Many of us may be familiar with the story of the miracle of the oil, but did you know that this retelling does not appear in any source until the seven hundred years after the events of Hanukkah took place? If this event was so well-known, why did it take so long to be recorded?
What is Hannukah? For our rabbis taught, on the 25th of Kislev there are the days of Hannukah, they are 8, and one is not allowed to offer a eulogy or fast on them.
For the Greeks entered the Temple and they defiled all of the oil in the Temple, and when the Hasmoneans prevailed, they looked and didn't find anything but one flask of oil that was stamped with the High Priest's seal. And there was only enough to light for one day. And a miracle was made and they lit for 8 days. The next year they established these days as holidays, for the recitation of the Hallel and for Thanksgiving.
Scholion, Parma Manuscript
For the Greeks defiled the Temple.
And when the kingship of the Hasmoneans prevailed they found pure oil. And they lit candles. And all the days that they lit the candles, they made into a holiday.
The second book of Maccabees quotes from a letter sent circa 125 BCE from the Hasmoneans (the Macabees’ descendants) to the leaders of Egyptian Jewry, describing the holiday as “the festival of Sukkot celebrated in the month of Kislev rather than Tishrei.” Since the Jews were still in caves fighting as guerrillas on Tishrei, 164 BCE, they had been unable to honor the eight-day holiday of Sukkot , which required visiting the Jerusalem Temple; hence it was postponed until after the recapture of Jerusalem and the rededication of the Temple. Many scholars believe it is this connection to Sukkot – and not the Talmudic account of the cruse of oil that lasted eight days – that explains why Hanukkah is eight days long.
ותישאר יהודית לבדה באוהל עם הלופרנש והוא שכור מיין וייפול על מיטתו ויירדם: ותאמר אל אמתה שבי לך פה מחוץ לאוהל עד בואי אליך לצאת ולהתפלל כאשר הסכנתי לעשות: וגם לבגוא אמרה כי תצא גם הלילה: ויהי כי יצאו כולם ולא נשאר איש באוהל למקטון ועד גדול ותיגש אל המיטה אשר הוא שכב עליה ותתפלל בלבה ותאמר: אל אלוהים אשר בידך הכוח והגבורה הבט נא וראה את מעשה ידי שפחתך להרים קרן ירושלים: הנה קרבה עת פדות עם נחלתך כי תושיעני ימינך לתת נקמה בגוים אשר קמו עלינו: ותיגש אל העמוד אשר בראש המיטה ותיקח את חרב הלופרנש מעליו: ותשלח את ידה ותיקחהו בציצית ראשו ותאמר יהוה אלוהים חזקני נא ואמצני אך הפעם: ותך בחוזקה פעמים על צווארו ותכרות את ראשו ותגל נבלתו מעל המיטה ותיקח היריעה מעל העמוד ותצא: ותיתן את ראש הלופרנש לאמתה ותצווה לתתו אל השק: ותצאן שתיהן מן המחנה כדרכן לצאת להתפלל ותעבורנה את הערבה ותעלינה ההרה ותבאנה לפני שערי בתול: ותקרא יהודית מרחוק אל שומרי השער לאמור: פתחו לי את השער כי יהוה אלוהינו אתנו להראות לישראל את ידו ולצריו את זרועו כאשר החל לעשת ביום הזה: ויהי כשמוע אנשי העיר את קולה וינהרו אל פתח השער ויקראו לזקני העיר: וקטן וגדול התאספו לראותה כי כפלא הייתה בעיניהם ויפתחו את השער ויאספוה העירה: וידליקו אש להאיר וכל העם הקיפו אותה מסביב: ותישא יהודית את קולה ותאמר: הודו ליהוה והללו לשמו כי לא הסיר חסדו מעל בית ישראל ומחץ פאת צרינו בידי הלילה: ותיקח את ראש הלופרנש מן השק ותראהו את העם ותאמר: הנה זה ראש הלופרנש זר צבא אשור וזאת היריעה אשר שכב אחריה והוא שכור וביד אישה הרגו אלוהים:
and Judith was left alone in the tent with Holofernes lying by himself on his bed, for he was filled with wine. Now Judith had commanded her maid to stand outside her bedroom and to wait for her to go forth, as she did daily; for she said she would go forth to her prayers, and she spoke to Bagoas towards the same purpose. So everyone left and no one was left in the bedroom, neither little nor great. Then Judith, standing by his bed, said in her heart: "O Lord God of all power, look at this time upon the works of my hands for the exaltation of Jerusalem. For now is the time to help your inheritance and to execute your purposes for the destruction of the enemies who have risen against us." Then she went to the pillar of the bed, which was at Holofernes' head, and took down his sword from there. And she approached his bed, and took hold of the hair of his head, and said, "Strengthen me, O Lord God of Israel, this day." And she twice struck his neck with all her might, and she took his head away from him. And she tumbled his body down from the bed, and pulled down the canopy from the pillars; and, soon after, she went out and gave the head of Holofernes to her maid. And she put it in her bag of meat, so these two went together, according to their custom, to prayer; and when they passed the camp, they circled the valley and went up the mountain of Bethulia and came to its gates. Then Judith said, from far off to the watchmen at the gate, "Open, open the gate now! God, our God, is with us to show his power yet in Jerusalem and his forces against the enemy, as he has truly done on this day!" Now when the men of her city heard her voice, they hurried down to the gate of their city and they called the elders. And then they ran all together, both small and great, for it was surprising to them that she had returned. So they opened the gate and received them; and they made a fire for a light, and they stood all around them. Then she said to them with a loud voice, "Praise, praise God, praise God, I say, for he has not taken away his mercy from the house of Israel, but has destroyed our enemies by my hands this night." So she took the head out of the bag and showed it and said to them, "Behold the head of Holofernes, the chief captain of the army of Assur, and behold the canopy where he had lain in his drunkenness; and the Lord has struck him by the hand of a woman.
