A History of the Hanukkah Menorah

The origin of the hanukkiah and the practice of lighting it for eight days during Hanukkah is unclear. As a holiday, Hanukkah dates to the second century bce, when the Seleucid ruler over Israel began to persecute the Jewish people. The Maccabees led a successful rebellion against this tyrant. In the process, the Seleucid army defiled the Temple, so the priests needed to rededicate it upon their return. Josephus, a Jewish historian and former Jewish general who lived during the first century, was the first to connect Hanukkah with light. He noted the holiday was called “Lights” but did not explain why. A “Hanukkah lamp” is mentioned in the Mishnah, an authoritative Jewish commentary on the five books of Moses compiled in the third century, but not until the sixth century did Jewish sources discuss the practice of lighting flames on Hanukkah in detail.

To explain the origin of this tradition, the Sages said one day’s worth of oil lasted for eight days when the Maccabees rededicated the Temple and relit the menorah. Jewish lore offers other explanations for the eight-day celebration. First, Jewish people could not observe the biblical fall festivals during the Maccabean Revolt. Partly to make up for this loss, the people celebrated the last of these holidays, the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot), which lasted eight days. Less common—but equally fascinating—is a ninth-century legend that depicts the Maccabees discovering eight spears in the Temple. According to the story, they stuck these spears in the ground and lit them.