This question is as old as the holiday itself... If the pure oil which was found was enough for one day, then seemingly no miracle occurred on the first day of Chanukah. Why then isn't Chanukah celebrated for seven days -- starting with the 26th of Kislev, when the miracle began?
Many answers are given for this glaring question. In fact, Rabbi Yosef Karo (16th century author of the Code of Jewish Law) penned a book wherein he suggests 100 different answers for this question!
The following are a few of the answers given:1
1. Considering that it would take another eight days to procure pure oil, the jug of oil which contained enough oil for only one night was divided into eight equal amounts. They figured that they would light an eighth of the oil each of the next eight nights. Miraculously, on each of the eight nights of Chanukah the oil which should have lasted only an eighth of the night lasted for the entire night.
2. After they filled the menorah with oil on the first night, the jug remained full. The same happened on the ensuing seven days.
3. After the first night when they entered the sanctuary to clean the menorah, they found that the cups of the menorah were still full of oil; despite having burned the entire night.
4. We celebrate the first day to commemorate the miraculous victory over the Greeks.
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