In defense of the Chanukka Miracle

First published December 3, 2010  

There are some blogs that make a big deal each year about the fact that the Chanukah miracle is only mentioned in late rabbinic sources.

For instance, it does not appear in:

• Macabees 1 (written in Hebrew, at the end of the second century BC) Click here to see how Mac 1 tells the story. In this book, the holiday is called Dedication. 
• Macabbees II (written in Koine Greek probably in Alexandria, Egypt, c 124 BC)  This book provides a slightly less detailed account of the Chanukka story, but includes what are claimed to be two letters sent by Jews in Jerusalem to Jews of the Diaspora in Egypt about the new holiday. In one of them, Chanukka is described as a delayed Sukkos and given the name Sukkot B'kislev, i.e., December Sukkot [="Scenopegia in the month of Casleu"]. Click here to see this letter. Though he wrote in Greek, the author's theology mostly adheres with Rabbinic Judaism. 
• Antiquities of the Jews: (written in Koine Greek around 94AD) This history of the Jewish people, written by Josephus, tells the story of the war, and calls the holiday "Lights" [phôta]. Rather significantly Josephus does not link the name of the holiday with the oil miracle. Instead he writes:  I suppose the reason was, because this liberty beyond our hopes appeared to us [or "came to light" =phanênai] and that thence was the name given to that festival. Josephus is regarded as a Pharisee, that is, as a rabbinic Jew.  ***
• The Book of John (written in Koine Greek at the end of the first century) The last, most overtly antisemitic Gospel is also the only one to mention Chanukka. Though he lived at around the same time as Josephus, the name he used for the holiday is "Dedication", or the same name that appears in Migillat Tannit and later Rabbinic works. *** Click here to read more about why John and Josephus employ different names for the holiday. 
• Megillat Taanit *  An Aramaic chronicle of  35 eventful days on which the Jewish nation either performed glorious deeds or witnessed joyful events (probably written in the first century CE) 
• The Mishna (Redacted around 220 CE)

The first, indeed the only, mention of the oil miracle is found in BT Shabbat 21b**

What is Chanukah? The Rabbis have expounded: Beginning with the 25th of Kislev, eight days of Chanukah are observed, during which no eulogies are delivered, nor is fasting permitted. For when the Greeks entered the Sanctuary, they defiled all the holy oils used for the Menorah in the temple, and when the Hasmonean house prevailed and vanquished them, they searched and found only one remaining jar of oil with the Kohen Gadol's seal. Although it contained only enough oil to burn for one day, a miracle occurred, and the oil burned for eight days. A year later they  designated these days as a holiday on which praise and thanksgiving were to be said."

***Additionally, as far as miracles go, the one alleged to have occurred on Channuka is really quite shabby. A lamp lasting for a few extra days -- let's be honest - is not that impressive. It's easy to deny, easy to fake, and the spiritual significance of such a miracle is hard to interpret. If God wanted to let people know he was still around, why not reveal Himself to more than a small group of believers? Why not scrawl His signature across the sky? Letting a few insiders witness a lamp burn a bit more slowly seems categorically similar to crying statues and other modem day Catholic miracles in that they persuade no on who isn't already a believer, while inviting scorn from outsiders. We reject such cheap miracles when they are claimed by other faiths. What are the grounds for accepting them when our own faith announces them?

I explain why none of this should matter after the jump:

Holiday Music 11

Holiday Music 10

Holiday Music 9

Holiday music 8

Holiday Music 7

Holiday Music 6

Holiday Music 5

Hanuka Greetings from Paris Hilton

Holiday Music 4

Holiday Music 3

Why oh why does B&H hate Christmas?

Note: I'm aware B&H is owned and operated by Hasidic Jews. This is meant as a commentary on the knee-jerk assumption by GOP Jerks and their buddies, the GOP-Jews, that anyone who uses the word "holiday" instead of "Christmas" is an atheist, liberal, God-hating, Marxist, secular humanitarian.

Holiday Music 2

Two for the price of one, again today. First the great YLove's dreidel, and beneath it an ecumenical children's choir singing a classic to a tune I don't know.

