OLD Out of the Box: Chanukah Edition (Teacher Guide)

The Gemara asks: What is Hanukkah, and why are lights kindled on Hanukkah? The Gemara answers: The Sages taught in Megillat Ta’anit: On the twenty-fifth of Kislev, the days of Hanukkah are eight. One may not eulogize on them and one may not fast on them. What is the reason? When the Greeks entered the Sanctuary they defiled all the oils that were in the Sanctuary by touching them. And when the Hasmonean monarchy overcame them and emerged victorious over them, they searched and found only one cruse of oil that was placed with the seal of the High Priest, undisturbed by the Greeks. And there was sufficient oil there to light the candelabrum for only one day. A miracle occurred and they lit the candelabrum from it eight days. The next year the Sages instituted those days and made them holidays with recitation of hallel and special thanksgiving in prayer and blessings.

(1) “What is Hanukkah? The Sages taught: On the twenty-fifth of Kislev… they searched and found only one cruse of oil that was placed with the seal of the High Priest…” (Shabbat 21a). One could ask – so what if it was sealed with the seal of the High Priest? We may be able to claim that even if it were touched from the outside it remains pure (because clay vessels only become impure from the inside not the outside), but nonetheless we must be concerned that it was tipped and thus became impure. The Tosafot addressed this difficulty by saying that if these events took place after the Sages had decreed all idolaters to have the impurity of a bodily issue, then we must say that it was placed in the ground and sealed in such a fashion that the vessel could not be tipped. The same seems true in the words of Rashi who wrote “with the seal, meaning that it was hidden away and sealed with his ring and thus recognizably untouched.” The Ran answered this problem by saying that if they had found it and tipped it, they would have broken it open to see if it held gold or jewels. Therefore, since it was found sealed with the seal of the High Priest it was certainly not found by the defilers. It is possible that this was Rashi’s intent as well when he wrote that it was ‘recognizably untouched.’:

And it is taught in anotherbaraita: A person may not construct a house in the exact form of the Sanctuary, nor a portico [akhsadra] corresponding to the Entrance Hall of the Sanctuary, nor a courtyard corresponding to the Temple courtyard, nor a table corresponding to the Table in the Temple, nor a candelabrum corresponding to the Candelabrum in the Temple. But one may fashion a candelabrum of five or of six or of eight branches. And one may not fashion a candelabrum of seven branches, and this is the halakhaeven if he constructs it from other kinds of metal rather than gold, since the Candelabrum used in the Temple may be fashioned from other metals.The baraita continues: Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Yehuda, says: One may not even fashion a candelabrum from wood, in the manner that the kings of the Hasmonean monarchy did in the Temple. The Candelabrum used in the Temple in the time of the Hasmonean kings was fashioned from wood. The Rabbis said to Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Yehuda: You seek to bring a proof from there? In the time of the Hasmoneans the Candelabrum was not fashioned from wood but from spits [shappudim] of iron, and they covered them with tin. Later, when they grew richer and could afford to fashion a Candelabrum of higher-quality material, they fashioned the Candelabrum from silver. When they again grew richer, they fashioned the Candelabrum from gold.

(19) If the Community is poor they may even make [the vessels] out of lead. If they are rich, they [should] make them out of gold, even the pitchforks, skewers, and shovels of the Sacrificial Altar [which tend to get dirty]. [The community] should even plate the gates of the courtyard with gold if they can afford it.

... One could ask why they established an eight day celebration at all. After all, since there was enough oil in the sealed jar to light for one night then the miracle actually was for seven nights. One could answer that they divided the oil they found into eight parts and placed one portion in the menorah each night, which nonetheless burned until morning. Thus a miracle occurred every night...

(2) The many meals which we add on [these days] are voluntary meals, since [the Sages] did not establish them as [days of] feasting and joy. Rem"a: But some say that there is somewhat of a mitzvah in adding meals, because during those days was the Dedication of the Altar (Abraham Kara of Prague). It is the custom to recite hymns and songs of praise during the feasts added on them, and then they are mitzvah meals (Book of Customs). Some say that cheese should be eaten during Hanukkah, because a miracle was done though milk which Yehudit fed the enemy. (Kol Bo and Nissim of Gerona).