Chanukah - the other Sukkot

What is Chanukkah, that our Sages taught: On the 25th of Kislev - the days of Chanukkah, they are eight, not to eulogize on them and not to fast on them? When the Greeks entered the Temple, they polluted all the oils in the Temple, and when the Hasmonean dynasty overcame and defeated them, they checked and they found but one cruse of oil that was set in place with the seal of the High Priest, but there was in it only [enough] to light a single day. A miracle was done with it, and they lit from it for eight days. The following year [the Sages] fixed those [days], making them holidays for praise and thanksgiving.

(6) One who buys two trees in [the field] of a fellow, brings but does not recite the Biblical Passage. Rabbi Meir says, one brings and recites. If the spring dried or the tree was chopped, one brings but does not recite. Rabbi Judah says, one brings and recites. From Atseret until Sukkot, one brings and recites. From Sukkot until Hanukkah, one brings but does not recite.

(4) When the new moon of Adar happens on a Sabbath, the section Shekalim (Exod. 30:11), is to be read; if it happen on any other day, that section must he read on the preceding Sabbath, and nothing additional is read on the following Sabbath. On the second, the section ‏of Zachor (Deut. 15:14), is to be read; on the third, that of the red heifer, ‏ Parah (Num. 19); on the fourth, that of ‏Hachodesh (Exod. 17); on the fifth, they return again to the regular order. The regular order [of parashot] is also interrupted on Rosh Chodesh, on Chanukah, on Purim, on fasts, and on Yom Kippur.

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(6) On Hanukkah, the section of the offerings of the princes (Num. 7) must be read; on Purim, that of ‏Vayavoh Amalek, "Amalek arose," (Exod. 9:8); on Rosh Chodesh, ‏ Uverashei Chodshaichem, "And the firsts of the months,"‎ (Num. 18:11); on the fast-days for the standing men, Ma'aseh V'reishit, "In the beginning" (Gen. 1); on fast-days, B'rachot uk'lalim, "Blessings and curses." (Lev. 26:3). The curses must be read without interruption, namely, one person must read the whole [chapter]. On Mondays and Thursdays, and on the Sabbath afternoon, they shall read the section of the law in its regular order, but these readings are not available to reduce the regular number: for it is said, Lev.23:44, "Moses declared unto the children of Israel the appointed festivals of the Lord," whence it is inferred, that each section must be read on the appointed festival to which it refers.

(10) Public fasts are not to be ordered to take place on the feast of new moon, nor on that of Chanukah and of lots [pureem]; but if the fast has been already commenced thereon, it need not be broken. Such is the opinion of Rabbon Gamaliel.

(57) And Yehudah, his brothers and all the community of Israel commanded to celebrate the dedication of the altar on the twenty-fifth day of month of Kislev, eight days each year, with praise and thanksgiving to the Lord.

(1) on the twenty-first day of the seventh month (i.e. during Sukkot), the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: (2) Speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, the governor of Judah, and to the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, and to the rest of the people...For thus said the LORD of Hosts: In just a little while longer I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land; (7) I will shake all the nations. And the precious things of all the nations shall come [here], and I will fill this House with glory, said the LORD of Hosts.

(10) On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth [month], in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Haggai...

(18) Take note, from this day forward—from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the day when the foundation was laid for the LORD’s Temple—take note!

Haftorah for Shmini Atzeret

(1) Then Solomon convoked the elders of Israel—all the heads of the tribes and the ancestral chieftains of the Israelites—before King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD from the City of David, that is, Zion. (2) All the men of Israel gathered before King Solomon at the Feast, in the month of Ethanim—that is, the seventh month.

(65) So Solomon and all Israel with him—a great assemblage, [coming] from

Lebo-hamath to the Wadi of Egypt—observed the Feast at that time before the LORD our God, seven days and again seven days, fourteen days in all. (66) On the eighth day he let the people go. They bade the king good-bye and went to their homes, joyful and glad of heart over all the goodness that the LORD had shown to His servant David and His people Israel.

(1) The angel who talked with me came back and woke me as a man is wakened from sleep.

(2) He said to me, “What do you see?” And I answered, “I see a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl above it (with oil and wicks). The lamps on it are seven in number, and the lamps above it have seven pipes;

[Rashi - 7 tubes to each lamp

Radak - 7 tubes altogether, one per lamp]

(3) and by it are two olive trees, one on the right of the bowl and one on its left.”

(12) And I further asked him, “What are the two tops of the olive trees that feed their gold through those two golden tubes?”

He was told that they represent - the kingship (through Zurabbel, Governer Judah) and the priesthood (through Joshua, the Cohen Gadol)

What is Chanukkah, that our Sages taught: On the 25th of Kislev - the days of Chanukkah, they are eight, not to eulogize on them and not to fast on them? When the Greeks entered the Temple, they polluted all the oils in the Temple, and when the Hasmonean dynasty overcame and defeated them, they checked and they found but one cruse of oil that was set in place with the seal of the High Priest, but there was in it only [enough] to light a single day. A miracle was done with it, and they lit from it for eight days. The following year [the Sages] fixed those [days], making them holidays for praise and thanksgiving.

(2) When the Jews overcame their enemies and won the military battle on the 25th day of Kislev, they entered the sanctuary of the Temple and found only one flask of pure oil. That flask only contained enough oil to burn for one day but it remained lit for eight full days, until fresh olives were crushed into pure oil.

(3) Because of this, the Sages of that same generation established that these eight days which begin on the 25th of Kislev [would be] days of joy, and singing-praise, and would light lights on them in the evening at the entrances of their houses every night of the eight nights, to show and reveal the miracle. And these days are called Hanukkah (lit. Dedication), and on then it is forbidden to eulogize, and to fast, like the days of Purim (lit. Lots). And lighting the lights on them is a commandment from the teachings of the Scribes, like Reading the Megillah (lit. Scroll).