Editing Hanukkah (section)

=== Early rabbinic sources ===
{{See also|Mishnah#Omissions}}

[[Megillat Taanit]] (1st century) contains a list of festive days on which fasting or eulogizing is forbidden. It specifies, "On the 25th of [Kislev] is Hanukkah of eight days, and one is not to eulogize".  The [[Megillat Taanit#The scholion|scholion]] (9th-10th century) then references the story of the rededication of the Temple.<ref>{{cite web |title=Megillat Taanit, Kislev 7 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Megillat_Taanit%2C_Kislev.7?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en |website=www.sefaria.org}}</ref>

The [[Mishna]] (late 2nd century) mentions Hanukkah in several places,<ref>[https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Bikkurim.1.6?lang=he Bikkurim 1:6], [https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Rosh_Hashanah.1.3?lang=he Rosh HaShanah 1:3], [https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Taanit.2.10 Taanit 2:10], Megillah [https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Megillah.3.4 3:4] and [https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Megillah.3.4 3:6], [https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Moed_Katan.3.9 Moed Katan 3:9], and [https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Bava_Kamma.6.6? Bava Kama 6:6]</ref> but never describes its laws in detail and never mentions any aspect of the history behind it. To explain the Mishna's lack of a systematic discussion of Hanukkah, [[Nissim ben Jacob]] postulated that information on the holiday was so commonplace that the Mishna felt no need to explain it.<ref>In his ''Hakdamah Le'mafteach Hatalmud''</ref> Modern scholar [[Reuvein Margolies]] suggests that as the Mishnah was redacted after the [[Bar Kochba revolt]], its editors were reluctant to include explicit discussion of a holiday celebrating another relatively recent revolt against a foreign ruler, for fear of antagonizing the Romans.<ref>''Yesod Hamishna Va'arichatah'' pp. 25–28 ({{cite web|url=https://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=20976&pgnum=24|title=Hebrew text|access-date=6 October 2018}})</ref>

[[File:Hanukkah2.jpg|thumb|upright|Hanukkah lamp unearthed near Jerusalem about 1900]]

The miracle of the one-day supply of oil miraculously lasting eight days is described in the [[Talmud]], committed to writing about 600 years after the events described in the books of Maccabees.<ref>{{cite news|last=Dolanksy|first=Shawna|title=The Truth(s) About Hanukkah|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shawna-dolansky/the-truth-about-hanukah_b_1165708.html|newspaper=Huffington Post|date=23 December 2011|access-date=6 October 2018}}</ref> The Talmud says that after the forces of [[Antiochus IV]] had been driven from the Temple, the Maccabees discovered that almost all of the ritual olive oil had been profaned. They found only a single container that was still [[Seal (emblem)|sealed]] by the [[Kohen Gadol|High Priest]], with enough oil to keep the menorah in the Temple lit for a single day. They used this, yet it burned for eight days (the time it took to have new oil pressed and made ready).<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.sefaria.org.il/Shabbat.21b.10?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en| title = Shabbat 21b}}</ref>

The Talmud presents three options:<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sefaria.org/Shabbat.21b|title=Babylonian Talmud: Shabbath 21b|website=sefaria.org|publisher=[[Sefaria]]|access-date=5 May 2019}}</ref>
# The law requires only one light each night per household,
# A better practice is to light one light each night for each member of the household
# The most preferred practice is to vary the number of lights each night.

Except in times of danger, the lights were to be placed outside one's door, on the opposite side of the [[mezuza]], or in the window closest to the street. [[Rashi]], in a note to ''Shabbat 21b,'' says their purpose is to publicize the miracle. The blessings for Hanukkah lights are discussed in tractate ''Succah,'' p.&nbsp;46a.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sefaria.org/Sukkah.46a.8?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=bi|title=Sukkah 46a:8|website=www.sefaria.org|access-date=6 October 2018}}</ref>

[[File:Section from Aramaic Scroll of Antiochus, April 2015.jpg|thumb|right|Section from the Aramaic Scroll of Antiochus in [[Babylonian supralinear punctuation]], with an Arabic translation]]

[[Megillat Antiochus]] (probably composed in the 2nd century<ref>{{cite web|first=Benjamin|last=Zvieli|title=The Scroll of Antiochus|url= http://www.biu.ac.il/JH/Parasha/eng/miketz/zev.html| access-date=6 October 2018}}</ref>) concludes with the following words:

{{Blockquote|...After this, the sons of Israel went up to the Temple and rebuilt its gates and purified the Temple from the dead bodies and from the defilement. And they sought after pure [[olive oil]] to light the lamps therewith, but could not find any, except one bowl that was sealed with the signet ring of the High Priest from the days of Samuel the prophet and they knew that it was pure. There was in it [enough oil] to light [the lamps therewith] for one day, but the God of heaven whose name dwells there put therein his blessing and they were able to light from it eight days. Therefore, the sons of Ḥashmonai made this covenant and took upon themselves a solemn vow, they and the sons of Israel, all of them, to publish amongst the sons of Israel, [to the end] that they might observe these eight days of joy and honour, as the days of the feasts written in [the book of] the Law; [even] to light in them so as to make known to those who come after them that their God wrought for them salvation from heaven. In them, it is not permitted to mourn, neither to decree a fast [on those days], and anyone who has a vow to perform, let him perform it.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bashiri|first=Y.|author-link=Yihye Bashiri|contribution=מגלת בני חשמונאי |title=Sefer Ha-Tiklāl (Tiklāl Qadmonim) |editor=Yosef Ḥubara |publisher=Yosef Ḥubara |year=1964|location=Jerusalem|pages=75b–79b (Megillat Benei Ḥashmunai)|language=he|oclc=122703118}} (penned in the handwriting of Shalom b. Yihye Qoraḥ, and copied from "Tiklal Bashiri" which was written in 1618 [[Common Era|CE]]). Original Aramaic text:<div lang="arc" lang="arc" dir="rtl">בָּתַר דְּנָּא עָלוּ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לְבֵית מַקְדְּשָׁא וּבְנוֹ תַּרְעַיָּא וְדַכִּיאוּ בֵּית מַקְדְּשָׁא מִן קְטִילַיָּא וּמִן סְאוֹבֲתָא. וּבעוֹ מִשְׁחָא דְּזֵיתָא דָּכְיָא לְאַדְלָקָא בּוֹצִנַיָּא וְלָא אַשְׁכַּחוּ אֵלָא צְלוֹחִית חֲדָא דַּהֲוָת חֲתִימָא בְּעִזְקָת כָּהֲנָא רַבָּא מִיּוֹמֵי שְׁמוּאֵל נְבִיָּא וִיַדְעוּ דְּהִיא דָּכְיָא. בְּאַדְלָקוּת יוֹמָא חֲדָא הֲוָה בַּהּ וַאֲלָה שְׁמַיָּא דִּי שַׁכֵין שְׁמֵיהּ תַּמָּן יְהַב בַּהּ בִּרְכְּתָא וְאַדְלִיקוּ מִנַּהּ תְּמָנְיָא יוֹמִין. עַל כֵּן קַיִּימוּ בְּנֵי חַשְׁמוּנַּאי הָדֵין קְיָימָא וַאֲסַרוּ הָדֵין אֲסָּרָא אִנּוּן וּבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל כּוּלְּהוֹן. לְהוֹדָעָא לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לְמֶעֲבַד הָדֵין תְּמָנְיָא יוֹמִין חַדְוָא וִיקָר כְּיּוֹמֵי מוֹעֲדַיָּא דִּכְתִיבִין בְּאוֹרָיְתָא לְאַדְלָקָא בְּהוֹן לְהוֹדָעָא לְמַן דְּיֵּיתֵי מִבַּתְרֵיהוֹן אֲרֵי עֲבַד לְהוֹן אֱלָהֲהוֹן פּוּרְקָנָא מִן שְׁמַיָּא. בְּהוֹן לָא לְמִסְפַּד וְלָא לְמִגְזַר צוֹמָא וְכָל דִּיהֵי עֲלוֹהִי נִדְרָא יְשַׁלְּמִנֵּיהּ</div></ref>}}

The [[Al HaNissim]] prayer is recited on Hanukkah as an addition to the [[Amidah]] prayer, which was formalized in the late 1st century.<ref>Babylonian Talmud, Berachot 28a</ref> ''Al HaNissim'' describes the history of the holiday as follows:

:In the days of [[Mattathias|Mattiyahu]] ben Yohanan, high priest, the [[Hasmoneans|Hasmonean]] and his sons, when the evil Greek kingdom stood up against Your people Israel, to cause them to forget Your Torah and abandon the ways You desire – You, in Your great mercy, stood up for them in their time of trouble; You fought their fight, You judged their judgment, You took their revenge; You delivered the mighty into the hands of the weak, the many into the hands of the few, the impure into the hands of the pure, the evil into the hands of the righteous, the sinners into the hands of those who engaged in Your Torah; You made yourself a great and holy name in Your world, and for Your people Israel You made great redemption and salvation as this very day. And then Your sons came to the inner chamber of Your house, and cleared Your Temple, and purified Your sanctuary, and lit candles in Your holy courtyards, and established eight days of Hanukkah for thanksgiving and praise to Your holy name.