Holiday Music 1

As an antidote to Hatch's horrorshow, I now intend to post video of classic renditions of classic holiday songs. We'll start with two. Enjoy.

The Maccabee Books

Ok, can we settle this once and for all? If any of you  readers are aware of evidence that the Rabbis held a meeting and voted to exclude the Maccabee Books from the canon, please share it with us.

Because absent evidence to the contrary, I think its safe to follow the wise suggestion made by S. and Kosheracademic and presume that these books were never intended to be canonical scripture. In short, the fact that a book was accepted into the canon of others faiths is not, in of itself a proof, that it was formally rejected from our canon.  We know of many books that didn't make it into our canon, yet are quoted favorably by Chazal (Ben Sira, Book of the Wars of the Lord). There are also non-canonical books (Jubilees, Testaments of the 12 Patriarchs, and many more) that seem to have influenced the later development of aggadic interpretation, as recorded in books like Avot d'Rabbi Natan or Tanchuma.

Perhaps it would be correct to view the Maccabee Books simply as a non-canonical work, rather than as books that were officially and formally opposed by the Sages.

Israel starts to defend itself against Gaza

Shabbat Morning in Israel -- IAF jets attacked Gaza and the operation has begun (I got my first pager message during Shabbat Lunch, and the followup during early mincha "Shmona Esreh")

Jameel is war-blogging again; get the latest up-to-date news at The Muqata.

Shavua Tov, Chodesh Tov, Chanuka Sameach.

--Jameel

---------
Buy DovBear's book already. (please)
Buy DB's wife a gift (please?) Come on, it's Chanuka...

My gift to you

Oy Chanuka in which I explain why Chanuka isn't the festival of freedom, tell you the true origins of the dredal, and more.

Why does Chanuka has eight days? If you're not a newbie, you know the answer, but these are some Chanuka facts you may not know.

Where did the oil miracle come from? ExtraTorah rebuts. Josh Waxman embellishes

Chanuka = Sukkos in which I provide Torah sources for the idea, attested to in the book of Macabbees that the first Chanuka was really a delayed Sukkos.

Toys vs Turkeys explains why Chanuka presents should be abolished. (maybe)

Christmas for Jews is a grinchy post about Chanuka

No GOP Jew should sing Maoz Tzur.

Share some levivot with someone you love.

Remember Yus? (shudder) This Menorah post is where he first appeared, though under another name. When I explained why the Aish Hatorah Chanuka video sucked beans, he came back again, even nastier than before. Little known fact: I switched to Haloscan Comments solely so that I could ban him.

Put on your Yarmulka, its time for Chanuka discusses the dumb Adam Sandler song.

In which I laugh at the idea Shabbos Chanuka has "deep mystical powers"; two years later Bray showed he believes in that crap.

Chanuka ends explains why Chanuka has an unhappy ending. Same point, made a little differently here.

A poorly named post, in which I moan about the stupid dreidal song.

Chanuka in Baghdad, is a short, thin post that knocks Cheney.

President Panderer is a bit more substantive and takes what I still think was a legitimate and well deserved shot at Bush. (Heh. When I wrote it he was "President Forty Percent.")

And because no trip down memory lane would be complete without an undressing of Cross Currents check out this discussion of Toby Katz's mistaken view of Chanuka, too

---------
Buy my book. (please)
Buy my wife a gift (please) (Seriously, I know times are tough, but this is an annual thing here, and a great way to acknowledge the [whatever] you've experienced at DovBear.)

The origins of Hanukah

A guest post by Lurker:

[Cross-posted at The Muqata]

Recently, DovBear invited us to have a look at this interesting article by Lawrence Keleman about the true origins of Christmas. Keleman argues that if Jews inclined to celebrate that holiday were aware of these origins, then they might be dissuaded from celebrating it. Keleman points out – quite correctly – that the early Christians did not choose December 25th because of any existing tradition that Jesus had been born on that day. Rather, they picked it because that was the concluding date of the Greco-Roman festival of Saturnalia, which commemorated the Winter Solstice. In other words, "Christmas" was already around for a very long time, in a somewhat different form, long before the Christians came along.

