Chanukah is the Festival of
Lights. We all know the reason for the
celebration. After driving out the
Greeks from Israel, we found only a single pure flask of oil, enough to burn
but one day in the Menorah in the Holy Temple.
Miraculously, it burned for eight days, enough time to produce a new
batch of kosher oil.
One of the most famous halachic
questions about Chanukah concerns the length of the festival. If there was enough oil in the jug to last
for one day and a miracle occurred extending its life to eight days, then were there
not merely seven miraculous days? One
answer is that each day only one eighth of the oil in the menorah
disappeared. And so even on the first
day, while all the oil should have disappeared, only a small amount was
burned. And so that day too was
miraculous.
תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן: מִצְוַת
חֲנוּכָּה, נֵר אִישׁ וּבֵיתוֹ. וְהַמְהַדְּרִין, נֵר לְכׇל אֶחָד וְאֶחָד.
וְהַמְהַדְּרִין מִן הַמְהַדְּרִין, בֵּית שַׁמַּאי אוֹמְרִים: יוֹם רִאשׁוֹן
מַדְלִיק שְׁמֹנָה, מִכָּאן וְאֵילָךְ פּוֹחֵת וְהוֹלֵךְ. וּבֵית הִלֵּל
אוֹמְרִים: יוֹם רִאשׁוֹן מַדְלִיק אַחַת, מִכָּאן וְאֵילָךְ מוֹסִיף וְהוֹלֵךְ.
אָמַר עוּלָּא: פְּלִיגִי בַּהּ תְּרֵי אָמוֹרָאֵי בְּמַעְרְבָא, רַבִּי יוֹסֵי
בַּר אָבִין וְרַבִּי יוֹסֵי בַּר זְבִידָא. חַד אָמַר טַעְמָא דְּבֵית שַׁמַּאי
כְּנֶגֶד יָמִים הַנִּכְנָסִין, וְטַעְמָא דְּבֵית הִלֵּל כְּנֶגֶד יָמִים
הַיּוֹצְאִין. וְחַד אָמַר טַעְמָא דְּבֵית שַׁמַּאי כְּנֶגֶד פָּרֵי הַחַג,
וְטַעְמָא דְּבֵית הִלֵּל דְּמַעֲלִין בַּקֹּדֶשׁ וְאֵין מוֹרִידִין
The Sages taught: The mitzva of
Chanukah is each day to have a light kindled by one person per household. And
the meticulous kindle a light for each and every one in the household. As for
the super-meticulous, Beis Shammai says: On the first day one kindles eight
lights and, from there on, gradually decreases. And Beis Hillel says: On the
first day one kindles one light, and from there on, gradually increases. Ulla
said: There were two rabbis in the West who disagreed with regard to this dispute,
Rabbi Yossi bar Avin and Rabbi Yossi bar Zevida. One said that the reason for Beis
Shammai’s opinion is that the number of lights corresponds to the days yet-to-come.
The reason for Beis Hillel’s opinion is that the number of lights corresponds
to the outgoing days. And one said that the reason for Beis Shammai’s opinion
is that the number of lights corresponds to the bulls of Sukkot (which
decreased with each passing day of the festival). The reason for Beis Hillel’s
opinion is: One ascends in matters of sanctity and one does not descend.
Based on the gradually
disappearing oil, the Pnei Yehoshua suggests the logic of Beis Shammai’s
position over Beis Hillel’s. In the Holy
Temple, on day 1, the Menorah contained eight micro-units of oil. By the next day one eighth was depleted and
seven micro-units remained. And so on,
until the eighth day when only one micro-unit remained. Therefore, the logical way to remember the
miracle is to light eight on the first night and one on the eighth night.
So why don’t we follow Beis
Shammai’s approach? We don’t do because
it would be hard to maintain our religious fervour in such a scenario. Picture, for a moment, how the original Chanukah
miracle worked according to this understanding.
On day one, everyone would have been incredibly excited about the
miracle. But then on day 2, they would
have said to themselves, ‘Well we see what’s happening here. Only one eighth has depleted. So we’ve got another seven days of miracles
ahead of us.’ And so the novelty would
have worn off by day 2 or 3. If we were
to light according to the diminishing oil theory pattern, we too would lose our
interest and enthusiasm pretty quickly.
Therefore, others suggest that
the miracle of the oil on day 1 was that none of it disappeared! When the priests returned at the end of the
day, each cup of the Menorah was still completely full of oil, despite having
burned all day. Thus, a miracle occurred
on each of the eight days, and we therefore celebrate for eight days. Consequently, according to the view of Beis
Hillel, each day we have one more day’s miracle to celebrate and we must increase
our number of lights each night of Chanukah.
But while the miracle of the
oil’s constancy would have been incredible to witness, you can imagine that the
underlying tension still remained in the hearts and minds of the Jews at the
time of the Chanukah story. Okay, so it’s
lasted for today. But who knows what
tomorrow will bring? Tomorrow, all our
resources may be depleted, which may signify that we will be overpowered by our
enemies.
That’s why Beis Shammai
teaches that the number of lights should corresponds to the sacrifices of
Sukkot. The two festivals of eight days
are connected in many ways, including the juxtaposition of the mitzvot of
Sukkot and the Menorah in the Torah. On
Sukkot, we would offer seventy sacrifices corresponding to the seventy nations
of the world. But with each ensuing day
of the festival, the sacrifices would diminish in number. The Rokeach explains that Beis Shammai wants
to demonstrate that the power of the gentile nations to subjugate us – as they were
prior to the Chanukah miracle – slowly declines. We mark each day of Chanukah with a
diminishing number of candles, symbolizing their waning strength. That should give us comfort and hope for the
future.
Beis Hillel doesn’t disagree
with Beis Shammai’s thesis. However, in
their opinion, it’s important to stay positive.
While it’s true that the nations’ power over us is declining, let’s
focus instead on our increasing strength.
And so they insist we should increase the number of lights to
demonstrate how much stronger we feel with each passing day.
We’re all familiar with the scene
on the first night of Chanukah. Everyone
is excited. It’s the festival of
lights. We run to prepare the lights
ahead of time and we all gather around the menorah and sing the long version of
Haneros Halalu and every verse of Maoz Tzur (even the new one
that didn’t appear in the Singers Prayer-book).
By the second night, we’re lighting a little later, once we’ve managed
to get everyone away from their screens and homework. By the third night, an appointment has run
late at work and the family is lighting after dinner. And who knows what’s happening by nights
seven and eight?!
Chanukah challenges each of us
to tap into our increasing strength and make each night feel miraculous. Every increasing candle is a symbol of greater
spiritual power that Heaven has bestowed upon us. We must not neglect the opportunity to tap
into it. It’s tempting to feel the slowing
momentum around us. But that’s the
waning power of the forces of subjugation and assimilation you’re feeling. The power of holiness is increasing. Chanukah serves as a reminder that as long as
we are continually growing in our commitment to Heaven, no external force will
be able to stop us!
We’re currently in dark
days. Each passing day the monotony of
isolation can start to wear away at even the most upbeat, positive people. But when we allow ourselves to get weaker in
our passion for Yiddishkeit and life, we give permission to the forces of
darkness to grow stronger. The more
spiritual light we bring into our lives, the more we banish the darkness.
The light is just around the
corner. In the meantime, every mitzvah
you do, every new religious observance you engage in, every positive thought
you share, dispels a little darkness.
May you merit to be a darkness-buster!
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