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Hanukkah: Candles
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Hanukkah is the eight-day Jewish holiday celebrating the victory of Judah Macabee and his followers. According to legend, upon regaining control of the Temple of Jerusalem, they found only enough oil in the sacred Menorah to last one day. Yet, miraculously, the oil lasted eight days. Hanukkah is celebrated by lighting candles in a menorah for eight successive nights.
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Hanukkah is the most widely celebrated American Jewish holiday, possibly because it is a fun, child-centered occasion. It is celebrated with excellent food, an exchange of gifts, and the lighting of beautiful menorahs (special Hanukkah candelabras) filled with brightly colored candles. Unlike some of the other Jewish holidays, which require intense spiritual reflection or elaborate preparation, it is easy to celebrate.
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To this day, the traditional Hanukkah celebration begins at sundown on the 24th of the Hebrew month of Kislev with the recitation of a few prayers before the lighting of a special nine-candle menorah called a hanukeya. Eight of the candles represent the eight miraculous days the little cruse of oil burned in the ancient temple. The ninth candle, the shamash, is used to light the other eight. On the first night, the shamash lights one candle. On the second night, two candles are lit, and so on, until, on the eighth night, all eight candles are lit.
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The eight days and nights of Hanukkah begin on the 25th of Kislev in the Hebrew calendar (in November or December). Today, family members gather each night during the festival to light candles on a special candleholder called a menorah.
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The miracle of Hanukkah is described in the Talmud. The Gemara, in tractate Shabbat 21b focuses on Shabbat candles and moves to Hanukkah candles and says that after the occupiers had been driven from the Temple, the Maccabees discovered that almost all of the ritual olive oil had been profaned. They found only a single container that was still sealed by the High Priest, with enough oil to keep the menorah in the Temple lit for a single day. They used this, and miraculously, that oil burned for eight days (the time it took to have new oil pressed and made ready).
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Although the traditional practice of lighting candles at Hanukkah was not established in the books of the Maccabees, the custom most likely started relatively early. The practice is enshrined in the Talmud, which describes the miracle of the oil in the Temple. According to the Talmud, when Judas Maccabeus entered the Temple, he found only a small jar of oil that had not been defiled by Antiochus. The jar contained only enough oil to burn for one day, but miraculously the oil burned for eight days until new consecrated oil could be found, establishing the precedent that the festival should last eight days. The early date for this story or at least the practice of lighting eight candles is confirmed by the debate of the 1st-century-CE scholars Hillel and Shammai. Hillel and his school taught that one candle should be lit on the first night of Hanukkah and one more each night of the festival.
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