Chanukah חנוכה
Eight days commemorating the Hasmonean victory and the jar of oil that burned for eight days.
Chanukah is a festival established by the sages rather than the Torah, and the only one about which the Talmud asks outright: "what is Chanukah?" The answer is brief: the Greeks defiled all the oil in the Temple; when the Hasmoneans won they found one sealed jar, enough for a day, and it burned for eight.
The historical side matters as much. Antiochus IV banned Shabbat, circumcision and the sanctification of the new moon and set an idol in the Temple; the revolt begun at Modiin by the priest Matityahu and his sons was both a war against an empire and a war within the nation. In 3597 the Temple was purified.
The commandment is a light for a household: Beit Shammai said to descend in number, Beit Hillel to ascend, and the law follows Hillel—"in holiness one rises".
On the timeline
Related
Sources
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- Shabbat 21b — “What is Chanukah?” — the little jug of oil
- Megillat Taanit — the days on which one does not fast — among them Chanukah
Rishonim
- Rambam, Hilchot Chanukah 3–4 — the Chanukah light and Hallel
Acharonim and later rabbinic literature
- Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 670–685 — the laws of the eight days
Basis: Talmud and midrash.