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| Hanukkah tree |
| Description: |
The miracle of Hanukkah is referred to in the Talmud, but not in the books of the Maccabees. The Gemara, in tractate Shabbat 21b [1], says that after the occupiers had been driven from the Temple, the Maccabees discovered that almost all of the ritual oil had been profaned. (They needed ritually purified olive oil to light a Menorah to rededicate the Temple.) They found only single container that was still sealed by the High Priest, with enough oil for a single day. They lit this, and miraculously, that oil burned for eight days (the time it took to have new oil pressed and made ready). A story similar in character, and obviously older in date, is the one alluded to in 2 Maccabees 1:18 et seq., according to which the relighting of the altar-fire by Nehemiah was due to a miracle which occurred on the twenty-fifth of Kislev, and which appears to be given as the reason for the selection of the same date for the rededication of the altar by Judah Maccabeus.
The Talmud presents three customs: lighting one light each night per household, one light each night for each member of the household, or, the most pious method, where the number of candles changed each night. There was a dispute over how the last option was to be performed: either display eight lamps on the first night of the festival, and reduce the number on each successive night; or begin with one lamp the first night, increasing the number till the eighth night. The followers of Shammai favored the former custom; the followers of Hillel advocated the latter. As is the case in most such disputes, Jews today follow Hillel. Except in times of danger, the lights were to be placed outside one's door or in the window closest to the street. Josephus believed that the lights were symbolic of the liberty obtained by the Jews on the day that Hanukkah commemorates. Rashi, in a note to Shabbat 21b, says their purpose is to publicize the miracle. |
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