[Avodah] Chanukah--miracle of the oil vs. miracle of the victory

[Moshe Feldman]

I leafed through a recent scholarly edition of Megillas Ta'anis, by Prof.
Vered Na'am.  She notes that the Ksav Yad Parma is probably the more
reliable girsa when it comes to the part dealing with Chanukah, while Ksav
Yad Oxford seems meshubash.  Ksav Yad Parma does not mention the Nes Pach
Shemen, and says that Chanukah is celebrated for eight days because the
Chashmonaim made a menorah out of spears and were involved with this for
eight days.  Ksav Yad Oxford does mention the Nes Pach Shemen, but the
version cited by Or Zarua v.2 siman 321 [arguably] does not; in any case it
states that they spent eight days rebuilding and rededicating the mizbe'ach
and menorah made out of spears (covered with wood).    (It's not clear to me
that Or Zarua is actually quoting the Megillas Ta'anis.)  Whichever girsa is
correct, it does seem from the Oxford ed. of Megillas Ta'anis that the
reason that Chanukah was established for eight days is primarily that that
is the number of days it took to rededicate the mizbe'ach, and that the
miracle of the oil is secondary to that.

Kol tuv,
Moshe


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