- Q. Why is the night of the fifth of Chanuka so special for many of our neighbors?
A. Every night (and day) of Chanukah is a time of joy and celebration, but the fifth night holds a special place in many traditions, including Chabad. On this night, the rebbes would traditionally host family gatherings called “latke evenings.”1 It's also customary to give additional Chanukah gelt, more than on other nights.
The fifth night marks the first time more candles are lit than are left unlit, symbolizing a tipping point in bringing light into the world.
This concept ties into a famous Talmudic debate between the School of Hillel and the School of Shammai. According to the School of Hillel, we should light one candle the first night and then add a candle each night (and this is the halachah that we follow). According to the School of Shammai, we light eight candles the first night and decrease by one candle each night.
The Rebbe explains that the Schools of Hillel and Shammai differ in their approaches to how we transform the darkness outside with the spiritual light of Chanukah.
The School of Shammai focuses on battling darkness. Thus, they advocate for a giant burst of light at the very start. Once that breakthrough occurs, subsequent battles require less intensity, and they decrease their candles accordingly.
The School of Hillel, however, prefers to increase goodness and allow evil to wither away on its own. They advocate consistently adding light, eventually influencing adversaries to willingly join the forces of light.
The fifth night is the first time when those following Hillel’s approach would have kindled more candles than their counterparts from Shammai’s House. This symbolizes the shift towards illuminating the entire darkness.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by, Horav Yaakov Hirschman Horav, Dovid Pam, Horav Aharon Miller, Horav Chanoch Ehrentreu and Horav Kalman Ochs Shlit’a
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