The Holiday of Lights
Sarah Beldeb and Noemi Ibghi, Grade 11
Chanukah, “the holiday of lights”: where do we get this phrase?
The obvious answer is that we light the chanukiah for eight nights in remembrance of the miracle that happened when the oil that was supposed to only last for one night lasted eight! But the question arises, we understand it was a miracle for the oil to have lasted after the first night. But wouldn’t the miracle technically only have started the second night? The oil they found was enough to last the first night, so why do we celebrate all eight nights and not just nights 2 to 7?
Rabbi Sacks brings the answer that the miracle was not that it lasted eight nights but that the Maccabees even found oil, still intact for one night. The fact that the Maccabees even went to look shows an immense amount of emunah after the desecration done to the Beit HaMikdash. They had no reason to search, yet still, the Maccabees put in the effort and found this one jar of oil. Why did they search? It was their tremendous amount of emunah that they believed that from the worst tragedy, Hashem would perform a miracle and something would survive. Therefore, the miracle of the first night is their faith.
Throughout our history, we have remained faithful. There were times when any other nation would have given up in despair, but we did not. From the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash to antisemitism today, we have never given up our faith! They gathered what remained, rebuilt our nation, and lit. Like no other in history, a light that tells us and the world the power of the human spirit to overcome every tragedy and refuse to accept defeat.
“The holiday of lights” doesn’t just refer to the miracle of the lasting oil, but also to the everlasting light of spirit and faith.
Mrs. Emma Taylor
Ezra Goldberg, Grade 9
As Jews, we often take the duration of the chagim for granted. Rarely do we stop and think, “Why is this chag ‘x’ amount of days?” So when it comes to Chanukah, I think it is worth asking why we celebrate the holiday for eight days.
The most common answer is probably that the Pach HaShemen, which should only have lasted for one day, lasted for eight days. However, it’s not that simple. When looking at the chagim from the Torah, we can see that we don’t correspond the length of the chag to the length of the miracle we are celebrating. Take Pesach, for example – the Mishnah tells us that the punishment of the Egyptians lasted one year, but we only celebrate Pesach for seven days.
Megillat Ta’anit (which was a scroll that dictated the days that we cannot fast) reinforces this idea when it says about Chanukah, “Though there was only enough oil to light for one day, a miracle occurred, and they lit the Temple lamps from it for eight days. The following year they decreed these to be eight days of celebration. And what justification did they see for making Chanukah eight days?” By asking why Chanukah is eight days long after telling us that the miracle of the oil lasted for eight days, we can see that the length of the miracle isn’t the reason for the length of the chag. So then, what is?
When the Chashmona’im returned to the Beit HaMikdash after it had been destroyed by the Greeks, they saw complete destruction, and they could have given up. They could have turned away and said, “This isn’t our problem; we’ve done our job,” and waited for the rest of Bnei Yisrael to deal with the aftermath of the destruction. Instead, the Chashmona’im spent seven full days building new mizbachot, cleaning the Beit HaMikdash, and removing any signs of avodah zara that the Greeks had left behind. By the time the eighth day came, the Beit HaMikdash was ready to be reopened.
The Chashmona’im stepped up even after their original task of freeing the people from Greek rule had been completed. By proactively taking on the responsibility of cleaning up the Beit HaMikdash, the Chashmona’im made this rededication of the Beit HaMikdash of the highest value.
The actions of the Chashmona’im teach us that we should look for opportunities to go above and beyond to help out; we shouldn’t just do the bare minimum. On Chanukah, we recognize the Chashmona’im with an eight-day celebration remembering the fact that they took the initiative for eight extra days and were the leaders we needed in a time of hardship. By modelling ourselves after them, we can truly become better people.
Chanukah Sameach!
Rabbi Yosef Kurtz
On both Chanukah and Purim, we recite the tefillah of Al Hanisim. These tefillot are very similar, but there is a telling difference in the way that they end. On Purim, we end off by talking about how Haman was hung on a tree. On Chanukah, we end off the tefillah by essentially declaring that because of the miracles of the day, we have an obligation להודות ולהלל לשמך הגדול, to thank and to praise Your great name.
Rav Hutner asks the question of why is it that these tefillot are so similar yet end off in such drastically different ways. Also, we are aware that on nearly every holiday, we say Hallel, but what is this concept of הודאה, thanks, that we are required on Chanukah to give to Hashem? Rav Hutner answers by discussing the key differences between these two holidays. On Purim, Haman wanted to kill the Jewish people physically, but on Chanukah, the יוונים wished to strip the Jewish People of what made them unique; the Torah and mitzvot.
The word הודאה can be understood in two different ways: to give thanks and to acknowledge. In reality, these concepts are one and the same. On Chanukah, we are obligated to acknowledge the fact that we got more than we deserved or needed and, therefore, must say thank you to Hashem. Hashem could have simply saved the Jewish People, but we also received the miracle of the oil. If the Jews won the war, this would have been enough to give thanks to Hashem and say Hallel. By giving us the oil that lasted eight days, we also have to give הודאה, an acknowledgement that this was above and beyond anything we needed or deserved.
The origin of the word הודאה comes from Parshat Vayetzei when Leah has her fourth child and says, “הפעם אודה את ה׳, this time I can thank Hashem.” Why did Leah only thank Hashem after her fourth child? Was she not grateful after her first three? Leah did the math and knew that there were supposed to be 12 שבטים. Yaakov had four wives, and therefore everyone should have been allotted three children each. When Leah’s fourth son was born, she not only needed to thank Hashem, but she wanted to acknowledge that now she had more than her share.
Chanukah is the holiday when we consider our lives and all the gifts that Hashem has given us. We praise Hashem for sustaining us through our trials and tribulations for so many years, but we also acknowledge all the incredible gifts that we have that go above and beyond the bare minimum. There is so much to be grateful for, and on Chanukah, we can hopefully come to truly appreciate this.
