“….The deliverances, miracles, and wonders which you have performed for our forefathers, in those days at this time, through your holy Kohanim….” – Haneiros Halalu ״….על התשועות ועל הניסים ועל הנפלאות שעשית לאבותינו בימים ההם בזמן הזה על ידי כהניך הקדושים…״ – נוסח הנרות הללו Was the revolt led by the Chashmona’im sanctioned by Halacha? To be sure, the mitzvah […]

“….It is a mitzvah to place the Chanukah lamp by the door of one’s house one the outside… in times of danger, one places it on the table and that is sufficient….” Talmud, Shabbat 21b ״תנו רבנן, נר חנוכה מצוה להניחה על פתח ביתו מבחוץ….ובשעת הסכנה מניחה על שולחנו ודיו….״ – מסכת שבת כא/ב It is rare for the Talmud to […]

Kindling the menorah was one of the many daily activities performed in the Beis Hamikdash. In the Chanukah story, however, it was specifically this avodah, service – and not a more central avodah, such as the daily offering of sacrifices upon the Altar – that was “singled out” for miraculous intervention to ensure that it could be done properly. This […]

  The Talmud outlines three tracks that one may follow in the observance of kindling the Chanukah lights, the choice depending on your eagerness to observe the mitzvos.  The base requirement is to kindle only one light per family on all eight nights, but the mehadrin, those who eagerly pursuemitzvos, kindle additional lights based on the size of their family. […]

The discovery of the one and only undefiled cruse of oil allowed for more than just a resumption of operations in the Beis Hamikdash on a bare minimum level. For by the simple standards of Jewish law, the Menorah may even be lit using oil that is ritually impure if no pure oil can be obtained (see Rambam, Temidin U’musafin […]

Lighting the menorah was one of the many daily activities preformed in the Beis Hamikdash, the central avodah being the offering of sacrifices on the mizbeiach. Why was the menorah singled out, that Hashem’s miraculous intervention that gave us the holiday of Chanukah, specifically involved the Menorah and not the mizbeiach or any other part of the Beis Hamikdash? The […]