Likkutei Sichos: Volume 10 - Chanukah
Likkutei Sichos, Vol. 10: Halel V'Hodaah, Part 1
This shiur opens the sicha on why the Rambam describes Chanukah as days of simcha v'hallel while the Gemara in Shabbos speaks only of hallel v'hodaah, tracing the machloket to the Tur, the Maharam of Rothenburg, and the Maharshal. It builds up to the classic question of why the Gemara's answer to “mai Chanukah” highlights the relatively minor miracle of the oil rather than the far greater military victory.
Likkutei Sichos, Vol. 10: Halel V'Hodaah, Part 2
Closing out the sicha, this shiur explains the Rambam's principle that simcha belongs to the body while hallel belongs to the neshamah, and uses it to divide Chanukah's two commemorations between the war and the oil. It brings the Mordechai's parallel reading of the Gemara as independent proof, then shows how the Beit Yosef's rule of following two out of three halachic “pillars” shaped the final psak that Chanukah carries no chiyuv of a seudah.