Why are there eight days of Chanukah if there were only seven miracles?

Question

There is a famous question asked by the Beis Yosef (R' Yosef Karo): Why do we celebrate eight days of Chanukah if the miracle lasted only seven? The jug of oil contained enough to be lit for one day, so the first day was not a miracle.

Answer 1

This is a famous question asked by the Bait Yosef (OC 670), which has gained so much popularity since he's asked it, seemingly because of it's simplistic ingenuity, that it's attracted hundreds of answers from most everyone who has ever had anything to say about Chanuka.

The Bait Yosef himself gives three possible answers: (quoted from here)

1. Those who were preparing the Menorah for lighting knew that it would take eight days until new oil could be obtained. They therefore divided the flask into eight parts, so that at least the Menorah would be lit every day, albeit not for the entire day. A miracle occurred and the small amount of oil that was placed in the Menorah each day lasted an entire day. Hence, there was a miracle on the first day as well.

2. On the first night, the contents of the flask were emptied into the Menorah. This would enable the Menorah to be lit for one entire day. However, after filling the Menorah, it was discovered that the flask miraculously was still full. This miracle repeatedly occurred for each of the days. Hence, there was a miracle on each of the eight days.

3. On the first night, the entire contents of the flask were emptied into the Menorah. This would enable the Menorah to be lit for an entire day. When the Menorah was checked on in the morning, it was discovered that none of the oil burned up, and the Menorah was still full, although the flame was lit. This miracle occurred for each of the days. Hence, the first day when the oil did not burn up was miraculous as well.

(See the link for more answers.)

However, if you were to ask me, I would give a much more simplistic answer. I believe it was a miracle in the first place that they found any oil at all with which to light the menora, regardless of how long it burned. If the oil had burned only one day, we would celebrate at least for one day by lighting the menora in commemoration. This seems to me enough to justify our saying "She'asa Nisim Lavotenu". Now that it miraculously burned for eight days, we celebrate by lighting for eight days.

Answer 2

The answer as I remember is this...since it takes eight days for new shemen to be manufactured for the ner tamid, the scholars at the time said "let's use 1/8th of the oil each day so that the ner will burn for at least three hours a day." However, the shemen burned for 24 hrs each day. Therefore the miracle was NOT that one day's supply of shemen lasted for eight (a 7 day miracle), but that 3 hours worth of shemen lasted 24 hours each day for 8 consectuive days...therefore providing for an 8 day miracle.

Answer 3

Because it teaches us that even "nature" is a miracle.