Questions tagged [chanuka]
Hanukkah, a holiday commemorating the miracles surrounding the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem in the second century BCE
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Kedushas Levi's Eight Segulos of Chanukah
In the past few years, each Chanukah I have received a list, attributed to the Kedushas Levi, of Eight Segulos for the eight nights of Chanukah, with each Segula corresponding to the number of candles ...
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Heros of the Rabbanan Holidays and Ultimately losing out
Why is it that both Purim and Chanukah the heroes of their stories ended up losing out?
That is, Esther had no Jewish descendants as she married a non-Jew (though her son was Jewish according to ...
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How was Chanukah celebrated at the Beis HaMikdash?
In the centuries between the Maccabean Revolt and the destruction of the Bayis Sheni, how was Chanukah commemorated at the Beis HaMikdash (other than the addition of prayers like Al Hanisim)?
Since ...
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Gambling on Chanukah
There already exists on this site, discussions about gambling in halacha - see here, here and here etc. I would like to focus specifically within the context of Chanukah and an apparent minhag (custom)...
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A woman saying Shehechyanu on Channukah
I have been reviewing some discussions of a married woman's obligation to light Channukah candles. It appears that according to some, a married woman, whose husband is lighting at home does not light. ...
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Lighting a menorah in a no-flame environment
Many institutions where people sleep are no-flame environments. For instance, hospitals have oxygen. Hotels have very sensitive smoke detectors.
How does one fulfill the mitzvah of lighting the ...
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Pesicha of 3 Sifrei Torah: special time
Someone sent me a voice recording of someone mentioning an idea from the Sefer Heichalos that when there is we open 3 sifrei Torah (Torah scrolls, on shabbas – chanuka – rosh chodesh), then there is a ...
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The Pach Shemen and the Sotah
I remember hearing during a shiur on Neiros Shabbos and Chanukah...shalom bayis/Shabbos trumping pirsumei nisah/Chanukah, etc.
There was one source which said that the pach shemen was actually ...
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Why isn't the miracle of Channukah mentioned in Selichot?
In the selichot service, we have a prayer which lists the historic times when Hashem answered prayers (even implicit ones). The "mi she'ana" prayer starts with Avraham on Har Hamoriah and moves ...
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Are you yotzei by lighting candles through a grama?
Does one fulfill the mitzvah of lighting candles (sabbath or chanukah) if done by a grama (indirect action)? Example
user2110
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In what sense is Hanukkah "a Yom Tov like other yamim tovim"?
The Machzor Vitry (§234) finds a scriptural source for Hanukkah in Leviticus 24:2. That the stipulation that Israelites should collect pure olive oil for the menorah should follow on from a ...
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Does it matter where the flames came from in the Beit ha Mikdash?
In the Greek book commonly known as Second Maccabees (not generally recognized among Jews as being authoritative), there is a detail given about the rededication of the Second Temple where the relit ...
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Switching residences at night during Chanukah
The answers to this question explain that if one is not eating at home during Chanukah, he nevertheless needs to light at his house, where he will be sleeping that night.
What happens if someone ...
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What was so miraculous of the Chanukah war?
In the Chanukah "Al Hanisim", it says: "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 wicked into ...
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Did the Maccabees properly restore the temple?
In the fourth chapter of 1 Maccabees it outlines the steps the Maccabees took to restore the Beit HaMikdash including disassembling the defiled altar (verses 43-46) repairing the utensils, placing the ...
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Permissibilty of Chanuka bushes, dreidels, gelt, and Chanuka presents
Maimonides codifies the biblical prohibition of keeping gentile customs (Laws of Idolatry 11:1):
אין הולכין בחקות העובדי כוכבים ולא מדמין להן לא במלבוש ולא בשער וכיוצא בהן שנאמר ולא תלכו בחקות ...
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Lit the menorah at my mother's home, then again at my home. Which brachot are said?
Note: This is related to
Lighting the menora in shul and at home. How many brochos need be said?,
except that in that case one of the occasions involved a minyan, and
the explanation offered in ...
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Info on Chanukah oil burning lengths
If I recall correctly, Chanukah lights must burn until at least 1/2 hour after nightfall (or after they are lit).
