The joyous dedication of the second Holy Temple (Beit HaMikdash) on the site of the 1st Temple in Jerusalem, was celebrated on the 3rd of Adar of the year 3412 from creation (349 BCE), after four years of work.
The First Temple, built by King Solomon in 833 BCE, was destroyed by the Babylonians in 423 BCE. At that time, the prophet Jeremiah prophesied: "Thus says the L-rd: After seventy years for Babylon will I visit you... and return you to this place." In 371 the Persian emperor Cyrus permitted the Jews to return to Judah and rebuild the Temple, but the construction was halted the next year when the Samarians persuaded Cyrus to withdraw permission. Achashverosh II (of Purim fame) upheld the moratorium. Only in 353 -- exactly 70 years after the destruction -- did the building of the Temple resume under Darius II.
Link: The Holy Temple
R. Mordechai Jaffe served as the rabbi of numerous communities in Poland and Lithuania. Among his more well-known works are Levush Malchut,a halachic code following the order of R. Jacob ben Asher’s Arbaah Turim, and Levush HaOrah,a super-commentary to R. Shlomo Yitzchaki’s Torah commentary. R. Mordechai served as the head of the “Council of Four Lands,” the government-sanctioned Jewish organization entrusted with dealing with Jewish communal affairs. In addition to Talmud and Jewish law, R. Mordechai was also well-versed in both Kabbalah and astronomy.
He passed away on 3 Adar II.
Link: Rabbi Mordechai Jaffe
The Shabbat candles are lit to provide light, so we can see our food, so we do not stumble, so we can enjoy a peaceful, delightful Shabbat.
But the light of the Chanukah menorah is a different kind of light. It is not to be used for anything at all. It’s function is not that you should see, but that it should be seen.
For it is the light that shone before the world was made.
Light is wisdom. Wisdom is light.
There is wisdom that is helpful to us, so we can see where we are, so we do not stumble, so we can do what we need to do, arrive where we need to arrive. And so, we appreciate that wisdom.
And then there is wisdom that is true simply because it is true. Even when it is not convenient.
Yet without that absolute wisdom, all other wisdom falls and crumbles.
For it is the wisdom that shone before the world was made. It was hidden in the Torah for a time yet to come. And it shines on Chanukah.