B"H

Friday, Kislev 22, 5779 / November 30, 2018

Sunday evening, December 2, will begin the holiday of Chanukah. The holiday lasts 8 days. 

The story of Chanukah is recorded in the Talmud as follows: "When the Greeks entered the sanctuary, they defiled all the oils. When the Chasmonaim defeated them, they searched and found only one jar of oil with the seal of the Kohen Gadol (High Priest). It contained enough oil to burn only one day, yet a miracle occurred, and the oil burned eight days." To celebrate this great miracle, our sages established the lighting of the menorah each night of Chanukah.

Q. Talmudic scholars ask the obvious question, "If there was enough oil to burn one day, then the miracle was only for seven days. Why do we celebrate Chanukah 8 days?"

A. Many answers are given to this question. One of the answers is that on the first day of Chanukah, we celebrate the miracle of finding the jar of pure undefiled oil, which was a great miracle in itself.  The other seven days, we commemorate the miracle of the burning of the oil.

To explain how the miracle of finding the oil is as important as the miracle of the burning of the oil, they give the following parable: A wealthy merchant traveled from his town to the fair in the big city. He carried eight sacks of money to purchase merchandise at the fair.  As he passed through a forest, he was held up by robbers who took seven sacks full of money.  Miraculously, they overlooked one sack.  When the merchant came to the closest city, he used the money from the remaining sack to hire people and chase after the robbers.  He also prayed to G-d, "If you perform a miracle and they find the robbers and retrieve the money, I promise to give 10% to charity." The people captured the robbers and returned all seven sacks of money to the merchant.

When the merchant came home, he told the charity collectors his story and gave them 10% of the 7 sacks that were retrieved.  "You have to give charity from all 8 sacks," said the charity collectors.

"But one sack was never taken from me. There was no miracle there," protested the merchant.  "Why should I give charity from this one too?" 

"The fact that the robbers didn't take one sack is the greatest miracle,” answered the charity collectors. “If the robbers wouldn’t have overlooked that one sack, you wouldn't have had the money to hire people to chase after them. You must thank G-d for the sack that wasn't taken in the first place."

The same is with the Chanukah miracle. It was only due to the finding of the one small jar of undefiled oil, that the miracle of it burning seven days was able to take hold. Thus, we celebrate one day for the miracle of finding the oil and the other seven days for the miracle of the burning of the oil.

Remember to light the first Chanukah candle this Sunday evening.

SHABBAT SHALOM

Montrealcandle time: 3:54 / Shabbat ends: 5:02