Shabbat 21b - The Chanukah Lights

[one] is not obligated to [relight] it and [one] is permitted to use its light; Rabbi Zera said that Rav Matna said, and some say it [thus]: Rabbi Zera said that Rav said: The wicks and oils that the Sages said [we] don't light with them on Shabbat, we [may] light with them on Chanukkah, whether on Shabbat [of Chanukkah] or on the weekdays. Rabbi Yirmiyah said: What is Rav's reasoning? He is thinking: If it goes out, [one] is not obligated to [relight] it, and [one] is forbidden from using its light.

The Sages said this [teaching] before Abbaye in the name of Rabbi Yirmiyah, and he did not accept it; when Ravin came, they said this [teaching] before Abbaye in the name of Rabbi Yochanan and he accepted it. He said, "If I had merited, I would have learned [i.e., accepted] the teaching from the outset! - But behold, [in the end] he learned [i.e., accepted] it! - the practical implication is for the [virtues of] the [rehearsed] learning of one's youth.

"If it goes out, [one] is not obligated to [relight] it" - they threw [a contradictory source] against it: "Its mitzvah is from when the sun sets until the foot is gone from the marketplace". Is this not [implying] that if it goes out, [one] is obligated to [relight] it?! No, [it's implying] that if he didn't light [immediately after sunset], he [still] lights [until "the foot is gone..."]; alternatively, for [indicating] it's measuring [of duration].

"Until the foot is gone from the marketplace" - and until how [late is that]? Rabba bar bar Chana said that Rabbi Yochanan said: Until the foot of the Tarmodian [caste] is gone.

Our Sages taught: The mitzvah of Chanukkah is a [single] candle for [each] man and his household [ביתו can also translate as wife], and those who embellish [the mitzva]: A candle for each and every one; and those who embellish exceedingly: Beit Shammai says: The first day he lights eight, from then on, he diminishes continuously, and Beit Hillel says: The first day he lights one, from then on, he increases continuously.

Ulla said They argued about it - two Amoraim from the West [i.e., Eretz Yisrael]: Rabbi Yosi bar Avin and Rabbi Yosi bar Zevida. One said: Beit Shammai's rationale is: to correspond to the days yet to come, and Beit Hillel's rationale is: to correspond to the days which have passed; [the other] one said: Beit Shammai's rationale is: to correspond to the bulls [offered on Sukkot] and Beit Hillel's rationale is that [we] increase in [matters of] holiness and do not decrease.

Rabbah bar Bar Chanah said that Rabbi Yochanan said: There were two elder [scholars] in Tzidon, one acted according to the words of Beit Shammai, and [the other] one acted according to the words of Beit Hillel. This [one] gave reason for his words [i.e., actions] - corresponding to the bulls [offered] on Sukkot, and this [other] one gave reason for his words: that [we] increase in [matters of] holiness and do not decrease.

Our Sages taught: The Chanukkah candle - it is a mitzvah to place it at the door of his house, on the outside, and if he was living in an attic [i.e., with no direct access to public areas], he places it in a window adjoining the public area and in times of danger [i.e., persecution], he places it on his table and it is sufficient for him.

Rava said: He needs another light [in order] to use its [i.e., the Chanukkah candles'] light and if there is a hearth-fire, he doesn't need [another light], but if he is a wealthy man, even though there is a hearth-fire, he does need another light.

What is Chanukkah, that our Sages taught: On the 25th of Kislev - the days of Chanukkah, they are eight, not to eulogize on them and not to fast on them? When the Greeks entered the Temple, they polluted all the oils in the Temple, and when the Hasmonean dynasty overcame and defeated them, they checked and they found but one cruse of oil that was set in place with the seal of the High Priest, but there was in it only [enough] to light a single day. A miracle was done with it, and they lit from it for eight days. The following year [the Sages] fixed those [days], making them holidays for praise and thanksgiving.

We taught there [in a Mishnah]: A spark that goes out from under the hammer, [if] it went out and damaged, he [i.e., the smith] is liable. If a camel was loaded with flax and passes in the public domain and the flax enters [i.e., protrudes] into a store and it catches fire from the storekeeper's candle and sets the whole area [lit.: group of buildings] ablaze, the camel owner is liable. If the storekeeper set his candle outside, the storekeeper is liable.

Rabbi Yehudah says: With a Chanukkah candle, he is exempt. Ravina said: This implies. [that for] the Chanukkah candle, it is a mitzvah to set it within ten handbredths [from the ground], for if it occurred to you [that it is acceptable] above ten handbreadths, let him [i.e., the camel owner] say to him [i.e., the storekeeper]: "you should have set it above camel and rider!" But perhaps, if we trouble him so much, he will come to refrain from the mitzvah!

Rav Kahana said: Rav Natan bar Manyumei expounded in the name of Rav Tanchum: