Lead Tidbit

A Brief Look Back at Chanuka

If you are reading these words on the last day of Chanuka (TT just having hit the stands), then this is your title: As Chanuka ebbs away…
If you are reading this after Chanuka (which is more likely), then your title is…
A Brief Look Back at Chanuka

It always bothered me that Chanuka is 8 days long because a one-day supply of oil miraculously lasted for 8 days. The miracle of the oil did not seem enough of a reason for our Sages to declare an 8-day holiday. Chanuka could have been one day - like Purim - with, perhaps, the mitzva to light 8 candles in commemoration of the miracle. Or it could have been 7 days, like Pesach and Sukkot - the Biblical precedents for long holidays. Or it could have been 12 days long to match the span of days that the Tribal Leaders brought their gifts to the new Mishkan - as we read in the Torah throughout Chanuka. We do not have a rule in Judaism that the length of a declared holiday must match part of the story of the events that led to the holiday. We sing that B’NEI VINA, Y’MEI SH’MONA, KAV’U… Men of deep understanding established the holiday at 8 days. Where’s the deep understanding that brought about our beloved 8-day Chanuka.
According to our tradition, the Greek oppression of Israel focused on a number of mitzvot and Jewish practices, which were banned on pain of death. Specifically, learning Torah was banned, as was the observance of Shabbat. The sanctification of the month was forbidden - meaning the Jewish calendar was banned. And there was a ban on Brit Mila, circumcision.
All of those bans were meant to tear the Jew away from Torah and Judaism, making the processes of Hellenization and assimilation possible and probable.
Unique among the list of banned practices is circumcision, because the Greeks did not see Mila as “just” a mitzva that bound the Jewish People to G-d and Torah - they opposed the practice on principle. Mila to them was an abomination. It was an act of mutilation of the body - the body that the Greeks venerated. The other items were banned, not because the Greek culture objected to them, but because - as mentioned above - that was their strategy to destroy our bond with Judaism. But Mila was their main target. Mila was their target on principle.
The “Chanuka story” includes the episode of a woman and her recently circumcised baby (in defiance of the Greek decree) “going public”. Without going into the gory details, it was her action that led to the decision to go to war, rather than merely continue to practice Judaism in secret. Brit Mila was the battle cry of the Makabim (so to speak).
What better way to announce the victory and celebrate it, than with an 8 day holiday.
Our enhancement of the mitzva - the lighting an increasing number of candles each night, culminating in eight, further emphasizes the “eight” aspect of Chanuka.
Furthermore, the original inauguration of the Mishkan - the first Mikdash, was an 8-day process, with official functioning of the Mishkan beginning on the eighth day, following the 7 days of inauguration. This makes 8 days the appropriate length of time for the rededication of the Mikdash by the Chashmona’im.
Let’s add one more 8-related element to appreciate all the more, the wisdom and deep understanding displayed by our Sages who declared Chanuka to be 8 days.
The gemara in Avoda Zara tells us that Adam HaRishon noticed that the days were getting shorter and shorter (during his first winter season). He feared that this would continue until the world would be returned to darkness and chaos - because of Adam’s sin. When he realized that the days began to lengthen, he realized that he was not being punished and he celebrated with an 8-day Yom Tov - at this very time of the year. The gemara continues: later generations perverted Adam’s mid-winter holiday to pagan worship. We can add that the holiday of Chanuka restored the original intent of Adam, as a way of thanking G-d.
And the miracle of the oil? Great, of course. But maybe it also helped our Sages with their 8-day decision.

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