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Chanukah means dedication. It refers to the re-dedication of the Temple (Beth HaMikdash) in Jerusalem in 165 B.C.E. The holiday commemorates two things: The victory of the Maccabeans against an oppressive Assyrrian-Greek regime and the miracle that happened there. The 3 year battle restored Jewish sovereignty over the land and of course the temple. Since the Temple was such an important part of Judaism, the Greeks ( I use Assyrrinans and Greeks interchangeably) placed special emphasis on defiling the it. When it was recaptured, the victorious Jews made cleansing the Temple of idolatrous pollution their first priority. As in synagogues today, an eternal light burned in the temple that used especially prepared pure olive oil. One untouched sealed oil flask was found when the temple was reclaimed. The flask only contained enough oil to light the Great Menorah in the Temple for one day. Since the purification process took eight days, they had a problem. The miracle,of course, was that the flask lit the menorah for eight days.
"The Rabbis taught that on the 25th of Kislev, the eight days of Chanukah [begin], during which one may not eulogize or fast. For when the Greeks entered the sanuary, they defiled all the oils in the Temple. When the kingdom of the Hasmoneans became strong and overcame them, they searched, and could only find one bottle of oil lying there with the seal of the High Priest, and it contained enough oil to light one day. A miracle occurred, and they lit with it for eight days. The next year, they fixed them and made them festival days, for praise and thanksgiving." Shabbath 21b.
The twenty-fifth day of Kislev this year begins on the evening of the 14th of December. The major religious observance for Chanukah is lighting the menorah each night of the holiday.
The Chanukah menorah has eight branches, one representing each night of the holiday. There is no prescribed shape for a menorah but one should be able to distinguish between the branches. It may be individual lamps placed close enough together so that they may be seen as a menorah. Since the miracle of Chanukah involves oil, the mitzvah (command) can only be filled by lighting oil lamps. Candles are considered oil since the wax melts to an oil and is drawn up the wick as oil to be burned. Although the miracle involved olive oil, all oils and wicks are allowed. The candle or oil lamp must burn for at least 30 minutes during the day being celebrated. Lighting electric lights do not fulfill the mitzah, but I wonder in this day of fossil fuels if the argument could be extended to cover them.
Since Chanukah celebrates a miracle involving olive oil, I prefer lighting oil lamps with olive oil to candles. My Menorah is actually a bunch of copper pipe end caps with floating wicks. I use 3/4" copper pipe end caps because they hold enough oil to burn a long time. 1/2" ones more than satisfy the 30 minute requirement. It's just me wanting to see and display a celebration of the miracle a little longer. I have a friend (whose name is Friend) who uses whiskey shot glasses instead. He places water in the bottom to displace oil volume so they don't burn forever (or eight days). I think he told me using shot glasses was an Israeli custom. The photograph immediately above and on the left show two menorahs in my window on the third night. The candle menorah on the left has been in my family for several generations. The one right shows is the copper pipe menorah. The picture on the right, taken on the fifth day appears to be out of focus. Look at the flames. Did a miracle happen here?
On the first night, facing the menorah, one candle on the far right is lit. On the second, two candles are placed on the far right. On the third night, three and so forth the final night when all eight branches of the menorah hold a candle. The candle on the left of each night's group is lit first, as it represents the current night. That is, they are lit left to right. It is customary to place the menorah in a window "to advertise" the holiday. In Israel, they are often placed outside the home (and near the door) for this reason.
The light from the Chanukah menorah may not be used for any non-religious purpose such as reading. Therefore an additional candle is lit and placed near the others so that if a flame or light is needed, a non-Chanukah light is available. If candles are lit, the shamash or servant candle is used to light the others. Placing the shamus higher than the other candles, as is often done, increases the likelihood that if one benefits from the light one will benefit from the shamus.
It is desirable for each member of the family to light a menorah but it is not required. For the feminists in the crowd, a woman may light the menorah on behalf of all the members of her household. Since the Assyrrians badly abused Jewish women, this has always been an important holiday for women...and since woman played such an important role in the miracle, they have traditionally placed more emphasis on the holiday then men. The code of Jewish Law (Rabbi Karo, 16th century) states that work may be done on Chanukah... except by women while the Chanuka candles are lite. Grumble!
Chanukah is a post biblical holiday and such is considered a minor holiday. That is, other than not performing any work during the minimum 30 minutes of "candle light time" discussed above, there are essentially no restrictions regarding activities not related to the Holiday. So why do I have two books devoted to the Laws of Chanukah? There are some restrictions such as prohibition of fasting and eulogizing the dead. As far as I know, all others are related to menorah, lighting, and placement of the menorah. By the way, we tend to forget how poor our ancestors were. There is a provision for people who could not afford enough oil to light lamps for each night. When in such a situation, it is permissible to light only one candle or lamp each night.
Some other Chanukah Stuff
Judith, a daughter of the High Priest Yochanan, was a heroine in the story of Chanukah. The Midrash gives her credit for a major part of the Jews victory. She was a beautiful woman that was forced to spend a night with an Assyrrian Commander. She plied him with milk and cheese to the point where he fell asleep. Bad move! While he was "out", she beheaded him and left his camp...with his head. The loss of this commander was considered so demoralizing to the Assyrrians that it contributed greatly to the Jewish victory. Cheese is eaten by some on this holiday for this reason.
Jewish law generally exempts women from time dependent positive mitzvahs. Specifically wearing tefillin and tzitzith, reciting the Sh'ma, hearing the shofer, dwelling in the succah, and waving the four species. When lighting the Chanukah menorah was established as a post biblical commandment, women were explicitly included since they had such an important role in the miracle.
The dreidal on the top and bottom of this page is a four sided top. Jewish children play with it on Chanukah. The origin of the dreidal is said to be as follows. During the Assyrrian occupation, Jews were forbidden to study Torah. If an Assyrrian appeared while the children were studying, they pretended to be playing with the dreidal. There are four different Hebrew letters one each of the four faces of the dreidal: Nun Gimmal Hayah Sham. This is also an acronym for a Hebrew sentence which translates as "A great miracle happened there." Now we know how long acronyms are around.
The Great Menorah
The Great Menorah in the Temple was different than a Chanukah Menorah. It was over six feet high (sounds like a Lubavitch public menorah) and had seven branches vs the eight in Chanukah menorah. Each branch represented a day of the creation including the Sabbath.
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H Feinstein saftyrma@erols.com
