Eternal Light of Chanukah

(2) ’Speak unto Aaron, and say unto him: When thou lightest the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the candlestick.’

...When you mount the lamps (Numbers 8:2)… [The intention of this text is to create an allusion from this section of the Torah to Hanukkah… I have found in Megillat Setarim of Rabbeinu Nissim, the following: “I saw the Midrash: When each of the twelve tribes brought dedication-offerings and the tribe of Levi did not, the Holy One said to Moses, “Speak to Aaron and say to him, ‘when you mount the lamps…’ there is another hanukkah [dedication] wherein there will be lighting of lamps, when I will perform miracles and salvation for Israel through your children, and a dedication which will be known by their name as ‘the Hanukkah of the sons of the Hasmoneans.’”

I further saw in [Tanchuma] and also in Midrash Rabbah: “The Holy One said to Moses: Go tell Aaron – ‘Fear not! You are designated for a greater purpose than this. The sacrifices are brought only as long as the Temple is in existence, but the lamps give light at the front of the lampstand forever; and all the blessings that I have given you with which to bless My children will never cease.” But the Temple is not in existence and the offerings have not been brought since its destruction, and so the lighting of the lamps also ceased! Therefore the sages of the Midrash must have been alluding to the lights of the Hasmonean Hanukkah, which are lit even after the destruction of the Temple.