The holiday of Hanukkah stands out amongst other holidays on the Jewish calendar. Directly linked to service in the Holy Temple, Hanukkah was celebrated as a rejection of the impurity that the Greeks sought to impose within the temple service.

Yet, other commemorations that were instituted in the time of the Beit Hamikdash were nullified when the temple was destroyed and weren’t maintained as part of the yearly cycle of holidays. Hanukkah was and is the exception whereby its observance, despite being directly linked to the temple itself, survived and thrived, even after the destruction.

The question found in the gemara asks why. What is the logic to celebrate the holiday of Hanukkah when the very institution where that commemoration and service took........

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