Originally Posted by PamWinterReturns

Hm. At Yeshiva I was taught it?s eight lights, which represents the eight days and nights the Jews had only a drop of oil. The oil lasted eight days and nights so we cook latkes in oil to remember.

I didn?t research it yet but I?ve never heard a different explanation.

(Amnesia episode: I nearly typed that I?d ask my father when he wheeled down the hall tomorrow to visit me. He was very, very Jewish-intellectual and gave lectures on Judaism.

I?m no longer in the nursing home (13 weeks) and my father died four years ago).