The miracle, of course, was not that the oil for the sacred light - in a little cruse - lasted as long as they say; but that the courage of the Maccabees lasted to this day: let that nourish my flickering spirit.

Reznikoff reframes the Hanukkah story by shifting attention from the supernatural “oil miracle” to a human, historical miracle: the endurance of moral courage. The speaker treats the Maccabees’ steadfastness as something that persists across generations—an inherited reservoir of resolve rather than a one-time marvel. The closing petition (“let that nourish my flickering spirit”) makes the image intimate: the self is a small, wavering flame that needs sustenance. In typical Reznikoff fashion, the language is plain and unsentimental, yet it turns commemoration into ethical instruction—what matters is not wonder for its own sake, but the capacity of past bravery to steady present frailty.