Chanukah

The holiday of Hanuka commemorates both military and spiritual victories, of a national nature, during the Second Temple period. On the one hand, the one-day supply of oil in the Holy Temple miraculously lasted for eight days. On the other hand, the greatly outnumbered Jews also won incredible military victories over their Greek enemies, thus preserving the State of Judea for over 200 years. The war was fought also against the Hellenists [Greek sympathizers, mostly Jews], who sought to secularize the Jewish Nation. Do the Hellenists of then have a parallel today?

What did the Maccabim do when they found that 1 jar of unblemished oil? Did they put all the oil in the Menora at one time, so at least 1 day would be a "pure" & complete Mitzva? Or did they divide up the jar & place 1/8 of the oil in the Menora each night, so as to at least do some of the Mitzva?

Is Hannuka a religious holiday, on which the Nation of Israel commemorates its religious victory over Greek paganism? Or is it a national holiday, celebrating our military defeat of Greek expansionism in the Land of Israel?

One must always remember three questions; they must always guide his path and light his way, so that he will always take the straight path and not allow the trickery of his negative inclinations to confuse him. He must always be connected to and focused on the true objective.

The poskim disagree about whether the obligation to light Ĥanuka candles is limited to the home. Some argue that the Sages ordained that only one who has a home must light candles. Others maintain that even one who does not have a home must light candles wherever he is.

A patient in a hospital is still obligated to light Ĥanuka candles. However, if he is married, he fulfills his obligation through his spouse’s lighting at home.

People staying in a hotel must light Ĥanuka candles. It is best to light in one’s hotel room. If the hotel management does not permit guests to light candles in their rooms, then since there is no alternative one should light in the dining room.

A yeshiva student who sleeps in his dormitory room and eats in a cafeteria must light in his room. An uncertainty arises regarding Sephardic students.