Eight Candles, Eight Illuminations: Lessons from the Hanukkah Lights

1. Lighting the first candle is done in darkness, at nightfall, when the small candle struggles to shine its light. It is the lighting of the first candle which is the most significant, as it symbolizes the triumph of spirit over matter. It teaches us that darkness hides behind it an illumination that needs to be revealed, and all we need to do is to find it.

We need not be frightened by darkness nor flee from it, because within it lies great light.

2. After lighting the candles we say: "These lights are holy... to give thanks and praise to Your great Name."

Specifically in the dark, when we may still be in an unenlightened state, we are asked and commanded to "give thanks and praise".

We give thanks for the "darkness", for moments of crisis and distress, for being in the "unknown". Giving thanks for the darkness requires us to meet it and to feel it- agreeing to experience the crisis as it is, without trying to change it.

Because what comes to our door comes to open us.

And if we give thanks for it - the light carried by that reality will be revealed and take us out of exile.

Gratitude for the painful reality allows us to find a "jar of oil" within a destroyed sanctuary, with the knowledge that good and bad intertwine, and from the darkness light will emerge. And if this darkness brings light (in hiding), then it is also part of the good, and for this, too, we must give thanks.

3. At the moment we agree to light a candle in the darkness, we stop lamenting the darkness. The Maccabees do not lament; they act within the darkness and do not make themselves its victims. The moment of creating light in the dark reality is when we shift from passivity to activity. It's the moment we stop being victims of our life circumstances and choose to take responsibility for our reactions. It is the moment we take choice back into our hands, allow ourselves to return to the place of choice and light a candle, even when our surroundings may be in ruins.

4. The fifth candle is a candle that creates a greater gap between light and darkness, and tips the scale in favor of light. It disrupts the balance that was in the fourth candle before it. The fourth candle symbolized four days of light compared to four days of darkness, whereas the fifth already symbolizes five days of light. It demonstrates that our persistence to seek, find and extract light from the darkness, is always worthwhile.

5. Lighting seven candles signifies our connection to nature, to small illuminations, but lighting the eighth candle places us in a supernatural position. When we persist within nature, we reach the eighth candle—understanding that there is a world beyond nature, where everything is a complete unification, and there is no darkness at all, for darkness is truly nothingness. We can ascend to a spiritual peak, from which we can see and understand that there is guidance beyond nature, beyond what our limited minds can grasp with physical senses.

6. The Maccabees were from the Hasmonean family, a household where the educational perception was one of "eight", of understanding that there is a reality beyond, that external reality draws from a higher source than itself, and that everything derives from a higher and spiritual place. This created the miraculous drive to act within reality, without being impressed by it at all, even when the mind doesn't give even a small chance of victory. The Hasmoneans felt the eight; they understood that darkness is temporary and overshadows a great light behind it, and for this reason they succeeded to light a candle in the darkness.

7. Candle, wick, and oil are the three main components for light. Their combination creates the soul. On Hanukkah, the animal soul undergoes refining and fusion, allowing the divine soul to reveal itself. The animal soul emerges from exile (darkness), journeys through revelation (illumination), and concludes in redemption (the great light emanating from all eight candles).

8. Eight – the letters of soul, when there is correct work with the soul, there is a place where the spirit manifests, and we have then reached the level of the "soul". The eighth candle is reached in small and measured steps, which together form great illuminations, bringing the soul to its rectification and helping it ascend to its more spiritual part, that is, the soul.

When all the candles in the Hanukkiah are lit, it is time to remember that the visible reality is only part of the story, and it hides and shadows the truth. Lighting all eight candles is the result of a mental educational process that our soul undergoes; it is the result of changing fixed thought patterns that cause us to cling to darkness without attempting to find in it light.

The story of Hanukkah is essentially the lighting, for lighting fulfills a mitzvah. Hanukkah allows us to know how to infuse spiritual and enlightened reality into our lives.

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