Kabbalah and Chassidut provide a host of different
reasons for their assertion that the Chanukah lights
represent and, ultimately, reveal the hidden Divine
light of Creation. On a fundamental level, the
chanukiah clearly represents the menorah in the
Temple. Logic dictates that just as the menorah
radiated Divine light, so does the chanukiah.
Another allusion to the infinite Divine light
clothing itself in the finite light of the chanukiah
may be found in the thirty-six Chanukah lights we
kindle over the course of the eight nights. The
Talmud relates that before the metaphysical light of
the first day was concealed, Adam and Eve used it
for thirty-six hours before being exiled from the
Garden of Eden. After Adam and Eve sinned they tried
to hide from God, but He confronted them with one
powerful word that has reverberated throughout the
ages –ayeka– where are you? God was obviously not
asking Adam and Eve to reveal their hiding place;
rather He was issuing them a much deeper existential
challenge: Where have you gone? What have you done?
Who are you? Significantly, the numerical value of
the word “ayeka” is thirty-six, alluding to the
Divine light that would soon be hidden. During
Chanukah we begin by kindling one light and each
night add an additional one. Altogether we light
thirty-six lights, a clear allusion to the infinite
Divine light of Creation and a sign to us that it
can be experienced even now. By lighting the
thirty-six lights, we respond to God’s call of
“ayeka” by declaring that we are here searching for
his Divine light.
Eicha, spelled the same way in Hebrew as “ayeka,”
but pronounced differently, is also the Hebrew name
for the book of Lamentations, which mourns the
destruction of the first Temple. In anticipation of
the Temple’s destruction, the menorah was hidden
away safely to await future discovery. Here again
Divine light is revealed (in the menorah) only to be
subsequently hidden.
Chanukah is celebrated on the twenty-fifth day of
the month of Kislev. The twenty-fifth word of the
Torah coincides with the word light’s first
appearance in the Torah: “Let there be light.” The
word Kislev can be divided in two and read as
kis-lev, meaning “thirty-six are hidden” (the
numerical value of “lev” is thirty-six and “kis”
means covered or hidden in Hebrew). Thus, we can see
that the thirty-six hours the Divine light shone for
Adam are concealed in the thirty-six candles of the
month of Kislev.
The miraculous flask of oil that was used to light
the menorah, was hidden away and was the only oil
not defiled by the Greeks. The light of the menorah
was first revealed and then hidden, while the light
of Chanukah was first hidden and then revealed! From
this perspective, we might say that the lights of
Chanukah reveal the hidden light of the Temple
menorah in every Jewish home.
According to Jewish law, the Chanukah lights are
supposed to be lit in public (an individual should
preferably light them outside the door to his or her
home opposite the mezuzah), in order to publicize
the miracle. This is the only Jewish ritual we are
taught to perform in such an open, revealed manner.
The root of the Hebrew word Chanukah is chet-nun-kaf,
from which the word chinuch meaning “education”
derives. Perhaps more than any other mitzva, the
kindling of lights on Chanukah represents the
quintessential mission of the Jewish people – to be
a “light unto the nations.” The light of Chanukah is
not merely a physical light; rather, it is a
spiritual light meant to be shared with and revealed
to the entire world.
There is a Jewish tradition that in every generation
there are thirty-six hidden tzaddikim (righteous
people) by whose merit alone the world continues to
exist (Sanhedrin 97b). The Midrash relates that when
God said “Let there be light,” He was referring to
the acts of the tzaddikim” (Genesis Rabba 3:8). At
all times, a certain amount of the original light of
Creation must shine in order to keep the world in
existence; the good deeds of the hidden tzaddikim
prevent this light from going out.
We are further taught that within each and every Jew
there is the spark of a tzaddik, as the prophet
says, “And your people are all tzaddikim” (Isaiah
60:21). The tiny flask of pure oil concealed from
the Greeks represents the hidden spark of a tzaddik
within each Jewish soul. No matter how far a Jew may
wander from his or her roots, this spark is ready
and waiting to be ignited and revealed to the world.
