In the nusach of על הנסים that we say during Chanukah, in Shemoneh Esrei and in benching, so we say that Hashem performed the miracles, and מסרת גבורים ביד חלשים, you gave over the strong in the hands of the weak, ורבים ביד מעטים, the many in the hands of the few, וטמאים ביד טהורים, and the tamadike, the impure ones, in the hands of the pure ones, ורשעים ביד צדיקים, and the רשעים in the hands of the צדיקים, וזדים ביד עוסקי תורתך, and the זדים, which means also the evil people, in the hands of those that study your Torah. So the מפרשי התפלות, those that explain the tefillot, ask a kashya, that lichorah, what kind of miracle is it that Hashem gave over the טמאים in the hands of the טהורים, the רשעים in the hands of the צדיקים, and the זדים in the hands of those that are עוסק בתורה? The first two is a miracle. The גבורים in the hands of the weak, that's a miracle, because naturally the גבורים, the strong ones, should win. And in this case the weak ones won, that's a miracle. רבים ביד מעטים is a miracle, because naturally those that have more should win, and here the few won the many. That's a miracle. But the other three expressions, that the טמאים were given over in the hands of the טהורים, the רשעים were given over in the hands of the צדיקים, the זדים were given over in the hands of the עוסקי תורתך, what kind of miracle is it? So why mention it in על הנסים amongst the miracles that Hashem performed?

There is a mefaresh in the in the Siddur Otzar HaTefillot called Dover Shalom, and he answers it based on what the Gemara says in Nedarim דף מ\"ט עמוד א', מאן חולין? Rabbanan. Who are the sick ones? The Rabbanan. Which means that the Rabbanan, the Chachamim, talmidei chachamim, even when they are healthy, they are always weak, because they study a lot of Torah, and תורה מתשת כחו של אדם. The Gemara says in Sanhedrin דף כ\"ו עמוד ב' that the Torah makes a person weak. And that's what we mean here: that these were people who were weak because they study Torah. So when we mention the other expressions, that they were טהורים, and צדיקים, and עוסקי תורתך, that these itself are not miracles, but these are explaining the miracle mentioned before. Before we mentioned that the miracle was that the others were strong and these were weak, and nevertheless Hashem gave over the strong in the hands of the weak, so we mention why were they weak: because they were טהורים, and they were צדיקים, and they were עוסקי תורתך. But lichorah, this still needs explanation, because first of all, why is it important to mention why they were weak? When we talk about the miracles, and we say that the miracle was that the strong were given over in the hands of the weak, why is it important to know why they were weak? In addition to that, this only answers the last one, when we say זדים ביד עוסקי תורתך, so here we mention that they were learning Torah, and when you learn Torah it makes you weak. But what about being צדיקים or טהורים? Here it doesn't stress the fact that they're weak. And the truth is, even when we talk about עוסקי תורתך, and the way he says the pshat is that the people learn Torah and that's why they were weak, this inyan that you become weak through learning Torah is only concerning those people who are תורתם אומנותם, who sit and learn Torah all day, and don't do anything else. So according to this it'll come out that the whole army of the Chashmonaim were all תורתם אומנותם, all chachamim, all Rabbanan, all talmidei chachamim. It's hard to say. Aderaba, aber bifshitus we have to say that there were some chachamim that still sat and learned Torah. The main chachamim learned Torah and didn't go out to war. As the Gemara says in Sanhedrin דף מ\"ט עמוד א', that אלמלא דוד, לא עשה יואב מלחמה. If David would not sit and learn Torah, Yoav, who was the general, would not have won the war. So we see that in order to win a war you have to have the talmidei chachamim sitting and learning. So bifshitus, even at that time, the real chachamim, תורתם אומנותם sat and learned Torah. So how can we say that those that went out to war were all תורתם אומנותם? We have to say bifshitus it's not like that. And when it says here that they were all עוסקי תורתך, it doesn't mean that they sat and learned Torah all day. It means that these were people who were religious, frum people. And that's why it says עוסקי תורתך, because if a person is frum, and he has a shiur to learn like he is supposed to, every איד על פי דין is supposed to have a shiur to learn, he is also called an עוסק בתורה. As the lashon in the bracha that we make every morning, according to many נוסחאות, אשר קדשנו במצותיו וצונו לעסוק בדברי תורה. Some have