Illustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
Halakhah הֲלָכָה
Why do we add one Hanukkah candle each night of the holiday?
Actually, the Talmud records two different opinions about how many candles to light each night of Hanukkah:
- Beit Shammai say to start with eight candles on the first night and then decrease one candle per night.
- Beit Hillel say to start with one candle on the first night and then increase one candle per night.
There are different explanations given for each position. For example:
טַעְמָא דְּבֵית שַׁמַּאי כְּנֶגֶד פָּרֵי הַחַג, וְטַעְמָא דְּבֵית הִלֵּל דְּמַעֲלִין בַּקֹּדֶשׁ וְאֵין מוֹרִידִין.
Beit Shammai’s reason was to be like the sacrifices on Sukkot (which were offered in decreasing numbers, one less on each day of the holiday). And the reason for Beit Hillel was that we go up in holiness, not down.
The explanation of Beit Hillel’s position is a principle that comes up in a bunch of other areas of halakhah.
מַעֲלִין בַּקֹּדֶשׁ וְאֵין מוֹרִידִין
Ma’alin ba-kodesh ve-ein moridin - We go up in holiness, not down
Here are some other places you can see this idea in halakhah:
- Head tefillin are considered more kodesh (holy) than arm tefillin, and for that reason the correct way to put on tefillin is to start with the arm part and then place the head part. (See Kitzur Shulhan Arukh 10:18.)
- A mishnah (Megillah 3:1) lists the special objects in a shul, organized from least to most kodesh:
- The shul building
- The אָרוֹן (aron, ark)
- Coverings that go over scrolls
- Scrolls of נְבִיאִים (Nevi’im, Prophets) and כְּתוּבִים (Ketuvim, Writings)
- סִפְרֵי תּוֹרָה (Sifrei Torah, Torah scrolls)
If a community has to sell one of these things, they should use the funds to buy
something more kodesh, because of the principle of ma’alin ba-kodesh. (See Rashi on
Megillah 25b.)
- A person who served as a substitute כֹּהֵן גָּדוֹל (kohen gadol, high priest) would still retain the special קְדֻשָּׁה (kedushah, holiness) of that role, even when the official kohen gadol came back to work. The substitute went up in holiness, so he can’t come back down!
- Can you think of ways to integrate ma’alin ba-kodesh ve-ein moridin into your religious life? Are there practices you do that you can build on, or add to, to make sure that you’re always heading upwards?
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