This little Talmudic tale is presented here as retold by the French writer Isaac Pougatch in his book Hanoucca, published by Editions OPEJ (Oeuvxe de Protection des Enfants Juifs). M. Pougatch, born in Kiev in 1897, has been active in Jewish education in France both during the German occupation and since the end of the war, and has published a number of books on the Jewish holidays.

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The Man asked the child, “Do you know why the first day of Chanukah falls on the twenty-fifth of the month of Kislev?”

The child answered, “Because on that day Judas Maccabaeus drove Antiochus from Jerusalem and restored the Temple. On that day the candles are lit.”

“You know that history is an eternal repetition. It may be that there were other important events on that same day. Let us try together to see what they were.”

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After these words the man and the child went through the course of the centuries until they came at last to the time of Adam and Eve.

The Garden of Eden was flooded with sunlight. The trees were in flower, the birds were singing, the flowers perfumed the air.

But then one day Adam listened to the words of Eve and ate of the fruit of the forbidden tree. Both of them were then driven from the Garden of Eden and had to earn their bread by the sweat of their brows.

There came a time when Adam noticed that the sun was setting earlier and night fell more quickly. The days grew shorter and the nights grew longer. Was this a new divine punishment?

Frightened, Adam and Eve fasted and prayed. A week went by and the sun still set earlier and earlier. Was it possible that darkness was coming again little by little over the face of the earth and that all life would be destroyed?

But then: a miracle! The sun began to remain longer, a little longer each day. The days grew longer and the nights shorter. Adam smiled at his fears.

Eve and he made a feast of rejoicing and lit fires in token of their gratitude.

For they knew now that what had been was and would endure forever. The stars sparkled in the heavens. As long as earth endured there would be days, seasons, years, the time of sowing and the time of harvest, heat and cold, day and night.

The day on which Adam lit fires of joy and gratitude fell in the middle of the winter when the sun reaches the point farthest from the center of the earth and begins again on its eternal course. This is the 25th day of the month of Kislev.

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