This paper will trace the development of Hanukah fire rituals demonstrating that while the Books of Maccabees emphasize the Hasmonean inauguration of the sacrificial altar, the rabbis shifted the focus of the commemoration from the altar to the menorah after the Temple’s destruction as part of an effort to transfer the holiness of the Temple to the Jewish home. A contextual and literary analysis of the locus classical of the Hanukah laws at Bavli Shabbat 21a-24b reveals themes connecting Hanukah lamps both to the Temple menorah and to household Shabbat lamps. The Talmud communicates this new centrality of home holiness through details of ritual law as well as by recontextualizing and retelling the miracle of the oil. Methodologically, this paper will also offer a new contribution to Talmudic research by demonstrating a thematic continuity, purpose, and literary structure over an extended section of Talmud.
