I step out of the rainy, heavy stillness of Cheshvan and into the opaque darkness of Kislev and suddenly I’m humming that little tune almost instinctively: “It’s dark outside, but it’s light in here. That’s Kislev, the month where darkness finally tells its secret: it’s just the backdrop for hidden light.
I close my eyes, and I’m back home, watching my father bent over the menorah. Rolling wicks. Always rolling wicks. Turning cotton into mitzvah. Insisting he do it himself, even when it took effort. My father would light first, completely immersed, and afterward would we children follow his flame. He led us by example: Make your own wicks. Pour your own oil. Make your own light.
The Rainbow of Kislev
I imagine Noach stepping out of the teivah, the world washed new, the air still trembling with rain. And then, the keshes, the rainbow. Hashem’s promise. Hashem’s comfort. That bow becomes the mazal of Kislev.
But Chassidus takes it deeper: the bow is a weapon, but also a tefillah. A sword only works up close. But a bow? The further it’s pulled back, the further its reach. The more I feel pulled back, stretched, lacking, scarce, the more potent my tefillah becomes. It’s my arrow. My reach. My impact.
Yud-Tes Kislev: The Birth of Chassidus Revealed
Kislev carries another bow—another release. The night the Alter Rebbe was freed from prison, the Baal Shem Tov and the Maggid appeared to him and said: The kitrug in Shamayim had been cleared. In Heaven, the blockage was gone; below, it appeared as the prison doors unlocked.If Heaven says: “Let Chassidus spread, then Earth must let the Alter Rebbe walk free.
Kislev becomes the month of didan natzach – victory. The victory of light over concealment. Of pnimiyus over superficiality. Of truth over confusion.
From that moment forward, Chassidus wasn’t just a teaching. It became a mission: Spread out. Spread light. Spread love. All the way to the edges of the world.
The Ohr HaGanuz – The Hidden light
Chanukah is the gateway to the ohr haganuz, the hidden primordial light created at the beginning of time. A light that let Adam see from one end of the world to the other. A light so pure it had to be hidden away.
Chazal say it shone for 36 hours. So we light 36 Chanukah flames (not counting the shamash). Each flame is a whisper of that original clarity, a reminder that the light was never destroyed—just hidden, waiting.
Greek Darkness: Choshech of the Mind
“V’Ha’aretz hay’sa tohu vavohu, v’ choshech al p’nei tehom.” The Medresh Rabbah teaches that each word hints to an exile. Yavan,—Greece—is‘choshech,’darkness.
Chassidus teaches us that this doesn’t refer to darkness of fear, rather it means a darkness of confusion.
The Greek klippah was subtle: Not to destroy the body, but to disconnect the body from the neshama. To convince us that we are only physical, only surface, only what the eye can see.
It’s the same battle today—distraction, noise, loss of daas. Losing our point of focus and our inner clarity.
Chanukah tells us: Look at the flames. Be still. Remember your neshama. Remember your depth.
The light is not outside you. It’s inside. It’s always been inside.
The Double Miracle
Chanukah is twofold:
- The miracle of the war
A spiritual victory wrapped in a physical battle. Strength of the few over the many. Outnumbered Jews who refused to surrender their fire.
- The miracle of the oil
One tiny jug lighting the entire world. The final miracle we were given the one meant to carry us through the end of days.
In our times, it feels like both miracles are resurfacing: A war for Eretz Yisrael, and simultaneously, a surge of light—Chassidus, achdus, clarity—spreading faster than darkness can swallow.
The Inner Message of Chanukah
Chanukah is the Yom Tov of pnimiyus. It whispers to Yavan: “What you see is not what you get.” There is more beneath the surface. More inside every mitzvah. More inside every Jew.
Our neshama comes from the highest place. Our mission is to elevate the lowest place.
Light the body with the soul. Light the mundane with meaning. Light the world, starting with a single flame, but not only light up, bring them together! Unify them!
The heilige Rav Nerya was walking with Reb Aryeh Levine to pick up Rav Kook from the Leshem’s house. Rav Nerya asked the Leshem for a bracha, to which the Leshem responded,“For what? For Ruchniyus and Gashmiyus.”
The Leshem looked up and said, I don’t fully understand what you are requesting. There is no distinction between the two.”
When Shabbos Meets Chanukah
Shabbos Chanukah is my favorite collision: the soft glow of Shabbos and the sharp, dancing fire of Chanukah. Two lights meeting. Two worlds merging. Family time in its purest, sweetest form.
Shabbos candles teach us how to build light. Chanukah candles teach us how to reveal hidden light. Together they say: The world seems dark yes. But it can be filled with light yours.
The light is not outside you. It’s inside. It’s always been inside.
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 62 Chanukah.