# What Exactly Are We Celebrating on Hanukkah?

> The story everyone knows, the Maccabees against the Greeks, did not even make it into the Bible. What the tradition kept instead is one small flask of oil, in a history full of greater miracles. So what exactly are we celebrating, and why does it matter that it lasted eight days?

By David Raitan · https://torahmeirah.com/en/essays/hanukkah-5786

## In short

The Maccabees' victory is recorded in books that did not make it into the Bible. Megillat Taanit gives a different reason for Hanukkah: the Temple was rededicated, everything was defiled, and one little sealed flask of oil lit the menorah for eight days.

The flask was found in a time when prophecy had ceased, and still we did not give up. And the number matters: seven is God's work in the world, eight is how we partner in it, in the brit milah on the eighth day and in the building of the Temple.

So we celebrate neither nature nor military success. We believe in the world God calls us to make, and in peace over victory. Whatever has happened to us, we stand up and light the world, day by day, light by light.

*Hanukkah*

*These ideas grew out of reading and meditating on Rabbi Sacks's essays on the festival, and on his books and worldview.*

Hanukkah, the festival of lights. But what exactly are we celebrating?

We all know the story of how the Jews, the Maccabees, went against the Greeks, the Seleucids. But that story, interestingly enough, is recorded in the books of Maccabees 1 and 2, and those books did not make it into the Bible. So what exactly is the reason for the celebration?

Well, there is a book called Megillat Taanit, where we have the happy days of the year. It mentions that the reason we celebrate Hanukkah is that the Jews rededicated the Temple in the time of the Greeks, and they looked for a way to light the menorah. So they were looking for a flask of oil. They looked around and saw that everything was defiled and destroyed. But they found one little flask that was still sealed. They took that flask and lit the menorah. That is one part of the miracle. But then the miracle continues, and it lasted not just one day, as it was intended to, but a whole extra week. So a total of eight days.

But why is that such a big deal to celebrate? What exactly are we celebrating? There are many miracles. What is the big deal here?

Well, if we look at the context and the time that this happened, Hanukkah takes place in a time when prophecy has ceased. We don't have God in our presence anymore. We don't see Him as in the old days. We don't have prophets running around. And so in this moment of darkness, with no prophecy anymore, when we have lost the direct connection with God, this is a time when we don't give up. Even though Israel has been threatened by the Greeks, by a stronger force, and they are fighting a war, we still don't give up. And we look for the tiny flask to light the candles. We see the whole Temple defiled, all the oil defiled, and we still say, "No, we still have hope. We might find a little flask to light the candle, at least for one day."

But this turned out to be more than one day. It turned out to be lit for eight days.

But what is the significance of the eight days? I understand there is a miracle for one day, for finding the flask, for having that persistence, having that faith to find it. But the number eight is interesting in this context. Because in general we know that seven days signifies the seven days of creation, signifies God's work in this world. But eight is something else completely. Eight is what we do in God's world, and how we partner in God's world. He gives us the human, but on the eighth day we do His command and complete the baby by doing the brit milah. Similarly, we see that creation took seven days, and the phrase yom ha-shemini, the eighth day, is used only in the context of the Temple: when we build a temple to God, when we partner in the world that He created, and we make the Temple for Him, and make this world a holier world.

And this is the key difference between the Greeks and the Jews. They believed in the world of nature, in the world that God gave us. But we believe in the world that God calls us to make. We believe in elevating the world that is in the name of the world that ought to be. We believe not in nature, but in the human will to change nature, in the call of God to elevate this world.

And even the military success, even though it existed, is not what we celebrate, because we believe in peace over victory. Our prophets, like Isaiah, were the first to talk about peace as an ideal. "Nation will not take sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore." These are the words of the Bible, which also tells how David, even though he was a righteous king, still could not build the Temple because he had blood on his hands. In any other nation, he would be the most qualified person to build a temple: the warrior, the victor, the king. But the Bible says no. Peace over victory.

And so we celebrate this message of hope. No matter what happened, you should wake up, stand up, take responsibility and better this world. That is why, no matter what the occasion, the destruction of the Temple, the Crusades, the expulsions from Spain, Britain or France, the pogroms, the Holocaust, no matter what happens, we are people of faith. We build ourselves back up. We stand up proud and we light the world, day by day, light by light, to better this world and make this world a better place, a more godly place, a more humane place, bringing light into the world and making the world a better place.

Hanukkah Sameach.

## For the Shabbat table

1. When have you kept looking for the "little flask" when everything around you seemed lost?
2. What is one thing God has left for you to complete in the world?
3. Why do we remember the oil more than the victory in battle?
4. Kids: If you could bring a little light to one person this Hanukkah, who would it be and how would you do it?

## Sources

- [The Book of Maccabees I](https://www.sefaria.org/The_Book_of_Maccabees_I)
- [The Book of Maccabees II](https://www.sefaria.org/The_Book_of_Maccabees_II)
- [Shabbat 21b (Megillat Taanit: the one sealed flask)](https://www.sefaria.org/Shabbat.21b)
- [Genesis 2:1–3 (the seven days of creation)](https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.2.1-3)
- [Leviticus 12:3 (brit milah on the eighth day)](https://www.sefaria.org/Leviticus.12.3)
- [Leviticus 9:1 (the eighth day of the Sanctuary)](https://www.sefaria.org/Leviticus.9.1)
- [Isaiah 2:4 (nation will not take sword against nation)](https://www.sefaria.org/Isaiah.2.4)
- [I Chronicles 22:8 (David may not build the Temple)](https://www.sefaria.org/I_Chronicles.22.8)
- [Rabbi Sacks, From Despair to Hope](https://rabbisacks.org/covenant-conversation/behaalotecha/from-despair-to-hope/)
- [Rabbi Sacks, The Eighth Day](https://rabbisacks.org/covenant-conversation/tazria/the-eighth-day/)
- [Rabbi Sacks, The White Lie](https://rabbisacks.org/covenant-conversation/vayechi/the-white-lie/)