Post date: Dec 23, 2014 3:31:58 AM
Holiday days
When recounting the establishment of the holiday of Chanukah, the Gemara (Shabbos 21b) tells us that “The next year, Chazal instituted Chanukah and established it as holiday days of Hallel and thanksgiving.” The curious part of this statement is the use of the plural form in the phrase “holiday days” (Yamim Tovim) in seeming reference to Chanukah, when it would seem to make more sense to use a singular form when referring to the entire unit of the holiday of Chanukah.
The Chassam Sofer offered a couple of answers to this quandary, the first of which is that the phrase is simply a reference to the (multiple) days of the holiday of Chanukah. So the plural phrase Yamim Tovim is simply a reference to the eight days that make up the holiday of Chanukah. Seemingly unsatisfied with this answer, the Chassam Sofer brings an additional answer.
The Yevanim sought to eradicate all of our holidays by attacking the basis of our calendar. By outlawing the keeping of Rosh Chodesh, it would become impossible for us to calculate the days of the month, and in turn would be unable to properly observe the various holidays throughout the year. In Eretz Yisrael, there are eight days of Yontif over the course of the year. (They are the first (1) and last (2) days of Pesach, Shavuos (3), Rosh Hashanah (4, 5), Yom Kippur (6), Sukkos (7), and Shemini Atzeres (8).) Had the Yevanim successfully removed our ability to recognize and observe Rosh Chodesh, all of our holidays including these eight days of Yontif would have been lost. Through the resumption of keeping Rosh Chodesh, these eight days of Yontif were reestablished for Klal Yisrael. This could be what the Gemara was referring to when it said that Chazal established the Yamim Tovim. Their enactment of specifically eight days of Chanukah was acknowledgement that without the miracle of Chanukah, these days of Yontif could have been lost forever.
[Inside Chanukah, p. 329]
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Giving presents on Chanukah
The Yevanim tried, and almost succeeded, in ripping the Torah out of our lives forever. The Kedushas HaLevi (in his Sefer Al HaTorah Derushim L’Chanukah) tells us that since Hashem saved us from this situation, we should take this opportunity to renew our commitment to our own Torah learning and that of our children.
The Rambam tells us that the way to teach our children to love and fear Hashem and to love Torah is through rewards, and that after some time the need for the rewards will disipate. Specifically, when the children are very young we should offer them nice shoes and clothing, and as they get older we should offer them money.
This is why on Chanukah we have the custom of giving children Chanukah gelt. (This custom eventually expanded to include gifts also).
[Inside Chanukah, p. 150]
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A new answer each night! -- The Beis Yosef poses a very famous question about the length of the Chanukah holiday. “When the Chashmonaim found the jar of oil, they had the first day’s oil at that point. Since the miracle seemed to begin with the second night, why was Chanukah instituted for eight days instead if just seven?” (Below is another possible answer.)
The Chiddushei Harim tells us that the jar that was found had enough oil for one of the seven lamps of the Menorah to burn for only one night. The Halacha is that a single cup of the Menorah can be lit in an emergency and the Mitzvah will have been fulfilled. Based on that, they filled one cup on the first night, but they were unable to discern any oil missing from the jar, so they filled a second cup, then a third cup, etc. until all seven of the cups of the Menorah had been filled. They did this on each of the eight nights.
[The Essence of Chanukah, p. 31]