Rabbi Akiva’s 24,000 students died during the Omer counting period. Why did they die precisely during these days? Is there any connection between the Torah commandments applying to the Omer period and the deaths of Rabbi Akiva’s students at this time?
God performed a miracle allowing the Hasmoneans to light the Menorah even though they did not have to. This showed Israel that at the source of the argument between the sages of Israel and the philosophers of Greece, the sages of Israel were right.