This, in turn, brings to mind the question of the origins of Hanukah. Interestingly, Hanukah also coincides with the Winter Solstice period. More significantly, it is eight days long – just like Saturnalia was. Was this a historical accident, or is there more significance to the time and length of this holiday? Were the Christians the only ones to adapt Saturnalia to their own needs? Or Does Hanukah, too, bear a connection to this ancient Solstice festival? DovBear says that there is indeed such a connection. Is he right?

Needless to say, many reasons have been offered over the years for Hanukah's date and length. Regarding the date (the 25th of Kislev): I Maccabees (1:59, 4:52-59) and II Maccabees (10:5-8) seem to suggest that this date was chosen deliberately for the rededication, since it was on that very date that Antiochus had desecrated the altar three years earlier. Others find a connection in the book of Hagai, which says that the foundation of the Second Temple was laid on the 24th of Kislev (or the 25th; see sources in Further information, below) (Hagai 2:10-19). And a midrash in the Yalkut Shimoni (I Melakhim 184) says that work on the Mishkan was completed on the 25th of Kislev, although the dedication ceremony was delayed until the 1st of Nisan.

As to why Hanukah is 8 days long: II Maccabees (1:9, 1:18, 10:5-8) says that Hanukah was intended to commemorate Sukkot – the holiday that the Greeks had recently prevented the Jews from celebrating – and which is 8 days long (when you include Shemini Atzeret). According to Pesikta Rabbati (ch. 2), the Hashmonaim, upon entering the liberated Temple, found 8 iron spears, which they thrust into the ground and made into an impromptu candelabra. And of course, there is the very famous (but historically questionable) story from the Talmud (TB Shabbat 21b) of the miraculous oil that burned for 8 days. But one is forced to wonder: Do any of these reasons really explain the establishment of an 8-day-long holiday? Megillat Taanit lists a great many days that were celebrated as holidays in early Second Temple times – and they are all just one day long, except for one: Hanukah. Let us assume for a moment that the miracle of the oil is the reason why Hanukah was established. Why does this justify the establishment of an 8-day-long holiday? Suppose the oil had burned for 50 days – would Hanukah then be 50 days long? It is reasonable to wonder whether there was already a pre-existing 8-day-long holiday, which was simply conflated with the new holiday of Hanukah.

The answer may be found in in the Gemara (TB Avodah Zarah 8a), which strongly suggests that the actual origin of Hanukah dates back to antiquity, long before the period of the Hashmonaim:

אמר רב חנן בר רבא: קלנדא ח' ימים אחר תקופה; סטרנורא ח' ימים לפני תקופה. וסימנך: "אחור וקדם צרתני", וגו' (תהילים קל"ט:ה').
ת"ר: לפי שראה אדם הראשון יום שמתמעט והולך, אמר: "אוי לי, שמא בשביל שסרחתי, עולם חשוך בעדי וחוזר לתוהו ובוהו, וזו היא מיתה שנקנסה עלי מן השמים!" עמד וישב ח' ימים בתענית [ובתפלה]. כיון שראה תקופת טבת, וראה יום שמאריך והולך, אמר: "מנהגו של עולם הוא". הלך ועשה שמונה ימים טובים. לשנה האחרת עשאן לאלו ולאלו ימים טובים. הוא קבעם לשם שמים, והם קבעום לשם עבודה זרה.

R. Hanan b. Rabba said: [The festival of] the Kalends [Roman New Year] is observed on the eight days following the [Winter] Solstice; [the festival of] Saturnalia on the eight days preceding the Solstice. As a mnemonic, use "From the back and the front you have afflicted me", etc. (Tehillim 139:5).
Our Rabbis taught [in a braita]: When Adam HaRishon observed the days getting increasingly shorter, he said, "Woe is me, perhaps because I have sinned, the world is darkening and returning to its state of chaos and confusion; and this is the death to which I have been sentenced from heaven!" He stopped, and sat for eight days engaged in fasting [and prayer]. But when he observed the Winter Solstice, and observed the days getting increasingly longer, he said, "This is the nature of the universe". He [therefore] went and celebrated eight festival days. In the following year he made both [of these eight-day holidays into permanent] festivals. He [Adam] established them for the sake of heaven, but they [of later generations] established them for the sake of idolatry.

