Beit shammai said that on the first night of chanukah, eight candles should be lit and, with each successive night, one candle should be removed as we count down the days of the miracle. According to beit shammai, one should light eight candles on the first night of chanukah, and then one less candle each night, until the last night when one. Public source sheets on tagged with chanukah, drawing from sefarias library of jewish texts. Two fundamentally different approaches to chanukah rabbi joshua flug director of torah research, yeshiva universitys center for the jewish future one of the more famous disputes between beit shammai and beit hillel is regarding the practice.
From the temple emanuel chanukah family service, 2018, rabbis hillel and shammai debate over whether to start lighting the chanukah menorah with all 8. Eighty candles grouped all together are certainly visible in the darkest winter night. Shammai s academy and hillel s academy differed on the order in which it would be optimal to light the candles each night. This is a reference to the disagreement between two rabbinical schools of thought the house of hillel and the house of shammai on the proper order in which to light the. The story of the two fellows who betwager with each other a huge amount whether they can make hillel lose his temper. Shammai posited that we begin with all the candles lit and then put one out every night. Translating the torah into greek asarah btevet and chanukah too. The basic mitzvah of chanukah is to celebrate the miracle that happened then, by lighting the chanukia for eight days. This candle is called the shamash and is considered distinct from the main candles. According to beis shammai eight candles are lit on the first night and only one candle is lit on the eighth night.
The act of taking the shamash candle in our hand and placing its flame to the wicks of the candles can be seen in our eyes as a metaphor of a streetlamplighter. Hillel taught that we should start chanukah by lighting one candle and adding another candle each night of the holiday. Hillel and shammai were revered by the jewish people, so much so that even the evil herod feared to harm them. On chanukah, we light a menorah to celebrate the miracle of the maccabees victory over their assyrian oppressors, and to celebrate a single jar of oil lasting for eight nights. Increasing or decreasing the number of chanukah candles each day. Fire is a dualedged symbol, representing on the one hand.
Interestingly enough, though, there is a dispute in the talmud between beit shammai and beit hillel whether to increase the number of candles each day from one to eight, or to start with eight and remove a candle each day for eight days. According to beit shammai, we begin with eight candles on the first night and decrease the number of candles by one each day. What were the main principles of hillel and shammais. The students of one rabbi, shammai, believed that the celebration of chanukah should begin with eight candles, taking one away each night. Take, for example, their dispute over how to light chanukah candles. Lighting the chanukah candles each night puts us in this mode and spirit to take the next step and light up all those who we can possibly reach. Beit shammai holds that the potential is more significant.
The house of shammai says, on the first day you light eight, and from here and on continue to subtract one light each day. Beit hillel asserted that we should begin with one candle on the first night and add a new candle each night. A rededication implies that the old is renewed continually. On the second night we would light seven candles, on the third night six. Beit hillel believe the candles commemorate the rededication of the temple. And generally speaking, legal interpretations tended to favor hillel. The students of hillel insisted upon starting with one candle and then adding one more each night. Shlomo yosef zevin wrote a classic article, printed in his leor hahalachah, where he argues that beit shammai focused on potential, whereas beit hillel focused on the actual from memory, a number of arguments he explains according to this theory. Chanukah 5674, explains that beit shammai believe the candles commemorate the defeat of the enemy. Shammai says that we should start with eight candles the first night and then light seven the second, and so on. The second level, called mehadrin, requires that one candle be lit for each person every night.
Beit shammai has good reason for arguing that we should light eight chanukah candles on the first night, or that the bracha mekadesh hashabbat should be said before the boreh pri hagafen at kiddush on friday night, as does beit hillel for saying the opposite. Samuels we are all familiar with the present method of lighting the chanukah candles. Hillel and shammai and their schools of students to follow were at odds with each other for. Considering the debates about the debate between beit. On the first night of chanukah one should light one candle and increase every night until the eighth night, there are eight majestic candles being in lit in ones home. Eight descending days of light and eight ascending days of light would parallel the respective directions of the positions of beit shammai and beit hillel, shabbat 21a. What are beis hillel and beis shammai really arguing about, when they debate whether we should count up or down in lighting the chanukah candles. The talmud shabbat 21b records a dispute between beit shammai and beit hillel regarding the correct protocol for lighting the chanukah candles. Discover the debate between hillel and shammai over how to properly light the hanukkah candles. Shammai might agree with hillel s sentiment, but for shammai, the fire.
