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icular light up eight candles on the first day, seven on the second, decreasing the number by one each day. This is according to the school of Shammai; but the school of Hillel say that he should light up one on the first day, two on the second, increasing the number by one each of the eight days of the fast.... What is the origin of the feast of Dedication? On the twenty-fifth day of Kislev (about December), the eight days of the Dedication commence, during which term no funeral oration is to be made, nor public fast to be decreed. When the Gentiles (Greeks) entered the second Temple, it was thought they had defiled all the holy oil they found in it; but when the Hasmoneans prevailed and conquered them, they sought and found still one jar of oil stamped with the seal of the High Priest, and therefore undefiled. Though the oil it contained would only have sufficed for one day, a miracle was performed, so that the oil lasted to the end of the week (during which time more oil was provided and consecrated for the future service of the Temple). On the anniversary of this occasion the Feast of Dedication was instituted. _Shabbath_, fol. 21, col. 2. The Feast of Dedication is annually celebrated by all Jews everywhere, to commemorate the purifying of the Temple and the restoration of its worship after its desecration by Antiochus Epiphanes, of which an account may be found in 1 Maccabees iv. 52-59. It is very probable that some of our Christmas festivities are only adaptations of the observances of this Jewish feast in symbolism of Christian ideas. During the eight days of the festival they light up wax candles or oil lamps, according to the rubric of the school of Hillel. Previous to the lighting, the following benedictions are pronounced:-- "Blessed art Thou, O Lord, our God! King of the universe, who hath sanctified us with Thy commandment, and commanded us to light the light of Dedication." "Blessed art Thou, O Lord, our God! King of the universe, who wrought miracles for our fathers in those days and in this season." "Blessed art Thou, O Lord, Our God! King of the universe, who hath preserved us alive, sustained us, and brought us to enjoy this season." After the lighting, the following form is repeated:--"These lights we light to praise Thee for the miracles, wonders, salvation, and victories which Thou didst perform fo
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