Why is Channukah Eight Days Long and Not Seven?
In Meseches Shabbos (21b) the question is asked "What is Channukah? . . . They only found one flask of oil which contained only enough [to light the menorah] for one day. And a miracle happened that they lit from the flask for eight days. The next year the sages established eight days to praise and thank Hashem [for this miracle]."
The Beis Yosef (O.C. Siman 670) asked (Rav Yosef Karo author of the Shulchan Aruch in his commentary Beis Yosef on the Tur) why did the sages establish the holiday for eight days? If there was already enough oil in the flask to last one day, the miracle was only seven days long. Study his answers there.
However in my humble opinion it seems to me if I answer different questions this can also answer the Rav Beis Yosef's aforementioned question as well. We should ask the following question: Why do we slaughter the paschal lamb on the fourteenth of Nissan and we consider that day a festival. (Yerushalmi Pesachim 4:1 cited by Tosfos in Pesachim 50a) However the primary reason for the festival of Pesach is to commemorate the miracle of the Exodus from Egypt which occurred on the fifteenth of Nissan, so shouldn't we slaughter the Pesach offering on the fifteenth as well? Why did the Torah command us to slaughter it on the fourteenth?
It seems to me that the answer is, based on the following parable: A great and mighty king gave several people gifts. Those who received the gift were divided into two groups of people. There was one group who did not care about the fact that this was a gift given by the king, however they were happy to receive a free gift. The second group who were on a higher level than the first group and were intelligent and wise received twice as much delight and pleasure when receiving their gifts. Firstly they were delighted in the gift itself, and secondly they were delighted at the very fact that the great and mighty king should desire their affection [and give them a token].
The parable means that the King of all Kings the Holy One, Blessed is He did a great favor for us for which we cannot possibly thank and praise Him enough by taking us out of Egypt as the Midrash testifies (Shemos rabbah 21:7; Zohar II 170b) that the Satan prosecuted against us arguing that "these and those are both idolaters," [so we were unworthy] and we had no self awakening at all, rather it was solely His free gift to us to take us out of Egypt.
Therefore is it not proper for us to enter into the gates of wisdom and to act as the wise do by rejoicing in all manner of joy? We should rejoice firstly over this great gift itself and secondly that such a great and awesome King took us out from Egypt as the author of the Haggadah says "I and not an angel etc."
This is due to His great love for us and for the King's desire for us. As a rule, "we do not mix one joyous occasion with another," (Moed Katan 8b) and therefore the Torah commands us to slaughter the Pesach offering on the fourteenth. This is sufficient for those who understand.
And it is known that our sages said (Pesachim 30b) that all the enactments of the rabbis are enacted similarly to Torah laws, so that also regarding the miracle of Channukah there were two forms of joy, and therefore they constructed it as a similar celebration and we must therefore make two forms of commemoration and joy. So that although the miracle was only seven days long, the sages added an additional day to commemorate the second reason for rejoicing [over the fact that it was Hashem's love for us that was demonstrated by His giving us the gift of this miracle besides the joy over the gift of the miracle itself].
R' Tal Moshe Zwecker
Director Machon Be'er Mayim Chaim
Chassidic Classics in the English Language
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