I would suggest that shammai is following his general. My jewish learning is a notforprofit and relies on your help. To make the darkness itself shine chanukah hanukkah. There is a debate as to how one is to light the chanukah menorah. Interestingly, the famous talmudic debate between beit shammai and beit hillel over the lighting of chanukah candles, recorded in shabbat 21b, reflects the same desire to find the universalistic message in this seemingly particular story. From the temple emanuel chanukah family service, 2018, rabbis hillel and shammai debate over whether to start lighting the chanukah menorah with all 8 candles, or only one. Hillel taught that, on the first day of chanukah, one candle ought to be lit and then one additional candle should be lit per day, until eight candles are lit on the final day. The five generations of zugos were jose ben joezer and jose ben jochanan, joshua ben perachiah and nitai haarbeli, judah ben tabbai and shimon ben shatach, shemaya and avtalyon, and hillel and shammai. Talmud shabbat 21b the hillel vs shammai debate on lighting chanukah candles. The highest level, the mehadrin min hamehadrin, is a topic of debate between beis shammai and beis hillel. Both lived during the reign of king herod 374 bce, an oppressive period in jewish history because of the.
The story of the covert who approaches hillel and shammai and asks to be taught the whole torah whilst standing on one foot. The houses of beit shammai and beit hillel disagree as to the nature of that adjustment. Hillel and shammai two opinions ou staff june 29, 2006 the machloket, or disagreement, between hillel and shammai and their respective academies, beit hillel and beit shammai, in the matter of the lighting of the chanukah menorah, turns on a fundamental question regarding commandments, the performance of which varies with time. For example, if there were ten people in the house, on the first night he lights ten candles, on the second night he lights twenty candles, on the third night he lights thirty candles and so on. Beis shammai argues that on the first night, eight candles are lit, and one candle. Hillel says that we should light one the first night, two the second, and so on. The talmud 1 tells us, regarding the mitzvah of lighting chanukah candles.
Happy chanukah temple beth david of the san gabriel valley. Talmudic insights into chanukah chanukah ohr somayach. Beis hillel says every day one should add one more candle, beginning with 1 and working up to 8. These two schools had vigorous debates on matters of ritual practice, ethics, and theology which were critical for the shaping of. One midrash states that chanukah was to be regarded as an acronym for chet nerot vehalakhah kbet hillel eight candles and the law according to the house of hillel, referring to hillel s view that we should light one candle on the first night and increase the amount by one every day shammai, on the other hand. In their well known dispute, beit shammai and beit hillel disagree about the proper method of lighting the chanukah candles. Generally, shammai was a strict interpreter of halacha, jewish law, and hillel tended to be more lenient.
Learn about the story and debate and learn yourselves the traditions and what the talmud teaches. Considering the debates about the debate between beit hillel and beit shammai regarding hanukah candle lighting talmud tuesday by drew kaplan december 8, 2015. Although we follow the practice of beit hillel, who argues that we should add another candle each. Hillel s insightful reply whatever is hateful to you dont do to your brother, this is the whole torah. Elisheba bat sarah his honor paqid adon david ben abraham his honor paqid adon ezra ben abraham. Hillel and shammai on why we light the chanukah candles. It appears to rabbenu isaac that bet shammai and bet hillel only apply to the case.
Beis hillel and beis shammai really arguing about, when they debate whether we should count up or down in lighting the chanukah candles. Hillel the elders friendly adversary was shammai, a native of the land of israel about whom little is known except that he was a builder, known for the strictness of his views. Why the rabbis of the talmud thought lighting candles was so important. Publicizing the hanukkah miracle my jewish learning. He was reputed to be dour, quicktempered and impatient. It is not by chance the talmud teaches that if not for hillel, torah would have been forgotten from amongst the jewish people sukkah 20a. Shammai opined that eight candles should be lit on the. A survey of key jewish sources and discussions on the festival of lights. Beis shammai says every day one should light one less, beginning with 8 candles and working down to 1 candle. The school of rabbi hillel prevailed because holiness is something that must grow, not diminish. According to beit hillel, the first night we light one candle, and we increase each night by one. Chanukah may also have historical affinities with the solstice in its later observance. Eating latkes potato pancakes sufganiyot doughnuts and playing dreidel by the chanukah lights makes these eight nights a jewish holiday favorite. Chanukah, and the academies of hillel and shamai by s.
The talmud offers multiple explanations for either increasing or decreasing the number. On the issue of the difference between hillel and shammai on lighting the candles, do we assume that this difference existed prior to them and all the way back to the sanhedrin at the time of the chashmonaim, and that it did not emerge after the deaths of hillel and shammai. Beis hillel feels that one should do the exact opposite. Eliyahu ben abraham and beloved wife hh giberet dr. As generations pass, it becomes harder to relate to this historical joy, so the candles diminish day by day. On the first day one kindles eight lights and, from there on, gradually decreases the number of lights until, on the last day of hanukkah, he kindles one light. Interestingly enough, though, there is a dispute in the talmud between beis shammai and beis hillel whether to increase the number of candles each day from one to eight, or to start with eight and remove a candle each day for eight days. The house of hillel beit hillel and house of shammai beit shammai were, among jewish scholars, two schools of thought during the period of tannaim, named after the sages hillel and shammai of the last century bce and the early 1st century ce who founded them. Shammai posited that we begin with all the candles.
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