but normally we don't know exactly how reliable this is. It is brought down in a sefer called Me'or Einayim, but we know that not everyone really relies on the Sefer Me'or Einayim. But whatever it is, from Yosifon we could rely, and there it says that it started this way. It started with Modi'in. Now, at that point, in Modi'in, it wasn't a miracle, it wasn't even a peleh, it wasn't even a wonder, because in Modi'in, you didn't have too many Yevanim. So the fact that the Chashmonaim won the Yevanim and killed them, that wasn't a miracle at all. Naturally, it could have happened. Hashem had to help them for it, because even naturally, as we said before, you don't always win the war. So therefore, it is a yeshuah of Hashem, but it wasn't a miracle and wasn't even a peleh. And the same is with the other victories that they had right after that, as it says in Megillat Antiochus, and also in Midrash Chanukah. There, the Yevanim were not prepared, so the fact that the Chashmonaim came out victorious wasn't really a miracle, it wasn't even a wonder, it was natural for it to happen. But they still needed the yeshuah of Hashem. So the beginning of the war was yeshuot. Then, after the Yevanim were prepared and they came with great, gigantic armies, and nevertheless the Yidden, the Chashmonaim won against them, that was a nes galui, that was an open miracle. It was רבים ביד מעטים, many fell in the hands of few; גבורים ביד חלשים, the strong ones fell in the hands of the weak ones. This is mamash a nes galui. So the second step was mamash a nes galui, was a revealed, open miracle. That's next. Then what happened? After they won the war and they came into the Beit HaMikdash, and they wanted to find the oil to light the menorah, and they found this one jar of oil, this itself was a pele, it wasn't a miracle. Because if anybody want, he could say, naturally it got stuck someplace that the Yevanim didn't notice it. And Tosafot says in Masechet Shabbat, דף כ״א עמוד ב׳, that this jar was hidden in the ground. So if it was hidden in the ground, it's only normal for the Yevanim not to see it. It was a wonder, because why was it that they should stick a jar of oil in the ground? This is not a natural thing to happen, normal thing to do. But nevertheless, you can't say that it was mamash a miracle that it was there. Mimela, to say that this was a miracle, you can't; to say that this was natural 100%, you can't either. It was a pele, it was a wonder. So it comes out that the third step was the pele of finding the oil. Then more miracles took place. Then it lasted for eight days, which was a complete miracle, but this took place afterwards. But before any miracles later, the order of events were that first came the yeshuot, then came the nissim, then came the niflaot. So that's why in the beginning of Hanerot Halalu, when we talk about the seder of the inyanim the way they took place, this is the order. But at the end, when we say להודות ולהלל, when we thank Hashem for what happened, here we mention על נסיך ועל נפלאותיך ועל ישועותיך. First the nissim, then the wonders, then the yeshuot. And the reason for that is because when it comes to thank Hashem for what He did, the order is that first a person feels to thank Hashem for nissim, then he feels to thank Hashem for niflaot, and then for yeshuot. It's very simple. When a person sees an open miracle, so then he thanks Hashem, here it is clear it comes from Hashem. So the person gets the feeling to thank Hashem for it, that is the first thing. When a person thinks about it more, he comes to realize that not only are the nissim from Hashem, but these things which are wonderous are also from Hashem, because after all, it is not simple nature, it is a wonderous thing, so obviously Hashem made this happen. So the second step, after you realize that you thank Hashem for the nissim, you come to realize to thank Hashem for the niflaot. Where, if a person want, he could say that this is nothing special, and therefore Hashem didn't do anything special here to help me, but the truth is that this is also from Hashem, and we have to thank Hashem for that too. But this is already the third stage. And therefore, when it comes to להודות ולהלל לשמך הגדול, it comes to thank Hashem and praise Hashem, here the order is that the first thing you praise Hashem is על נסיך, then you praise השם על נפלאותיך, and then you praise השם על ישועותיך. And this is the reason why in the beginning of הנרות הללו, when we talk about what happened at that time, here the order is, first we mention the teshuot, then we mention the nisim, then the niflaot, because that's how it took place: first came the yeshuah, then came the nisim, then came the niflaot. But later on, when we praise Hashem and thank Hashem, so we praise Hashem first for the nisim, then for the niflaot, and then for the yeshuot. And this is also one of the lessons we are supposed to take from Chanukah, to thank Hashem not only for nisim, and not even only for niflaot, but also for yeshuot, to realize that when something naturally happens to us, which it doesn't seem that Hashem put in kevayachol any effort to change things to make it happen for us, still we have to thank Hashem, because we know that everything in the world comes from Hashem, and whatever happens to us is from Hashem, and therefore we have to thank Hashem for everything. As the Midrash says, on the פסוק, כל הנשמה תהלל קה, that על כל נשימה ונשימה צריכין לקלס להשם, on every breath that we take, which is only natural, nevertheless we have to thank Hashem.