If there was enough oil for one day-why is Chanuka 8 days and not 7 days

[edu]

http://www.torah.org/learning/yomtov/chanukah/5755/vol1no58.html

Chanukah - Why Eight Days?

by Rabbi Yehudah Prero

In the last post, we discussed the background history of Chanukah. We mentioned that only one flask of pure oil which still bore the unbroken seal of the High Priest was found in the Temple. Hashem performed a miracle, and this flask of oil which should only have lasted for one day was able to be used to light the Menorah in the Temple for eight days, until which time no additional pure oil was available.

Therefore, we celebrate eight days of Chanukah. The Bais Yosef, a commentator on the Tur Shulchan Aruch, asks (in Orech Chayim 670) a question that has been termed by many as "The Bais Yosef's Question" on Chanukah, due to the popularity of the question which emerged becuase of the seeming simplicity of the question, the large number of answers offered to resolve the question and the discussion surrounding these answers. He asks why Chanukah is eight days long. If there was enough oil in the flask that was found to last one day, then the miracle of the oil lasting for was really only a miracle for the latter seven of the eight days. Yet, we know that we celebrate Chanukah for eight days! What is the reason behind the eight day celebration that we have?

The Bais Yosef himself offers three approaches:

Those who were preparing the Menorah for lighting knew that it would take eight days until new oil could be obtained. They therefore divided the flask into eight parts, so that at least the Menorah would be lit every day, albeit not for the entire day. A miracle occurred and the small amount of oil that was placed in the Menorah each day lasted an entire day. Hence, there was a miracle on the first day as well.
On the first night, the contents of the flask were emptied into the Menorah. This would enable the Menorah to be lit for one entire day. However, after filling the Menorah, it was discovered that the flask miraculously was still full. This miracle repeatedly occurred for each of the days. Hence, there was a miracle on each of the eight days.
On the first night, the entire contents of the flak were emptied into the Menorah. This would enable the Menorah to be lit for an entire day. When the Menorah was checked on in the morning, it was discovered that none of the oil burned up, and the Menorah was still full, although the flame was lit. This miracle occurred for each of the days. Hence, the first day when the oil did not burn up was miraculous as well.
Many other answers have been proposed. The P'ri Chodosh writes that we do cot celebrate the first day of Chanukah because of the miracle of the oil. We celebrate the first day in commemoration of the miraculous victory by the Jews in the wars waged against Antiochus and his troops. The Aruch HaShulchan mentions a number of reasons. He writes that the Mitzvah of Bris Milah (circumcision) was forbidden under the reign of Antiochus, and after the military victory, the Jews were once again able to openly perform this commandment. In order to commemorate the fact that we were able to resume performing this commandment which occurs on the eighth day of a baby boy's life, we have eight days of Chanukah.
Another reason he gives is that the Medrash tells us that the construction of the Mishkan (The Tabernacle, which was the equivalent of the Temple, and built while the Jews were in the desert after leaving Egypt) was completed on the 25th day of Kislev. However, the Mishkan was not "dedicated" until the month of Nissan, the month in which our forefathers were born. Hashem, in order to "make up" the loss of a holiday to the month of Kislev, caused the miracle of Chanukah and the rededication of the Temple occur in Kislev. As the dedication of the Mishkan and the beginning of the service lasted eight days, we too celebrate for eight days. In fact, the name "Chanukah" means "dedication," to allude to this aspect of the celebration. (As an aside, the name Chanukah can also be read as a combination of the two words "Chanu k'h" which means "they rested on the 25th" - an allusion to the "resting" that occurred after the Jews were victorious in their battles.)

I was told that Rabbi Kahane's answer is that the first day of Chanuka is also a miracle for a different reason. It is to commemorate that the Jews even had the audacity to try to make a revolution against the Greeks and their Hellenists allies, which such terrible dangers and odds against them.
Rabbi Yisrael Ariel of Machon Hamikdash has sort of a revised version of answer #1 of the Beit Yosef which minimizes the miracle by saying, they used thinner wicks and possibly some lenient halachic views - in order to get by with less oil.
I myself lean in the direction of answer 2 of the Beit Yosef.
Although at another time, bli neder, I will try to provide an answer for a halachic objection raised against answer 2 of the Beit Yosef.