a נוסח על דברי תורה, but others have the נוסח לעסוק בדברי תורה. So we see that when we use the expression עוסק בתורה, it doesn't mean that you learn Torah every day, because this is a bracha that every Yid makes, even a Yid who just learns Torah a little bit. And this is what bepashtus we mean here, that these were people who are עוסק בתורה, they learned some Torah, and uvichlal it means that these are people who were frum, and they learned Torah and then did the mitzvot. And this is all included in the general term of עוסק בתורה. So according to this, it's hard to say That what we mean here is that they were weak because they were עוסק בתורה. And as we said before, this, that the Gemara says that the chachamim are weak, refers to those chachamim who sit and learn Torah all day. But those who don't learn Torah all day, they just have a shiur to learn, and they are frume people, they are not the ones that are weak. And since we said that here עוסקי תורתך mean people who just have a shiur and people who are frum, so we can't say that what we mean here is that this is a reason why they were weak. So we're back to the question: What does the nusach in Al Hanissim mean when we say that Hashem gave over the טמאים ביד טהורים, רשעים ביד צדיקים, and זדים ביד עוסקי תורתך? What kind of miracle is this?

So the peshat that we have to say here is that when we mention these three expressions, we are not referring to the goyim. When we say it was טמאים ביד טהורים and reshaim in the hands of tzadikim and zedim in the hands of עוסקי תורתך, it doesn't refer to the Yevanim, but it refers to the מתיונים. As we know from the history of that time, that many Yidden went over to the side of the Yevanim, and they were called the מתיונים. And they also fought against the Yidden, till we know that the minority of the Yidden remained loyal to Torah and to Hashem. So when we mention these three expressions, we are not referring to the Yevanim, to the Greeks, but we're referring to the מתיונים, to the Yidden who went over to the side of the Greeks. And then it is really a miracle, and it is a twofold miracle. First of all, when we know that some of the Yidden themselves went over to the enemy, this makes it harder to win the war, as we understand that when some of your own people go over to the side of the enemies, they become traitors, this is the hardest part. And this is what we're trying to say here, that nevertheless Hashem made the Yidden, the frum Yidden win, even though they were טמאים against the טהורים, which means some of the Yidden who became טמאים went over to the other side, and also they were זדים who went over to the other side, they were רשעים who went over to the other side, and they were all Yidden, and nevertheless Hashem made a miracle that they won. This is in the physical sense that this is a miracle, the fact that we were able to win even though there were many Yidden who went over to the enemy. Certainly in ruchniyus this is a miracle, because in order for Hashem to perform a miracle with us to win the war, we have to have zechuyos, we have to have spiritual zechuyos. Now imagine if many Yidden went over to the goyim and became מתיונים, this minimizes the zechuyos of the Yidden, that as many Yidden are going over to the goyim. And nevertheless, Hashem performed a miracle that the frum Yidden, who were the טהורים and the צדיקים and the עוסקי תורתך, won the war. So this answers the question why we mentioned this, because this expresses the miracle that happened at that time. And if we learn that way, we could understand why we use these expressions: טמאים against טהורים, and רשעים against צדיקים, and זדים against עוסקי תורתך, because only concerning Yidden we could really use these expressions. To use the expression of טמאים, and רשעים, and זדים not עוסקי תורתך can only be used concerning Yidden, not concerning goyim. In truth, sometimes we find that we use these terms לגבי גוים also, as the Avudraham brings in the סדר of תפילת חנוכה פסוקים where we use that the goyim are called רשעים and called טמאים, etc., etc. But nevertheless, in essence, the real title טמא, and the real title of רשעים, and the real title of זדים not עוסקי תורתך could be used only against Yidden, because we know that a goy is not at all in the category of טומאה וטהרה, you can't say a goy is טמא. As the Rambam says in הלכות טומאת מת פרק א הלכה י״ג that עכו״ם שנגע במת, if a גוי touched a dead body, הרי הוא כמי שלא נגע, it's as if he didn't touch. כל המעשה דומה, he says, this is compared לבהמה שנגעה במת, like a בהמה that would touch a dead body. ולא בטומאת המת בלבד, the Rambam says, not only when it comes to