Chanukah Contest: Best Answer Wins the $50 Prize
Below is a classic Chanukah question, one that is famous among Jewish scholars. I thought we could stimulate some great thoughts of our own and have some serious fun at the same time. Give the question some brain time, challenge your kids, make it a discussion at your dinner table or bring it up with your friends when you light the menorah. Share your answer here and you might win the $50 prize!
Here’s the question…
It is well-known that we celebrate Chanukah for 8 days because it was a miracle that one day’s worth of oil lasted for eight days. BUT, if there was already one day’s worth of oil, then it would seem that the miracle lasted for only seven days. If that’s true, then the holiday commemoration should also be seven days long.
So the question is, Why is Chanukah celebrated for eight days rather than seven?
Good question, right? I’ll bet that one never came up in your Hebrew school class.
To respond, click on Comments below. They will appear shortly after posting. If you prefer to keep your response private, send it by email to ChanukahQ@DoJewish.org.
The winner will be announced on Thursday December 9th, the eighth day of Chanukah. Happy pondering!
November 29, 2010 at 3:08 pm
Why 8? Because the 1st night we were celebrating the victory of the Jews and the next 7 we were celebrating the miracle of the oil.
November 29, 2010 at 5:01 pm
Thanks Deborah. Actually, this question DID come up in my Hebrew school class. I gave a different response below, but this is the answer I have always heard.
November 29, 2010 at 4:12 pm
To acknowledge the miracle of the seven days of continued burning of the oil, without also celebrating the miracle of fire itself (the first day) would be like sending a message to Ha’Shem that we take that “everyday” miracle for granted. Yes, we bless the Maker of the flame at other times, but in this case, to only celebrate seven days would be bypassing an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate this everyday miracle more fully. That is why we celebrate eight days of Chanukah.
November 29, 2010 at 7:54 pm
My view is that the volition to light the oil in the first place, knowing that it may or may not last, is a miracle of faith. Miracles can be the defeat of physical obstacles , such as the war (and the the lack of sufficient oil) and it can also be the overcoming of *spiritual* obstacles. We should not be reckless but at the same time when we have nothing else, should never be afraid to hope for the best. I’m sure at the time of the lighting of that oil, there were some saying that burning so little would be a waste of time. Others likely rebutted that if G-d wanted them to burn more, he would’ve left more!
So, the miracle of the courage to light one day’s worth of oil and hope it to last longer + 7 days besides = 8 candles.
(I’ll be sure to have the full 45 just in case anyways..)
November 29, 2010 at 8:45 pm
My understanding is that we didn’t know Chanukah was an 8-day holiday, until the lights burned for 8 days…but the miracle of Chanukah started before the first chanukiah was ever lit.
The Syrians tried to defile everything holy, and even left the impure oil to taunt us, instead of pouring it down the drains (that might not have been built yet!). We couldn’t use the sabotaged oil.
Somehow, however, in scouring the Temple when we got it back from teh evil Syrians, we found one flask with the Cohen Gadol’s (High Priest’s) Good Housekeeping Seal on it, certifying that it was pure and good. Thhis in itself was the miracle. And the light that continued to burn, against all odds (as in our battle), shows the hand of G-d behind the scenes, reminding us that the Maccabees didn’t have “just another lucky victory.”
My understanding is that this is a sort of metaphor for the ability of the Jews to maintain our purity, maintain our identity, and light up our essence…indeed highlighting the real spirit and message of this special holiday. Not that we just won a war, “the few against the many.” But that they tried to force us to assimilate, and adopt their culture. And we stuck to our guns….and our books, and our traditional Jewish practices. Dudes, may we all do the same!
“A little light will dispel much darkness.”
– Rabbi Eilenburg, c.1623
Happy Chanukah….light ‘em up!
November 29, 2010 at 9:00 pm
Adonai did not press the olives to make the oil. Man completed this in partnership with Adonai, who (of course!) gave us olives in the first place, along the with thinking ability and physical skills needed to create the oil. If there had not been some oil to begin with, there wouldn’t have been enough for the miraculous eight days in which it lasted!
When one learns about all of the miracles the Torah teaches us, and looks at the miracles occurring every day, then one knows Adonai utilizes both the material we (humans) have created as well as the laws of nature, which Adonai also created.
Although the re-dedication of the Temple (which is what the word Hanukkah means) was enabled by our military victory – with, of course, help from Adonai, the Rabbis of the Sanhedrin didn’t want us to celebrate and commemorate military – and thus violent – defeats. Instead, they focused on the miracles with the oil as not only a miracle, but also one which could be easily (through the lighting of candles) be continued throughout the ages, and also as symbolic of all of the other miracles which happened at the time.
We are told not to enjoy our victories over our enemies in the Talmud and in Pirkei Avot. Victories are fleeting, as history has born out. Miracles, on the other hand, should always be celebrated and remembered when those miracles enable Judaism to continue, and to thrive!
November 29, 2010 at 11:07 pm
I think it was a double miracle. First, enough oil was found for one day (first miracle), then it lasted long enough to make more oil (7 more days). When you put both miracles together….8 days.
Now pass the potato latkes!
November 30, 2010 at 2:32 am
Others have made interesting comments, and I offer my thoughts as an additional explanation not to refute what anyone has said.
This seems quite straightforward to me. To ask why we don’t celebrate for 7 nights presumes that a miracle happened for only 7 days/nights, but that premise is wrong.
If the one day’s worth of oil had burned for one day like it was supposed to and then it was miraculously re-filled for the next seven consecutive days then perhaps one could say that the miracle took place for only 7 days/nights. But that’s not what happened — the oil wasn’t replenished, the original oil lasted 8 times longer than it should have. So you have to look at it not just that 1 day’s worth of oil lasted for 8 days but that 1 hour’s worth of oil lasted for 8 hours, 1 minute’s worth lasted for 8 minutes — from the very first instant the oil was lit the miracle of extending the oil was occurring, for the entire 8 days and nights.