Attribution: DRosenbach at en.wikipedia
Seinfeld, the popular 1990s sitcom, brought Festivus to the public consciousness. Festivus is a recently-invented holiday billed as a way to celebrate the season of giving without commercialism.
I know what you’re thinking. A Blue Thread is going to tell us that the story of Hanukkah was made up and then suggest that the holiday (not being in the Tanakh) is no more authentic than Festivus. We’re actually going to do nothing of the sort. Well, not much of the sort.
Today, we’ll just touch upon why, at least according to the Books of the Maccabees, Hanukkah is an eight-day celebration. The Books of the Maccabees, which neither Karaites nor Rabbanites deem to be holy, contain no reference to a miracle of oil lasting for eight days.
Why, then, is Hanukkah eight crazy nights?
