Rabbi Mansour 09
Shabbat morning class פרשת וישב-שבת חנוכה
The Rabbi asked the famous question of the Beit Yosef and gave 21 answers! As
we all know the miracle of Hanukah was, that the oil was only enough for one day, but
it miraculously lasted for 8 days. For this reason we celebrate 8 days of Hanukah. The
question is, why are we celebrating 8 days? After all, there was enough oil for one day,
so the first day was not a miracle. The miracle was that it lasted an additional 7 days. So
we should really be celebrating 7 days of Hanukah to commemorate the 7 days that
the Menorah miraculously stayed lit? Why do we celebrate 8 days? The first three
answers are given by the Beit Yosef.
1) They only poured an 1/8 of the normal measure of oil in the Menorah and it
miraculously lasted all night. So even the first night was a miracle.(The question
on this answer is that we know that we are not supposed to rely on miracles, אין
סומכין על הנם , so why would they initially pour only an 1/8 expecting that to last
all night ? Another question is, that there is a rule תן לה כמדתה - you have to
initially pour the proper measure in the Menorah, so how could they only pour an
1/8 of the required measure?)
2) In the morning, the cup of oil miraculously remained full, so even on the first
night there was a miracle. (The question on this answer is if so, then what was the
miracle on the last night?)
3) After they poured the oil into the Menorah, the container of oil miraculously
remained full with oil, so even on the first night it was a miracle. (The question on
this answer is, if so what was the miracle on the last night?)
4) As they poured a little oil into the menorah it miraculously filled up to the top, so
there was a miracle on every night.
5) On the first night, even though they poured in the full measure, only an 1/8 of oil
burnt and an 1/8 burnt on each subsequent night, so even on the first night there
was a miracle. This explains Beit Shammai (that says you start with 8 candles than
decrease) since the earlier the night, the greater the miracle (because the earlier
the night, the more oil there was that miraculously did not burn).
6) It is forbidden to copy the utensils of the Beit Hamikdash, and the Menorah in the
Beit Hamikdash had 7 lights. So if Hanukah were 7 nights than our Menorah
would look like the Menorah of the Beit Hamikdash, because of this the Rabbis
made it an 8 day holiday.
7) In order for a miracle to take place, we need something for it to start with, for
example there is the story of Elisha Hanavi, when he asked the poor woman what
she had in the house, and she said only a little oil. So Elisha told her to go borrow
all the utensils you can, and from that little oil all the utensils filled up with oil. So
we see she needed a little oil to start the miracle, so to we needed the first
night’s measure of oil in order to start the 7 day miracle. So we celebrate all 8
days, like it says in the song ומנותר קנקנים נעשה נם... -מעוז צור - from the leftover
oil we had a miracle, therefore בני בינה ימי שמונה קבעו that is why the Rabbis made
it 8 days.
8) The oil had the seal of the Kohen Gadol on it. Why did it have a seal? Since this
oil was actually the oil of the Kohen Gadol’s personal Minhat Havitin that had to
be brought with his own oil, and the measurement of oil he needed to bring was
3 Lugin as opposed to the 3 ½ Lugin needed to light the Menorah. So the jug of
oil they found was actually short a ½ Lug- so even on the first night there was a
miracle that the oil lasted all night.
9) The Greeks tried to stop the Jews from performing Brit Milah, so to
commemorate the victory over the Greeks that enabled the Jews to once again
perform the Brit Milah that is done on the 8th day, we celebrate an 8 day holiday.
10) The Beit Hamikdash was defiled by the Greeks, so the Jews had to purify it and
reinaugurate it. The word Hanukah is from the lashon "Hinuch’ -to inaugurate (like
"Hinuch Habayit). So we celebrate the first day, to commemorate the
reinauguration of the Beit Hamikdash. It was fitting that this was done on the first
day of Hanukah כה' כסלו , since the original Mishkan built by Moshe was actually
completed and ready to be inaugurated on כה' כסלו , but Hashem told Moshe to
wait until the month of Nissan to do so. So Hashem "compensated" that day by
making it the first day of Hanukah and reinaugurating the Temple on that day.
11) Since the Beit Hamikdash was defiled, they moved the Menorah outside to the
courtyard, as it says והדליקו נרות בחצרות קדשך . So the oil that they found was
enough to last for one night indoors ,not outdoors where there is wind that
causes the oil to burn faster. So even the first night was a miracle.
12) When you empty a jug of oil there is always some residual oil that is left in the
jug. So if the jug contained one night’s measure of oil, when it was emptied in the
Menorah there was still some leftover in the jug. So even the first night was a
miracle, since the full measure of the oil did not get into the Menorah. (Question
on this is, that didn’t the one who filled the jug with the proper measurements
factor the residual into account and put a little extra oil into the jug?)
13) The jug itself magically expanded into a larger size, large enough to hold the
measurements of oil for 8 nights. This explains the Gemara Shabbat that says
about the jug: בו .נעשת בו נס means in it showing that the miracle happened to
the jug itself. Shaul Dagmy added that בו is numerically 8 hinting to how much the
jug expanded (enough for 8 days).
14) We celebrate one extra day to commemorate the war that we won. (that’s why
the Ashkenazim say in (ועל המלחמות -על הניסים
15) The year that the miracle of Hanukah occurred, the month of Kislev was only 29
days, so the miracle was from the 25th of Kislev till the 2nd of Tevet which totals 7
days .Therefore even nowadays, when the month of Kislev is a full 30 days, we
celebrate from the 25th of Kislev till the 2nd of Tevet, even though it is 8 days.