Why do you think this story was not kept in the Jewish canon?
ת"ר לפי שראה אדם הראשון יום שמתמעט והולך אמר אוי לי שמא בשביל שסרחתי עולם חשוך בעדי וחוזר לתוהו ובוהו וזו היא מיתה שנקנסה עלי מן השמים עמד וישב ח' ימים בתענית [ובתפלה] כיון שראה תקופת טבת וראה יום שמאריך והולך אמר מנהגו של עולם הוא הלך ועשה שמונה ימים טובים לשנה האחרת עשאן לאלו ולאלו ימים טובים הוא קבעם לשם שמים והם קבעום לשם עבודת כוכבים
Our rabbis taught: Adam saw that the days were getting shorter, and he said, “Oy! Perhaps because I was corrupted, the world is getting dark, and returning to chaos, and this is the death which was decreed upon me by heaven.” He stood and he waited eight days in fasting [and prayer]. When he saw the period of Tevet, and he saw that the days were growing longer, he said, “This is the way of the world.” He went and he made an eight day festival. The next year he made these and these [kalenda and saturna, two Greco-Roman festivals) into holidays. He established them for the sake of heaven and they established them for idolatry.
Now Judas celebrated the festival of the restoration of the sacrifices of the temple for eight days, and omitted no sort of pleasures thereon; but he feasted them upon very rich and splendid sacrifices; and he honored God, and delighted them by hymns and psalms. Nay, they were so very glad at the revival of their customs, when, after a long time of intermission, they unexpectedly had regained the freedom of their worship, that they made it a law for their posterity, that they should keep a festival, on account of the restoration of their temple worship, for eight days. And from that time to this we celebrate this festival, and call it Lights. I suppose the reason was, because this liberty beyond our hopes appeared to us; and that thence was the name given to that festival.
David said to the Holy Blessed One: All that You have given to us—good and sweet are they, as it says, “Delightful country has fallen to my lot; lovely indeed is my estate” (Psalm 16:6). It says likewise, “Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy! Though I have fallen, I rise again; though I sit in darkness, God is my light” (Micah 7:8). [That is to say:] Had I not sat in the darkness, I would not have had light.
Question: In this midrash, King David attributes his acquisition of light to the time he sat in the dark. In what way can it be said that dark is generative of light? In what ways do we owe our lights to our darknesses?
(In my sleep I dreamed this poem)
Someone I loved once gave me
a box full of darkness.
It took me years to understand
that this, too, was a gift.
Rabbi Abin ha-Levi bar Rabbi: You find that when one constructs windows, he builds them wide on the inside and narrow on the outside. Why? He does this so that the light may spread throughout the house. The windows in the Temple, however, were constructed wide on the outside and narrow within, so that the light of the Temple might spread forth to illuminate the world. Aer all, does God require lamps? Rather,
it is for our merit. David said: “Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart” (Psalm 97:11).
Questions:
On Hanukkah, we direct our lights toward the outside world, sharing the miracle publically. What are some Jewish values that you like to send out into the world?
Noam Zion, Reinventing Hanukkah: In America
The lyrics of the popular Hanukkah song Mi y’mallel (“Who can recount…?”) were written by one of the creators of Hebrew folk music in the early 20th century, Menashe Ravina (1899-1968). He begins by reworking the verse “Who can recount the mighty acts of the Lord, recite all His praises?” (Psalms 106:2) into this: “Who can recount the mighty acts of [the people] Israel? Who can count them? / In every generation a hero arises, redeemer of the people.” Praise of God has yielded to praise of military victors, and the title of “redeemer” (go’el) is now applied to a human rescuer, not a divine one.
Why do you think early Zionist poets and singers connected to the symbol of Channuka and the figure of the Maccabees?
In contrast, freedom of conscience, faith in God, loyalty to the state, and an ethics of peace and reason have been central Reform values.
So they have also made Hanukkah a major symbol of America Jewish values. Let me cite a 1971 Reform curriculum for children written by Harry Gersh:
adapted from Noam Zion, Reinventing Hanukkah: In America, a Holiday of Religious Freedom.