Post date: Dec 16, 2014 4:9:45 AM
Why not other significant times?
Why is the Neis Chanukah celebrated as a holiday, but many other times when we were saved are not accorded the same holiday status?
R. Aryeh Pinchas Strickoff explains that Chanukah (and Purim) are different from other similar events in history because their salvations were “l’doros” (for all generations in all locales). By all of the other salvations throughout our history, just a segment of Klal Yisroel was saved. Even if, chas v’shalom, the salvation in those other times had not come, our nation would have continued despite the (small scale of the) disaster. The Ramban tells us that the salvation of Chanukah was different because the Yevanim were in the process of wiping out all traces of Torah from the entire world. Because of the Neis Chanukah brought about through the Chashmonaim, the survival of the Torah was assured for everyone.
(Likewise, in the time of Mordechai and Esther, Achashveirosh was the ruler of the entire known world. His decrees were heard and followed everywhere. So in that case, our survival from annihilation was, in fact, a Neis for all of Klal Yisroel. And therefore, a holiday was also proclaimed for the Neis Purim.)
[Inside Chanukah, p. 64]
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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 Beis Yosef gives a second answer that on the first night, the entire contents of the jar were poured into the Menorah. However, as soon as the jar was emptied, the jar miraculously became filled again with oil. Thus the miracle actually took place on the first night also.
[The Essence of Chanukah, p. 30]