"And Yosef said to Pharaoh, G-d told Pharaoh what He is doing... G-d showed Pharaoh what He is doing" [Bereishit 41:25,28]. Rashi comments: "In the seven good years G-d told Pharaoh, because He was close by. And in the seven bad years He showed Pharaoh, because He was very far away and the correct verb is to show." Rashi is teaching us that for a simple and nearby thing talk is sufficient but for a faraway and exalted object hearing is not enough, and it is necessary to see.
On Purim the miracle of salvation was plain for all to see. Haman wanted "to destroy, to kill, and to eradicate" [Esther 3:13]. But things "were turned around" [9:1], and the Jews were saved from death and allowed to live. The miracle was clear and definite, and therefore reading out loud is enough. The mitzva of the day is to read the Megillah, while most of the people listen attentively and pay close attention. On Chanukah, the mitzva involves looking – "We do not have permission to use the lamps, only to look at them" [prayer after lighting the Menorah]. "One who sees a Chanukah lamp must recite a blessing" [Succah 44a].
The struggle between Yisrael and Greece was not for the bodies of the Jews but for their spirit. Rav Kook wrote, "The root of the miracle of Chanukah was meant to show the unique merits of the Holy Spirit which exists within Yisrael, and the fact that this is the basis for the physical existence but does not depend on it." And that is why the miracle occurred with the oil and not with the Menorah [which was defiled], and why the people at the time used a Menorah made of iron. In material things it is possible at a time of dire need to "make do" with a modest fulfillment of the goals. This is not true for the oil, the spirit, which must be at its best possible state.
To understand this principle is not an easy task. Why don't people in general base their lives on the spirit? "Only an erroneous illusion views exalted nobility in a desolate way and sees all the agitation of life as being settled and built-up, but this is one of the most comtempt falsehoods in the world." [Orot Hakodesh, volume 2, 310]. The physical world appears to us to be stable and more massive than the spiritual and abstract world. It is therefore necessary to expend a lot of energy to convince us that the spiritual world is the essence of existence.
What the Greeks saw as most important was a culture of materialism, the external view, and the human body. Therefore, they said, "Write on the horn of an ox, 'We have no part in the G-d of Yisrael" [Bereishit Rabba 4]. The ox is a symbol of Yosef – "Glory will come to the firstborn of his ox" [Devarim 33:17]. Yosef represents the external side of things. He knows seventy languages, he masters the economy, he curls his hair. Greece wanted everybody to be just like him. They wanted the people to follow the path of Yosef, basing their lives on the material and not the spiritual. The victory of Yisrael over Greece is a victory of light over darkness, of the spirit over the material. To extol this event by telling and listening is not enough, it is necessary to incorporate the sense of sight. And therefore the mitzva of the holiday is to light the lamps and look at them.
This concept appears in the Haftarah that is read for Chanukah. The prophet wants to strengthen the recognition that "not by the military or by strength but only through My spirit, that is what G-d says" [Zecharia 4:6]. In order to do this, it is necessary to show a vision of the Menorah, and it would not have been enough to tell the prophet about it. He must be able to say, "I saw a Menorah of pure gold... And He said to me, What do you see?" [4:2]. Since the matter is "far away and exalted," just hearing about the events is not enough.