[Tag-MehirTzedek]

Also that the 8 days of Channukah were for a make up for the 8 days of (Sukkot + Shmeni Atzeret).

[edu]

Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, shlit"a raised a halachic objection in his book on the menora to answer 2 of the Beit Yosef. Namely, the view that
On the first night, the contents of the flask were emptied into the Menorah. This would enable the Menorah to be lit for one entire day. However, after filling the Menorah, it was discovered that the flask miraculously was still full. This miracle repeatedly occurred for each of the days. Hence, there was a miracle on each of the eight days.
He brings in the name of Radak to II Melachim (Kings) 4:7. that when the prophet Elisha performed (obviously as an agent of G-d) an oil miracle, that no matter how much oil was poured out of one particular vessel into others, the vessel remained full, the woman who received this miracle asked, if she was obligated to take tithes off from the oil (in the same way that tithes are taken from new olive oil produced by the fields of the land of Israel).
She was given the answer that this miracle oil was exempt from tithes which was a fitting reward for the good deed that her late husband had done. See there for details.
Rabbi Ariel understood that if miracle oil is exempt from tithes, so too, it is not fit halachic oil to be used for the menora.
However, one could answer that the reason the oil was exempt from tithes, because tithes were already taken from that oil before the miracle took place and the miracle oil was just considered an extension of the already tithed oil and not totally new oil.
In other words, I believe that the oil used in the menora according to the second answer of the Beit Yosef was considered real halachic (tithed) olive oil and not some new imitation.

[Tag-MehirTzedek]

"On the first night, the contents of the flask were emptied into the Menorah. This would enable the Menorah to be lit for one entire day"

 Actually an objection to this could be that the flask of the Kohen Gadol did not contain enough for 1 day, it was for a different purpose altogether and that is why it had the seal of the Kohen Gadol on it. It was for the korban that he had to bring.

[muman613]

The first night we celebrate the miracle of the victory over the greeks... The rest of the days we celebrate the continued burning of 1days worth of oil for 8 days...

[Kahane-Was-Right BT]

http://www.torah.org/learning/yomtov/chanukah/5755/vol1no58.htmlI was told that Rabbi Kahane's answer is that the first day of Chanuka is also a miracle for a different reason. It is to commemorate that the Jews even had the audacity to try to make a revolution against the Greeks and their Hellenists allies, which such terrible dangers and odds against them.
Rabbi Yisrael Ariel of Machon Hamikdash has sort of a revised version of answer #1 of the Beit Yosef which minimizes the miracle by saying, they used thinner wicks and possibly some lenient halachic views - in order to get by with less oil.
I myself lean in the direction of answer 2 of the Beit Yosef.
Although at another time, bli neder, I will try to provide an answer for a halachic objection raised against answer 2 of the Beit Yosef.

There is also an answer given that Rav Hai Gaon had a different girsa of the gemara.  In his girsa, it says there wasn't enough oil even for 1 day.  So burning for even 1 day was a miracle, and thus all 8 days were a miraculous burning.  That to me is a very easy way to make sense of the gemara and perhaps his girsa was the correct one.  There are also about a hundred different drashas on this question which address it in a less than literal way.   However, a more straightforward and obvious answer to the general question of why the holiday is 8 days long is that cited by Rabbi Bar Hayim which is pretty directly stated in Macabees II (which by the way, even the secular scholars agree was written by a Pharisee adherent and not excessively long after the events took place).  This answer, alluded to by Tag, also simultaneously explains why we say full hallel on every day of hanuka too.     But the question raised here by the Beis Yosef is more dealing internally with making sense of the length of the holiday in light of what the Talmud states about it.  Rav Hai Gaon's girsa eliminates any inconsistency there about the Talmud's claims.