16) They thinned the wicks that it should be a smaller flame and use less oil to make
it last longer, but the flame was still strong as if they hadn’t thinned it. So it was a
miracle on all 8 nights.
17) We take for granted the fact that oil itself is able to light! Even "nature" is a
miracle from Hashem, so we celebrate 8 days in order to recognize that in general,
the fact that oil fuels a flame is a miracle!
18) There is a Machloket between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel, how we are to light
the Menorah. Beit Hillel says we start with one and add a candle each night till we
have 8 candles on the eighth night. Beit Shammai says we start with eight and end
up on the last night with one candle. If Hanukah was a 7 day holiday, then on the
fourth night according to both Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel we would light four
candles, and it would not be discernable that the Halacha goes according to Beit
Hillel. So the Rabbis made the holiday 8 days so that there would not be a night
that we would light an equal amount of candles according to both opinions. The
word חנוכה stands for ח' נירות והלכה כבית הלל (eight candles and the
Halachah like Beit Hillel!)
19) The Macabeem in battle used a shield that said on it: מכבי which stands for מי
כמוכה באלים ה' - the numerical value of ' 250 =מי כמוכה באלים ה and the numerical
value of 250 =נר . So we light one extra candle to remember this concept that
Hashem fights all our wars ' .מי כמוכה באלים ה
20) The seal of the Kohen Gadol was the letter " ח". Why? Since he wore 8 garments
during his service in the Beit Hamikdash. This is why we celebrate 8 nights to
commemorate the miracle that we found sealed oil, sealed with the letter " "ח
(which is numerically the number 8). This is also why we light the Menorah in the
doorway which is shaped like the letter " ח". The letter " ח" is comprised of two
letters, ' ו and ' ז (when we put together a ' ו and ' ז it forms the letter ' ו' .(ח and ' 13 =ז
hinting to the 13 attributes of mercy, and there are 13 words in the Berachah of
להדליק נר חנוכה , and 13 in the Berachah of שעשה ניסים , corresponding to the י'ג
13 -מדות attributes of mercy.( Mr. Jack Kassin added that the 2 Berachot total 26
words corresponding to the ' גמט of the name of Hashem of . ( י-ה
21) There are 22 letters in the Hebrew Alphabet that correspond to 22 חסידים
(kindness). There are 5 letters that are סופי תיבות (the letters that words can only
end with). They are מ,נ,צ,פ,ך these letters correspond to 5 דינים (strict judgement).
This is seen in the fact that they "constrict" a word- disabling the word to continue
after them. We see this alluded to in the וידוי prayer when we repent based on the
letters of the אשמנו בגדנו) א,ב ). The letters of דינים-מנצפך are doubled (ex: מרדנו
מרינו דברך- נאצנו נאפנו ) showing the strictness of these letters. The total numerical
value of these letters מנצפך equal= 280. They are therefore called the 280 .דינים
Each one of the 5 סופי תיבות letters represents 56 out of the 280 (280 divided by 5
=56). So the number 56 corresponds to דין (strict judgment), this is why before
doing certain Mitzvot we say the Pasuk: ויהי נועם ה' אלקינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו
ומעשה ידינו כוננהו which has in it 5 " נו "’s ( 56 =נו ) to sweeten the 5 times 56 contained
in the 280 . דינים
In order to sweeten the 56 we "need" 57. The numerical value of the names of
Hashem of ...' 57 = אל ה , so they sweeten the דינים of 56. That’s why it says in
Tehilim א-ל ה' ויאר לנו that ' 57 ) אל ה ) "lights up" לנו -the 56. The Greeks attacked us
using 100 out of the 280 דינים . This is alluded to in the story of Yaakov’s fight
against the angel of Eisav. The angel hit Yaakov in his כף - his thigh, the word כף is
numerically 100, hinting that the שטן will "hit" the Jews with 100 דינים in the times
of the יונים . The miracle of Hanukah was done with a פך שמן (a jug of oil). The word
פך has the same letters as כף and equals 100, hinting to the sweetening of the 100
דינים of the Greeks. This is also alluded to in the last letter of the ,עשרת הדברות
since there are 613 Mitzvot from the Torah and 7 from the Rabbis totaling 620.
There are 620 letters in the עשרת הדברות , each letter corresponding to another
Mitzvah.(an example of this is the first Mitzvah in the Torah which is פרו ורבו - to
have children. The 552nd Mitzvah is to get married- קידושין the first letter in the
עשרת הדברות is the ' א of the word אנכי ,and the 552nd letter is the ' ל from the word
לא . This hints that in order to have a fruitful and successful marriage the couple
has to have the attitude of אנכי לא , there is no "I" in the marriage. No one can be
selfish, a couple must always be considering the needs of their spouse.) The last
Mitzvah is the Mitzvah of Hanukah, which is the final Mitzvah from רבנן . So the last
letter of עשרת הדברות is the letter ' כ, alluding to the 100 דינים we overcome on
Hanukah. (The letter ' כ spelled out is: כף which equals 100) So the extra day of
Hanukah is celebrated to commemorate the overcoming of the 100 דינים , with
which the יונים attacked us with.
The Rabbi later added that in the Beit Hamikdash the Menorah that was lit daily
had seven lamps. So on the eight nights of Hanukah they lit a total of 56 lights
(7candles per day for 8 days total 56) to nullify the .דין
We also see in Tehilim perek 23 מזמור לדוד ה' רועי has 57 words to "sweeten" the
.דין