טומאת מת, אלא בכל הטומאות כולן, all the טומאות, אין העכו״ם ולא הבהמה מיטמאין בהן, a goy and not a בהמה can become טמא. And the Rambam here means not only that a goy can't become טמא like we find many things that can't become טמא, but what he means is that a goy is not in the category of טומאה at all. He's not in the whole geder, the whole concept of טומאה וטהרה, and that's why he says it's similar to a בהמה that touched. That's why he goes through the lengthy expression to tell us not only that a goy doesn't become טמא, he's not in the category of טומאה וטהרה at all. Similar to the lashon of the Raavad in הלכות אבות הטומאה פרק ב הלכה י, he says, העכו״ם הם כבהמות, ואינם טמאים, ואינם מיטמאים, עם הדומה לחמור, ואת כולם ישא רוח, he says, and it's all nothing, it's all like wind. So the expression and the title tumah you can't even say concerning a goy. Not only you can't call him tahor, you can't call him tamei either, because the concept of tumah is only if you are in the category of tumah v'taharah, you're able to be tamei, you're able to be tahor. A Yid could be A Yid could be tahor, could be tamei, but a goy can't be tamei because he's not in the category at all. So therefore, here where we say that Hashem gave over the טמאים ביד טהורים, this must refer to the Yidden, that those Yidden who became מתייוונים, they are considered temeim. And the same is concerning the second expression, where we say רשעים ביד צדיקים. The whole concept of being a tzaddik, or being a rasha, really applies to Yidden. Concerning goyim, we can't even call them tzaddikim or reshaim, because their whole צדקות could only apply to keeping the שבע מצות. And the difference between keeping שבע מצות that the goyim have, and keeping the תרי\"ג מצות, the 613 mitzvot that Yidden have to keep, is not only a difference in number, that this is seven, and this is 613, many more. But they're two separate categories at all. And therefore, the real title of tzaddik, and therefore, if a person is the opposite, is considered a rasha, only applies to Yidden who have 613 mitzvot. And therefore, we find that the whole concept of schar va'onesh, of reward and punishment, mainly applies to Yidden. As the pasuk says in Amos, קפיטל ג' פסוק ב': רק אתכם ידעתי מכל משפחות האדמה, only you I loved from all the families of the earth, על כן אפקוד עליכם את כל עונותיכם. Therefore, I will remember only about you, all your aveirot. And as it says in the Radak there, that אינו חושש עליהם אם ייטיבו או ירעו, that Hashem doesn't care about the goyim really, if they do good or bad. And the Chazal also say in Sotah דף כ\"א עמוד א', that עכו\"ם לא מיפקד דינא עליהו, that there is no din really on the goyim. Which means אין ממהרין מן השמים לפקוד עונותיהם עליהם, as Rashi explains there, that Hashem doesn't rush to punish them, because what they do is really not important by Hashem, not the good, and not even the bad. As the Chazal say in Eichah Rabbah, on the pasuk in Eichah, in the first קפיטל, פסוק ח', where the pasuk says חטא חטאה ירושלים, ירושלים sinned, so there it says in איכה רבה, אומות העולם, the גוים, אף על פי שחוטאין אינן כלום, even if they sin it's nothing. So mimela, the real expression of a tzadik, and the same thing with the expression rasha, does not apply to a goy. So when here it says that Hashem gave over the רשעים ביד צדיקים, it also refers, as we said before, to the Yidden who became Misyavnim. And the same is concerning the third expression: זדים ביד עוסקי תורתך. The title עוסקי תורתך, and zedim which is the opposite of עוסקי תורתך, does not apply to a goy, it only applies to a Yid. Because we know, the Gemara said in Sanhedrin דף נ\"ט עמוד א', and the Rambam paskent like that in הלכות מלכים פרק י' הלכה ט', that עכו\"ם שעוסק בתורה חייב מיתה, a goy that learns Torah has to die, he's not allowed to learn Torah. The din is true, that when it comes to learning the halachot of the שבע מצות that he's supposed to keep, he has to learn, but we can't call him עוסקי תורתך, we can't call him they learn Torah. And therefore, we can't call him in an expression which is the opposite of עוסקי תורתך, because he's not in the category at all of עוסקי תורתך. And therefore, here where it says זדים ביד עוסקי תורתך, this doesn't apply to the goyim, this applies to the Mityavnim, the Yidden who went over to the side of the goyim. And this is why we mention these three things in Al Hanissim, because this is also part of the miracle. Because we're talking here about the Mityavnim, that even though there were many Mityavnim who became temeim, and became resha'im, and became zeidim, nevertheless Hashem performed a miracle that the Yidden won the war.

