Seven patriarchs were covenant-makers:--Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Phinehas, and David.
Seven liquids are comprehended under the generic term drink (Lev. xi. 34):--Dew, water, wine, oil, blood, milk, and honey.
For tertian fever take seven small grapes from seven different vines; seven threads from seven different pieces of cloth; seven nails from seven different bridges; seven handfuls of ashes from seven different fireplaces; seven bits of pitch from seven ships, one piece from each; seven scrapings of dust from as many separate doorways; seven cummin seeds; seven hairs from the lower jaw of a dog and tie them upon the throat with a papyrus fibre.
The Rabbis teach that the precept relating to the lighting of a candle at the Feast of Dedication applies to a whole household, but that those who are particular light a candle for each individual member, and those that are extremely particular 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.
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:--