Basking in the Bright Lights

The Talmud, in a baraita, asks the question “Mai Hanukah – What is Hanukkah” and goes on to answer what has become the conventional answer to this question:

The Sages taught [in a Baraita]: On the twenty-fifth of Kislev, the days of Hanukkah are eight. One may not eulogize on them and one may not fast on them. [What is the reason?] When the Greeks entered the Sanctuary, they defiled all the oils that were in the Sanctuary [by touching them]. And when the Hasmonean monarchy overcame them and emerged victorious over them, they searched and found only one cruse of oil that was placed with the seal of the High Priest, [undisturbed by the Greeks]. And there was sufficient oil there to light [the candelabrum] for only one day. A miracle occurred and they lit the candelabrum from it eight days… (Shabbat 21b)

Here we learn, in brief, the story of the miracle of the oil, on the one hand, and of the military victory over the Greeks so as to preserve both the nation and the nation’s traditions. This particular portrait of Hanukah paints the picture of a festival which celebrates the defense of Jewish difference, of national identity, of particularism over assimilation into the then universal culture and religion of the Greeks.

There is another, lesser-known source in the Talmud, which introduces a potentially different and somewhat unknown aspect of the holiday which is often overlooked:

And these are the festivals of gentiles: Kalenda, Saturnalia… This is the statement of Rabbi Meir. (Mishnah Avodah Zarah 1:3)

The Talmud fills in details of these gentile festivals:

Rav Ḥanan bar Rava says: [When are these festivals celebrated?] Kalenda [is celebrated during the] eight days after [the winter] solstice, and Saturnalia [is celebrated during the] eight days before [the winter] solstice. (Avodah Zarah 8a)

You likely noticed that these two Hellenistic festivals each consisted of eight days which like Hanukah centered around the winter solstice – the days of the year with the least sunlight. The Talmud continues with a story about the existential experience of the first human being to experience this calendarial event:

The Sages taught [in a Baraita]: When Adam the first man saw that the daylight hours were becoming  progressively shorter, [he did not yet know that this is a normal phenomenon, and therefore] he said: Woe is me; perhaps because I sinned the world is becoming dark around me and will return to the primordial state of chaos and disorder. And this is the death that was sentenced upon me from Heaven. He arose and spent eight days in fasting and in prayer. When he saw that the season of Tevet, [i.e., the winter solstice, had arrived], and saw that days were becoming progressively longer, he said: This is the order of the world. He went and observed a festival for eight days. Upon the next year, he observed [both] these [eight days on which he had fasted on the previous year], and these [eight days of his celebration, as] days of festivities. He, Adam, established these festivals for the sake of Heaven, but they, [the gentiles of later generations], established them for the sake of idol worship. (Ibid.(

Reading this passage from the Talmud, it is likely more than a coincidence that Hanukah is a light festival of eight days, celebrated during the darkest days of the year, in part, like many other world cultures.

Well then, that’s confusing! Is Hanukah a particular Jewish experience or is it a universal human celebration? The answer is yes and yes. This is confusing but it is confusing in a good way. When we celebrate Hanukah, we celebrate our unique identity as Jews as well as our being a part of the great experience and wonder of being human beings. And there is enough light shining forth to experience both.