I know that different types of oil burn faster or slower. Would someone know if there ...
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Rav Moshe's Chanuka additions to Baruch Hashem Yom Yom
This morning in Shul I saw a pamphlet that said as follows. The song Boruch Hashem Yom Yom, the sixth stanza is referring to Chanuka. It said in this pamphlet that Rabbi Moshe Feinstein Zatzal would ...
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The oil and Chanukah: what does it come to teach us?
The basic story of what happened when the Hasmonean monarchy overcame the Greeks, and hence we celebrate Chanukah, can be found in the Gemara in Shabbos 21b:
When the Greeks entered the Sanctuary ...
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Why not הקם לנו נסיכי שמונה?
The last four words of Maoz Tzur end with the words הקם לנו רועים שבעה. This is a clear reference to the verse (Micha 5:4):
וַהֲקֵמֹנוּ עָלָיו שִׁבְעָה רֹעִים וּשְׁמֹנָה נְסִיכֵי אָדָם
But as I was ...
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What happened to the jars of oil without a seal?
Are there any sources that say what happened to the jars of olive oil without the seal in the temple? Did they throw it out,sell it, eat it,etc...?
If not then would there be a reason why they couldn'...
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Hanukkah Glass Menorah Drip Tray with Brachos on it
Would it be mutar to place the menorah on a Hanukkah Glass Menorah Drip Tray https://www.amazon.com/Rite-Lite-Tempered-Glass-Menorah/dp/B00PBFBUOO even if the drip tray has brachos on it, or would ...
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Spelling of Hanukkah
The word Hanukkah in Hebrew is written חֲנֻכָּה or חֲנוּכָּה -- with or without a vav. Why two spellings? Do they entail different things?
(Delete the question if the answer is purely a grammatical ...
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How was Matisyahu's murder justified
According to sforim chitsoynim, Matisyahu murdered an unarmed villager in Modin. I believe this tale is repeated in Rabbinic sources, perhaps the Medrash, because I was taught it in Yeshiva. My ...
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Practice of avoiding saying "A Freilichin Chanukah"
A Skvere chosid told me today that his minhag and the minhag of other chassidim is not to wish anyone "A Freilichin Chanukah" because they understand it as a copy of the "Merry Christmas" greeting and ...
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Where did the popular Chanuka brachos niggun develop?
What is the source for the popular niggun that is generally sung in America (and maybe elsewhere) for the brachos on lighting the Chanuka lights? How far back does this tune go? Is it an American "...
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Can the Chanukah candles be lit via a timer?
Let's say someone attaches a timer to a fuse / lighter that sends a spark to light the candles. Can lighting be done automatically, or must each candle be lit by human physical action, only?
As @...
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Why a different list and different order in על הנסים and in הנרות הללו?
On Chanuka, we thank God in the amida (sh'mone esre) and grace after meals
ועל הנסים ועל הפרקן ועל הגבורות ועל התשועות ועל הנפלאות ועל הנחמות ועל המלחמות שעשית לאבותינו בימים ההם בזמן הזה
for the ...
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Rambam and Mitzvah of Ner Channukah (Chaviva hi ad ma'od)
The Rambam writes in Hilchos Channukah Perek 4 Halacha 12
מצות נר חנוכה מצוה חביבה היא עד מאד
The Mitzvah of Ner Channukah is very "chaviv"/"dear" mitzva (please correct this translation.) What is ...
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Are there mystical underpinnings to Maccabi?
One of the explanations I have heard for the title מכבי is that it is an acronym for the pasuk 'מִי-כָמֹכָה בָּאֵלִם ה (Shemos 15:11). Is there any reason, mystical or otherwise that that pasuk (or ...
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Locating a Sfas Emes on the influence of Chanukah
In addition to this question, I am eagerly looking for the location of a Sfas Emes where he discuss the following concept (parphrased):
Chanukah and Purim are both Rabbinical festivals. Chanukah and ...
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Midrash Pertaining to the Rekindling of the Menorah Commemorated by Chanukah
The predominant traditional explanation for the eight days of Chanukah is the miracle of the oil: there was only enough pure oil to keep the Menorah fueled for a single day but it miraculously lasted ...
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Where can I find this Ramban on Chanuka?
