Meor Eynayim
The little pure jug of oil that was found in the Beis Hamikdosh corresponds to the pure neshamah. Find your untouched and sealed essence and let it shine.
Medrash
The Jewish people are called Yehudim because thanking Hashem is the core of what we are.
Chazal
Chazal teach us that even when the avodah of korbonos will cease in the future era, the Korban Todah, the Korbon of thanksgiving will never stop! In the times of Moshiach, the Jewish people will be busy with the avodah of thanking Hashem non-stop.
Kedushas Levi
It is a very good practice to learn Torah by the candles after lighting. Torah is the revealing of Hashem’s hidden light in the world, and the menorah has the same power: to illuminate the darkest corners of the world that we live in.
Rebbe Nosson
The small flames of our menorah are like small pieces of a much larger fire of kedushah. It takes a lot of wisdom to bring big ideas down to small digestible points. Practice bringing big deep ideas down into small vessels, while you share them over Chanukah.
Arizal
The 36 candles we light throughout Chanukah have the numerical value of “Leah,” who the Gemarah teaches us was the first person in world history to say “Thank You Hashem” when she said: “Hapa’am odeh es Hashem, this time I thank Hashem” upon the birth of her fourth son, Yehudah.
Rebbe Nachman
The ideal place to light the menorah is under 10 tefachim. This is a place where Hashem’s presence is not normally found. This teaches us that the power of the menorah is so strong that it is able to bring Hashem into the dark, low corners of our lives.
Baal Shem Tov
Yavan tried to convince us that there is a thing called nature. The main point of Chanukah is that we are shown — through miraculous circumstances — that this is, in fact, not at all true. There is no such thing as a natural course of events. Hashem is powering everything that happens. As is often quoted in the name of the Baal Shem Tov: “A leaf doesn’t fall from the tree without Hashem deciding that it should.”
Baal Shem Tov
Adam Harishon was able to use the light from creation to see from one end of the world to the other. This means he saw the whole world as part of Hashem, with no physical barriers for him at all. We can tap into that light by peering deeply into the flames of the menorah and internalizing the truth of Ein Od Milvado. You too have the ability to see from one end of the world to the other.
Rav Pinchos of Koritz
The 36 lights of the menorah correspond to the 36 masechtos that make up the Talmud. The Greeks wished to get rid of our connection to Torah. Therefore on Chanukah we re-dedicate ourselves to a life illuminated by Torah.
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 17 Special Chanukah Editions.