Chanuka. Ma'oz Tzur- The Thirteen Breaches

Yasher Koach to Harav Micha Berger, who sent me his Dvar Torah for Chanuka.  Reb Micha tells us that when in Ma'oz Tzur it says ופרצו חומות מגדלי, that the Greeks breached the walls of my tower, this refers to the Mishna in Middos.  Here is the beginning of Reb Micha's post:

The 5th verse of Ma’oz Tzur describes the Chanukah story. One phrase in this verse is “ufortzu chomos migdalai“, which would be literally translated “and burst open the walls of my citadel”. Mentally, I used to picture breaking down the walls of the Beis haMiqdosh, or perhaps a fortress. However, I found the following mishnah in Middos (Ch. 2, mishnah 2 in the Yachin uBo’az edition, mishnah 3 in Kahati’s — who splits up the Yu”B‘s mishnah 1 into 2 parts). The second chapter describes the Beis haMiqdosh as it would appear to someone walking in from outside the Temple Mount to the Altar. This mishna picks up right after you walk through the gate and onto the Temple Mount.
Inside of it is the soreg, 10 tefachim [appx 2'6"] high. It had thirteen peratzos (broken openings) there, that the Hellenist kings partzum (broke open). They returned and closed them off, and legislated corresponding to them 13 prostrations.
To help you picture what a soreg is, the root means woven. The Bartenura describes the soreg as a mechitzah woven out of thin wooden slats running at diagonals. The Bartenura compares it to the part of the bed used to support the mattress, with plenty of open space inside the weave.
He goes on to say that the Hellenists opened up holes in the soreg opposite each of the gates in the outer wall to let anyone see in. Note the shoresh used /p-r-tz/, the same as in the piyut. The soreg marked the limit for gentiles, they were not allowed in beyond that point. To the Hellenist mind, this havdalah bein Yisrael la’Amim, separation between the Jews and the other nations, was repugnant. It ran against their assimilationist efforts.

Reb Micha then weaves together ideas from Rav Hutner and Rav Shamshon Refael Hirsch to teach a lesson about the symbolism of the Soreg wall and the role of the Jewish People, with special relevance to the victory of Chanuka.

This pshat in Ma'oz Tzur is discussed by Rav Gedaliah Shor in his Or Gedaliyahu, by Rav Mordechai Vinkler in his Levushei Mordechai, and by Rav Mordechai Ezrachi in his Birkas Mordechai.

Here is the Mishna in the second perek of Middos, including the previous Mishna,

כל הנכנסין להר הבית נכנסין דרך ימין ומקיפין ויוצאין דרך שמאל, חוץ ממי שארעו דבר, שהוא מקיף לשמאל.[מה לך מקיף לשמאל], שאני אבל, השוכן בבית הזה ינחמך.שאני מנדה, השוכן בבית הזה יתן בלבם ויקרבוך, דברי רבי מאיר.אמר לו רבי יוסי, עשיתן כאלו עברו עליו את הדין.אלא השוכן בבית הזה יתן בלבך ותשמע לדברי חבריך ויקרבו.

לפנים ממנו, סורג גבוה עשרה טפחים. ושלש עשרה פרצות היו שם שפרצום מלכי יון. חזרו וגדרום, וגזרו כנגדם שלש עשרה השתחויות.לפנים ממנו, החיל עשר אמות.

And here is the Piyut-  יוונים נקבצו עלי, אזי בימי חשמנים, ופרצו חומות מגדלי, וטמאו כל השמנים.


I only want to make a minor observation.  In one of the Megillas Antiochuses (מגילת אנטיוכוס) that we have, a reference is made  to breaches being made in a wall called "shaar bas rabbim."   This can be seen here, four lines from the bottom.  What it says is

ויהרגו מהם רבים וחומות ירושלם נתצו ויפרצו בתוקפם י״ג פרצות בשער בת רבים וקצץ הפרכת ובטל המערכה והסיר התמיד והרס המזבחות

The term שער בת רבים might refer to the Soreg as well.  After all, it follows a description of their having ruined the walls of the city, and immediately afterwards talks of the damage they did within the Beis Hamikdash. But it might not.  Most people that use the term, and the mefarshim in Shir Hashirim 4:5 where the term appears, understand it to refer to the gates of Yerushalayim, not the Soreg.

Anyway, if the words of Maoz Tzur refers to the Soreg, the expression חומות מגדלי is odd, because the Soreg was certainly not a choma. If the description in Megilas Antiochus refers to the wall of the Har Habayis, or the Azara, whatever Sha'ar Bas Rabbim means, and it is not the Soreg, then it is an interesting coincidence that the number thirteen appears in both cases.

