posts so far for Chanukka

2008

1. Why we should ban playing dreidels, pt i.
   
2. How Rav Kanievsky said that in Israel people would be in bomb shelters for Chanukkah. The possible implications. Then why I doubted he said it, and how he did not say that.
   
3. The Zohar did not predict Mumbai and Moshiach on the eighth day of Chanukkah.
4. An ad I posted up for Oh Nuts for gifts for Chanukkah, and a brief discussion of giving nuts as gifts to children on Chanukkah.
   

2007

• Which is Min HaMuvchar? Wax Candles or Oil Lamps?
• I say wax candles, based on my reading of the gemara.
• What is the Idea of Preferring Poppy Seed Oil or Olive Oil?
• Slightly homiletic, but perhaps true. Are we celebrating the miracle of the length of burning, such that we should optimize length of time? Or are we celebrating holiness and purity, and therefore clarity, such that we should optimize clarity explicitly as the expense of burning time?
  

2006

• The Shifting, Shifting Miracle of Chanukka
• An analysis of the sources in DovBear's popular post on the subject. The sources actually go in opposite chronological order than what was thought.
• Mai Chanukka? What Is the Question?
• It is quite possible that it is "What is Chanukka which is mentioned in the Tannaitic source of Megillat Taanit which states...," rather than "What is Chanukka?" This comes down to whether the brayta is part of the question or the answer, and whether the miracle of the oil is part of the brayta, or whether the Hebrew gloss was added later.
• Is the Bet Yosef's Question So Good?
• I don't think so. It is obvious why it was for 8 days, even though the miracle was that it extended an additional 7. We are humans, reacting to the miraculous span of time, not anal-retentive accountants. And neither were Chazal.
• The reaction to the Shifting Miracle of Chanukka
• And how it could have been presented, without uproar. And along the way, I think I give a pretty decent homiletic interpretation of the aggada of the miracle, such that this might even be the intent. But also why different people may have reacted the way they did.
  
• Rif Yomi, Chanukka Edition

2005

• Are These (Chanukka) Lights Indeed Sanctified?
• A reading of the gemara. It appears that the lamps are in fact not kodesh. Rather, the issue is bizui mitzvah. And it is also slightly inaccurate that we do not have any permission to make use of them, except to see them -- we pasken that we can use one lamp to light another, though the Rishonim clarify (or restrict) it to via an intermediary. For me, the song which states otherwise is no problem, because my family sings a nusach that omits these offending phrases.
• The Shitta of Rav About Making Use of Chanukka Lamps
• A further discussion of what was begun in the post above. This explores Rav's opinion (rather than Shmuel's, which we rule like). And a lot of girsology, to practical effect.
• How to Spell Chanukka - And Why
• The Etymology of Sufganiyot
• From sponge. And where the "n" comes from.

2004

• Jewish Might
• Really on Vayigash. On one level, Yehuda seems supplicative. But beneath the surface, there is unstated threat. And how this can be read concretely into at least one pasuk.
  

2003

• Shemen Sreifah for Chunukka Lamp
• the Yerushalmi says one may use it. But what about the shamash?