The Power of Hanukkah's Light

Our rabbis taught: Adam saw that the days were getting shorter, and he said, “Oy! Perhaps because I was corrupted, the world is getting dark, and returning to chaos, and this is the death which was decreed upon me by heaven.” He stood and he waited eight days in fasting [and prayer]. When he saw the period of Tevet, and he saw that the days were growing longer, he said, “This is the way of the world.” He went and he made an eight day festival. The next year he made these and these [kalenda and saturna, two Greco-Roman festivals) into holidays. He established them for the sake of heaven and they established them for idolatry.

(1) When God began to create heaven and earth— (2) the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from God sweeping over the water— (3) God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. (4) God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. (5) God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, a first day.

(14) God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate day from night; they shall serve as signs for the set times—the days and the years; (15) and they serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth.” And it was so. (16) God made the two great lights, the greater light to dominate the day and the lesser light to dominate the night, and the stars. (17) And God set them in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the earth, (18) to dominate the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that this was good. (19) And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

(21) Then Moses held out his arm over the sea and the Eternal drove back the sea with a strong east wind all that night, and turned the sea into dry ground. The waters were split, (22) and the Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. (23) The Egyptians came in pursuit after them into the sea, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and horsemen. (24) At the morning watch, the Eternal looked down upon the Egyptian army from a pillar of fire and cloud, and threw the Egyptian army into panic. (25) He locked the wheels of their chariots so that they moved forward with difficulty. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the Israelites, for the LORD is fighting for them against Egypt.” (26) Then the LORD said to Moses, “Hold out your arm over the sea, that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians and upon their chariots and upon their horsemen.” (27) Moses held out his arm over the sea, and at daybreak the sea returned to its normal state, and the Egyptians fled at its approach. But the LORD hurled the Egyptians into the sea.

Was light created on the first day?,But it is written, (Genesis 1:17) "and God set them in the firmament of the heaven," and it is written, (Genesis 1:19) "and there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day." It is like Rabbi Elazar, for Rabbi Elazar said, The light which the Holy One, who is blessed, on the first day, Adam saw through it from one end of the world to the other. When the Holy One, who is blessed , peered at the generation of the Flood and the generation of the Dispersion, and saw that their actions were destructive, He stood up and hid it from them, as it is said, (Job 38:15) "And from the wicked their light is withheld." And for whom did He take it away? For the righteous of the time to come, as it is said, (Genesis 1:4) "And God saw the light, that it was good," and "good" only refers to the righteous, as it is said, (Isaiah 3:10) " Say of the righteous, that he is good." Once He saw the light He hid away for the righteous, He rejoiced, as it is said, (Proverbs 13:9) "He rejoices at the light of the righteous." Like [the following] Tannaitic argument: The light which the Holy One, who is blessed, created on the first day, Adam observed and peered through it from one end of the world to the other. These are the words of Rabbi Yaakov, And the sages say, These are the lights which were created on the first day, but were not hung up until the fourth day.

(1) Who is as the wise man? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? A man’s wisdom maketh his face to shine, And the boldness of his face is changed.

R. Isaac said: He who desires to become wise should turn to the south, and he who desires to become rich should turn to the north. The symbol [by which to remember this] is that the table [in the Tabernacle] was to the north of the altar and the menorah was to the south. Rabbi Joshua ben Levi, however, said that he should always turn to the south, because through obtaining wisdom he will obtain wealth, as it says. length of days are in her [wisdom's] right hand, in her left hand are riches and honour. But was it not Rabbi Joshua ben Levi who said that the Shechinah is in the west? — [He means that] one should turn partly to the south.