UPDATE
Yasher Koach to the person who sent in something from R' Avraham Gurevitz, as follows, copied from the comments:

R' Avraham Gurwitz (in his Ohr Avraham on Megillah/Chanuka p 109) says a lomdus based on the Gemara in Avoda Zara 52b with Rashi and Ramban:
When the Yevanim entered the Bais Hamikdash and Heichal, their very entry (conquest?) caused the vessels and the actual structure itself to lose its sanctity and became chullin. The Gemara learns this from the passuk "u'va'u bah PRITZIM v'chillilu'ah"; so the Yevanim are called "pritizim" because they were "poretz" and damaged the holiness of the Bais hamikdash and its contents, ayin sham. So thats the meaning of the Yevanim being "poretz chomas migdalai"; its referring to the chillul they did to the very walls of the "migdal" (the Bais Hamikdash).

Rashi there:

דכתיב ובאו בה פריצים וחללוה. מכיון שנכנסו עובדי כוכבים להיכל יצאו כליו לחולין וכיון דנפקי לחולין קנינהו בהפקירא והוו להו דידהו וכשנשתמשו בהן לעבודת כוכבים נאסרו:

Ramban in Milchamos there on page 24a:

שהרי בית המקדש עצמו יצא מקדושתו על ידם ונעשה חול, שהרי בענין בית המקדש כתוב ובאו בה פריצים וחללוה, והתם הרי אין בו מעילה, אלא ודאי על ידי עובדי כוכבים יצאו לחולין דקרא בעובדי כוכבים כתיב שהרי נביא מתנבא על המקדש שיחרב ואמר שיצא לחולין על ידם וגזרת הכתוב היה הכל אע"פ שאין מעילה בקרקעות ואע"פ שאינם בני מעילה 

He also mentioned that the Steipler (5:19, not on mesechtos) says:

למאן דאמר בפסחים (דף טז ע"א, ויז ע"א) דמשקה בי מדבחיא דכן- טהור, (פירשו ר"ח ורש"י כל המשקין של קודש נקראים על שם המזבח, כגון דם לזריקה, וכו' ושמן למנחות), למה לא הדליקו בשמן, הרי לא קיבל טומאה כלל. 

The kashe is asked by many achronim; for example, see the Mor UKetziah in 670.  So he brings from the שערי דעה that 

כיון שנכנסו היוונים למקדש, אזי מדין "באו פריצים ויחללוה" בטלה קדושת המקדש (ראה ע"ז נב ע"ב), ומאז הרי זה כמו משקין שיצאו לחוץ למקדש, ולכן יכלו היוונים לטמא השמנים 

And they say over in the Steipler's name the following addition- that this explains the nusach "ופרצו חומות מגדלי", namely, that the kedusha of the Mikdash was bateil, and as a result, the oil was susceptible to Tumah- וטמאו כל השמנים".
(This teretz actually has been said by many achronim, too.  See, for example, the Shoel UMeishiv Kamma 3:42.)

Since the volume of Kehillas Yaakov was a compilation of the sefarim he wrote before he started organizing them on Masechtos, and is not commonly available (and this is one of the pieces that didn't 'make it into the Masechtos set,) here is a photo of the relevant paragraph.  The piece is much longer.

And finally, I want to publicize my personal experience this Chanuka.  I always approach the holiday with a degree of anxiety, because my shiur has for a long time been giving me increasingly expensive and therefore embarrassing gifts, for Chanuka, Purim, my birthday, and Baruch Hashem there are no other days they've thought of.  So last night, before coming into the shiur, I nervously glanced in, and I was relieved to see no tables were set, no sufganiyot, and no glint of gift wrap.  I sat down to begin the shiur, and in walk my friends pushing a MASSIVE SNOW BLOWER.   I mean massive in the sense that this is a multi-horsepower behemoth that can breeze down a block of two foot deep snow without a hiccup.  It would plow through the Soreg with ease.  I think this is unprecedented in the history of Daf Yomi, and I am proud of the bizarre but wonderful and heartwarming thought process, and the desire to show kavod hatorah and hakaras hatov that brought this about.  May Hashem bless them, every last one of them, with Arichas Yamim v'Shanim of good health and happiness.

Here it is.

First reaction:

Second reaction:

Final reaction:

And this video is here partly because they're singing Maoz Tzur, but mostly because I like it.  The group's name is Kipalive.  Thanks, Steve, for sending it.