Being at the seventh night already one might be able to ask the question why tonight is not the last
Being at the seventh night already one might be able to ask the question why tonight is not the last night of Chanukah. The whole miracle was that the Chashmonaim had only enough oil for one day and that the flame kept burning for another seven days (until they had new pure oil). So really the nes was only for seven days. Why then do we celebrate eight days of Hannukah? The answer might be that this is to show us that everything is from Hashem. The Yevanim had desecrated and defiled the whole Beis HaMikdash and everything in it. They had brought non-kosher animals as sacrifices to their Avodah Zorah on the Mizbeach (altar) of the Beis HaMikdash itself. When the Jews entered the Mikdash and saw the destruction done to such a holy place they surely felt devastated and, according to Halacha, they had to purify the whole place and therefore even dismantle the large stone mizbeach. Not a simple task –nor physically or mentally. It must’ve been heartbreaking for those Jews who loved Hashem so much to dismantle it. But it was exactly there (in a small hole under the mizbeach) where they found a hidden flask of oil with the unbroken seal of Yehoyada –the Kohen Gadol from the days of Shmuel HaNovi. If it wasn’t for the defilement of the Yevanim and therefore their dismantling of the mizbeach they would never have found the hidden oil. In what they thought was their darkest nightmare lay their ultimate joy and answer to their many teffilos. Their prayers were not in vain. Hashem had listened to them and had even sent the solution long before the problem even arose. Perhaps it is exactly because of this that we celebrate eight days instead of seven. To show us that the major nes was really the fact there actually already was one flask of kosher oil. It is to teach us that everything what happened is guided by the hand of Hashem. Nothing in this world happens without it being hashgochas protis. May we all learn to accept and see that everything what happens is guided by the Ribono Shel Olam and –even if we don’t see it right away- is indeed for our own good. -- source link
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