And this is the lesson that we're supposed to take from Chanukah, and from this expression in Al Hanissim. This is very relevant to us nowadays too. Because the truth is, we know that אתם המעט מכל העמים, as it says in ואתחנן, קפיטל ז' פסוק ז', the Yidden are the minority in the world. And amongst the Yidden themselves, the Shomrei Torah uMitzvot, those that keep the Torah uMitzvot completely in all detail, are so far a minority within the Yidden themselves. So a person could fall into yeiush, could become depressed, and give up hope, and think, how is it possible that we will be zocheh to the geulah sheleimah in such a situation? After all, most of the Yidden are not even frum. So we have the answer here from Chanukah: that even though most of the people were temeim, uresha'im, uzeidim, and as we said before this refers to the Yidden themselves, nevertheless the tehorim and the tzaddikim and the עוסקי תורתך won the war, and they had the geulah at that time. So too will it happen now, that we will have the geulah, even though we are in a minority. Especially now, that most of the people who are not religious, it is not because they don't want to be, like it was at that time that they became Mityavnim, but most of them are tinokot shenishbu, which means it's not their fault, they were not raised in a form, in a way of Yiddishkeit. So certainly, if those people who are Shomrei Torah uMitzvot, who are the tehorim and the tzaddikim and the עוסקי תורתך, if they stand strong, certainly Hashem will help and bring the geulah. And it'll happen, as it happened then, that Hashem gave over, masarta, the טמאים ביד טהורים, ורשעים ביד צדיקים, וזדים ביד עוסקי תורתך, and it should not mean chas veshalom that Hashem will destroy the טמאים, and destroy the רשעים, and destroy the selves. But as the peshat is masarta, He will give over the טמאים in the hands of the טהורים, which means that they will become under the control of the טהורים, and they will become טהורים themselves. The רשעים will be given over to the צדיקים, which means they will become under the control of the צדיקים, and they will become צדיקים themselves. The זדים will be given over to the עוסקי תורתך, which means the עוסקי תורתך will control them, so they themselves will also become עוסקי תורתך. But we can understand that we can't sit and wait till this will happen by Hashem, we have to work in this direction. Hashem promises that He will help us, but we have to work in this direction. So if we start trying to get the טמאים to become טהורים, and the רשעים to become צדיקים, and the זדים to become עוסקי תורתך, then Hashem will help us and we will succeed. As the Gemara says, הבא לטהר מסייעין אותו, when someone comes to become clean, Hashem helps him. And as the other peshat in that Gemara, not הבא לטהר, if someone comes to become clean, but הבא לטהר, if someone comes to make clean, that if someone is interested in making others clean, so then מסייעין אותו, Hashem helps him. And what will happen, that the זדים will become עוסקי תורתך, and the רשעים will become צדיקים, and the טמאים will become טהורים.