One can hardly fail to recognize the obvious connection with Hanukah. The Gemara tells us that Adam HaRishon established an eight-day holiday (two, in fact) to be observed at the time of the Solstice, in celebration of the restoration of light. Furthermore, it tells us, these were the very holidays that eventually became known as the Greco-Roman festivals of Saturnalia and the Kalends. The Gemara is thus saying that the holiday we now know as Hanukah actually existed long before the Maccabees, for many centuries, as a Winter Solstice festival – the same Winter Solstice festival that was celebrated by the Greeks and Romans as Saturnalia.

The Hashmonaim later appropriated this holiday, and recast it for their own purposes as a celebration of their defeat of the Greeks and their rededication of the Temple. Significantly, the motif of "casting out darkness" and "restoring light" was retained. Perhaps, by appropriating a Greek holiday and turning it into a celebration of the Temple's rededication, the Hashmonaim were trying to express their victory over Hellenism. Or perhaps they simply recognized the fact that much of the assimilated Jewish populace would go on celebrating Saturnalia whether they liked it or not, and thus tried to co-opt the pagan holiday into a Jewish one.

In conclusion: The Gemara in Avodah Zarah shows us that the Hashmonaim "borrowed" the ancient Winter Solstice festival as a branch upon which to graft their own holiday – just as the Christians did a few centuries later.

Don't get me wrong – I certainly don't think a self-respecting Jew ought to celebrate Christmas. But I wouldn't tell a Jew not to celebrate it on account of its connection with Saturnalia. After all, Hanukah is clearly connected with it, too.

Further information:

For more information on the origins of Hanukah, I highly recommend the following excellent shiurim and articles. They all relate to the topic of this post, and considerably more, as well:

• The Origins of Hanukah (Hebrew)
  by R. Uri Cherki
  Merkaz Ourim
  [hattip: Jameel]
• The Day the Foundation of God's Temple was Laid
  (According to the Prophecies of Hagai and Zekhariah) (Hebrew)
  by R. Yoel bin-Nun
  Megadim, Vol. XII (Tishrei 5751)
  [hattip: Avrohom Shimon Tendler]
• Hanukah of the Generations (Hebrew)
  by Dr. Gavriel H. Cohen
  Bar Ilan University, Bible Department
• Chanuka - Its Biblical Roots (English)
  by R. Menachem Leibtag
  The Tanach Study Center

---------
Buy my book. (please)
Buy my wife a gift (please)

Kellerman Christmas polemic

The other day, we had a laugh at Lawrence Kellerman's well-meaning but ultimately misguided attempt to convince Jews to stop celebrating Christmas. He's right that it makes no sense for a Jew to throw in his lot with a holiday long associated with Jew-hating, but wrong because he doesn't seem to understand that the facts of history are almost irrelevant, once emotions have come into play. Chanuka, as others have remarked, proves the point.

Perhaps 50 to 70 percent of the Jewish people, for instance, would be unlikely to celebrate Chanuka if it mattered to them that the Maccabees were religious intolerants who were ready to execute Sabbath desecrators, and insisted on the special prerogatives of king and priest. The other 30 percent would probably be a little less enthusiastic about the holiday if they remembered the disdain Chazal had for the Hashmonites. And all of us would, I suspect, be lukewarm on the holiday if we were historically sensitive to the connections between Chanuka and Saturnalia, and to the possibility that our candles have more to do with the Roman feast than any oil miracle

None of this matters though, not two-thousand years later, and not after the holidays have acquired their own special significance to us. This is why all of us still honor Chanuka, and why the Kelerman Christmas polemic has no hope of changing any one's mind.

---------
Buy my book. (please)
Buy my wife a gift (please)

Note to well meaning gentiles

My "holiday" started Sunday night. Therefore, it is not necessary to say "if I don't speak to you again, have a happy holiday." I'm able and willing to accept your well meant Chanuka greetings right now.

Aside: I notice O'Reilly and his childish friends said less about the so-called WAR ON CHRISTMAS than in previous years. Does this mean somebody won? If so, who?


---------
Buy my book. (please)
Buy my wife a gift (please)