The following is adapted from the Days of Joy, an anthology of ideas and insights of the Sfas Emes (Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Alter of Ger) on Chanukah and Purim (Artscroll Judaica Classics 1995).

In a variant reading of the Gemara (Shabbos 22a), we find a source for the custom of the master of the house wearing a tallis while kindling the Menorah. In order to appreciate the significance of this, it would be useful to recall the first encounter between Noah's children, Shem (the ancestor of the Jewish people), and Yefes (from whom the Greeks descended). Noticing that their father was lying naked, Shem and Yefes jointly covered Noah (Genesis 9:23), for which they were amply rewarded with regal vestments. Specifically, Shem - and his descendants, the Jewish people - were graced with the mitzvah of tzitzis. Yefes and his children, among them the Greeks, were blessed with lavish clothing and the surface veneer of sophistication in the form of Hellenistic culture....

While halachically, one who kindles the Menorah is not obligated to wear a tallis, we nonetheless don a tallis to symbolize that despite the fiendish intentions of the Greeks to assimilate Israel, we will never forget Hashem's mitzvos. Is not the leitmotif - the primary function of tzitzis - so that you may remember and perform all My commandments (Numbers 15:40) ?

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