Illuminating Lessons from Chanukah: Do We Extinguish or Ignite?

A deep look into the message of Chanukah allows us to shed much of what we thought we understood about the darker moments of life.

Encountering a dark, crisis-filled reality is always perceived by our senses as threatening. Since childhood, we've feared sleeping alone in the dark. We carry the sense that we don’t truly have the tools to deal with the crises that shake our routine.

Our experiences in times of darkness etch themselves into our consciousness so that future encounters with crisis become even harder. During moments when we need the most support, we often found ourselves alone, without human resources or inner abilities. After many failed attempts to deal with such darkness, we may give up. When darkness returns, we are overwhelmed with memories of helplessness and fear.

We’ve learned to fear the dark, to flee from it, or to freeze before it. However, this avoidance never truly allows us to meet the darkness face to face. As strange as it may sound, we lose out because of that missed encounter.

In painful and difficult experiences lies life energy, wisdom, and a hidden light waiting to be revealed.

The Maccabees weren’t frightened by the outer darkness, because they held the deep understanding that darkness conceals a great light- one that is merely hidden for now.

This insight prevented them from panicking, fleeing the darkness, standing paralyzed or weeping before it. Instead, it inspired them to search harder for the light, to find it, and to ignite it.

Facing pain or a “dark” situation must come with the understanding that it’s an invitation to awaken dormant parts within us and shine light into them. When we light our inner flame and bring light into our home, it inevitably radiates outward too.

This understanding isn’t swayed by crisis or gloom, but empowers me to face it head-on, to bring curiosity into it, to observe it, and to learn the unique lesson it holds for me.

It’s not easy to light a flame when everything around us feels dark, and all that once felt safe and familiar has disappeared. But it is precisely in that darkness, when we are reminded that it’s only temporary and external, and that we can uncover a hidden brilliance and awaken from within.

The Maccabees didn’t set out to win. They set out to fight- to not surrender to the darkness- because they knew it wasn't the full picture, and that its power came from a higher reality. They searched for the light within the darkness, and they found it.

Those who hold onto that insight don’t just find the light, but they become the ones who light it. Every menorah lit since then is the legacy of that first light in the Temple, carrying an eternal message: from darkness, light always emerges.

In every difficult or unclear moment, we are given a choice- to cry and snuff it out, or to ignite it and find the spark it offers. The Maccabees chose to light- they chose to illuminate, even when nothing could be seen.

They engraved that message into history, so that every Chanukah candle since, is the fruit of that first ignition.

Inbal Elhayani, M.A, is a certified therapist in NLP, mindfulness, and guided imagery.