From the Chabad website:
There is a segula1 from the Ramban for after lighting the Chanukah lights to say the verse from Psalms: "May the graciousness of the L·rd our G·d be upon us," (...
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What part of this Chanukah song is actually about Passover instead?
"Eight Candles Shine" is a 1963 song by Malvina Reynolds, published by Schroder Music Co. It is frequently used in [US] schools as a "Chanukah Song" at winter concerts. I am ...
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Lighting after maariv in shul
At my shul, the first maariv minyan on Chanukah is after teitz hachocavim (5:15, in Eretz Yisroel). It takes a couple minutes until there are ten people, and when ten people arrived some members ...
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The Names of Yehudis, Antiyochus or Yochanan Kohein Godol in the Torah
The Gemara in Chullin 139b says the following:
From where in the Torah can one find an
allusion to the hanging of Haman? He replied: The verse states after
Adam ate from the tree of knowledge: “...
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Who had the authority to change the Shir Shel Yom of Chanukah?
As has been pointed out previously, the source of which Shir Shel Yom to say on Chanukah (Psalms 30) is in Ch. 18:2 of Masechet Sofrim.
Masechet Sofrim seems to make a break between those Shir Shel ...
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Playing dreidel according the Baal Shem Tov
I saw a video some years back from Lazer Beams (Rabbi Lazer Brody) on how to play dreidel Baal Shem Tov style. I don't remember exactly how to play, and I can't find the video again. One thing in ...
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Menorah with uneven spacing
The following assumes lighting an additional candle for each day of Chanukkah:
Two may light in a single Menorah for the first three days of Chanukkah; each in his end of the Menorah. This does not ...
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Greeks' gas lamps
I once heard that there is a source that says the Greeks invented gas lamps or some sort of street lights which enabled the Jews to roam the streets at night and not be with their families. The plan ...
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Rambam in Mitzvah of Ner Channukah: why "Shemen and Neros"?
The Rambam writes in Hilchos Channukah Perek 4 Halacha 12:
אפילו אין לו מה יאכל אלא מן הצדקה שואל או מוכר כסותו ולוקח שמן ונרות ומדליק
What is the reason the Rambam wrote to take "Shemen and Neros"...
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Calculation methods for intermediate time of chanukah lighting
We know that there are those who light chanukah candles at sunset and other at tzeis but there are some poskim lighting between at an intermediate time, for example :
Rav Moshe Feinstein, Rav ...
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Where to light chanukah candles in an apartment?
Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 671:5 rules that one places one's chanukah lights by the door that leads to the reshut harabim, and that if one has a courtyard between his house and the reshut harabim, ...
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At what point are people responsible to keep a new Rabbinic holiday?
When a new Rabbinic holiday is instituted, such as Chanukah, it naturally took time for Jewish people in far away lands to learn of the new holiday, it's rules and mitzvot. It may also have taken time ...
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כל כבודה בת מלך פנימה
The Chasam sofer in his commentary to Maseches Shabbos, writes that although the Gemara clearly states that women are obligated to light נר חנוכה, but due to modesty concerns כל כבודה בת מלך פנימה (...
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Is it a bracha levatala to recite or sing the Hanukkah blessings communally?
In group Chanukah celebrations one often sees that the entire gathering recites the brachot for lighting the menorah in unison, despite the fact that only one person is actually lighting the candles.
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Is it permitted to face a Chanukiah when davenning?
Rabbi Yitzchok in the Gemoro Bovo Basro 25b advises
אמר רבי יצחק הרוצה שיחכים ידרים ושיעשיר יצפין וסימניך שלחן בצפון ומנורה בדרום
Someone who wants to become wise should turn to the south (when ...
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Ner Mitzwa (MaHaRa"L), Machon Yerushalayim Edition
Edited/Footnoted by Rabbi Yehoshua Hartman, the Machon Yerushalayim editions of many (most/all?) MaHaRa"L publications have been made available in recent times. If one investigates the Internet, one ...
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Which is the "miracle of Channukah"?
I have seen questions and discussions which argue whether the miracle of Channukah was the military victory (rabim b'yad me'atim) or the finding/lasting of the pure oil. However, it seems that neither ...
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