The Candles Burning Bright

Some Creative Answers

Among the many answers, some are quite fascinating. For example, in the Diaspora, we keep two days of yom tov for the Shalosh Regalim because of sfeika d’yoma—a doubt about which day was the real yom tov when messengers couldn’t consistently deliver the news of Rosh Chodesh on time. Even though our calendar is now fixed, the two days remain as a rabbinic institution.

One answer quoted in Nes LaShoshanim suggests that really Chanukah should have been seven days, but we keep eight because of sfeika d’yoma. This, of course, is deeply problematic. Still, other answers are more creative. For instance: had Chanukah been seven days, every Menorah would have been made with seven branches. That would risk violating the biblical prohibition against fashioning a Menorah resembling the one in the Beis HaMikdash. To avoid this, the Sages established Chanukah for eight days, ensuring that every Menorah would have at least eight branches.

Oil Measures and the First Night

Another popular answer is based on oil measurement. The Beis Yosef’s question assumes that the jug of oil contained enough for one night. But perhaps it only contained enough for a short summer night. Since Chanukah falls in the winter, when nights are long, the oil should not have lasted even the first night. The fact that it did was miraculous.

However, Rashi seems to contradict this approach. The Gemara (Zevachim 11b) states that the Kohen who lit the Menorah was required to use enough oil to last from evening until morning. Rashi comments that the required amount—half a log—was the same year-round. In the summer, the fire would burn well into the day. It seems, then, that jugs of oil were always of a standard measure, not smaller for summer and larger for winter.

The Shitah Mekubetzes, however, nuances this point. Based on the Yerushalmi, he explains that while the same measure of oil was used all year, in the summer they employed thicker wicks so the oil would burn faster and not extend into the daytime. This leads to another creative answer: during the Chanukah miracle, they had enough oil for a winter night but only had summer wicks available. The flames should have consumed the oil too quickly—but they didn’t. Thus, a miracle occurred even on the first night.

The Ritva writes that half a log of oil was placed in each lamp. Every lamp burned out by morning—except the Ner Maaravi, which miraculously stayed lit until the next evening. This was a daily miracle in the Beis HaMikdash. This offers another answer to the Beis Yosef’s question. Even the first day contained a miracle: the Ner Maaravi remained lit into the day, just as it always had in the Beis HaMikdash. This explains why the holiday is eight days, not seven.

This discussion raises a deeper question: if the Menorah burned continuously for eight days, then technically the mitzvah of lighting was only performed once. How did the miracle allow for the ongoing fulfillment of the mitzvah? One must therefore conclude that in the miracle of Chanukah, the fire did not burn continuously for eight days.

A Midrashic Perspective

Some, nevertheless, insist that the Menorah’s light at Chanukah lasted eight days straight, not burning out at all. On the surface, this seems illogical: if the lamps burned continuously, the mitzvah of hadlakas ha’Menorah would have been performed only once.

Yet a Midrash Tanchuma (Tetzaveh) recounts that R’ Chanina, the deputy Kohen Gadol, testified that he witnessed the Menorah lit on Rosh Hashana and remaining lit until the following Rosh Hashana. The Gerrer Rebbe once asked R’ Chaim Brisker the above question: if it burned all year, then the mitzvah of lighting was only fulfilled once! R’ Chaim answered that the mitzvah is not the act of lighting but that the Menorah be lit. As long as it was burning, the mitzvah was fulfilled nightly. Others, however, disagree and argue that adding oil to an already burning lamp is itself considered a form of lighting.

Either way, the Midrash makes it clear that a continuously burning Menorah is not halachically problematic.