Torah of Darkness and Light

(4) Whoever is obligated to read the Megillah is also obligated to kindle the Chanukah lamp. On the first night, a person lighting [the lamp] recites three blessings...When a person who did not recite a blessing [on their own Chanukah lamp] sees a lamp, they should recite the latter two blessings. On subsequent nights, a person who kindles the lamp should recite two blessings and one who sees a lamp should recite one.

The miracle of the light of the menorah in this month [Kislev] is derived [midrashically] from the Or HaGanuz [concealed light] that was hidden in the Torah. As mentioned by the Rabbi Elazar of Worms, 36 (Lamed Vav) candles were established [for Hanukkah because they] correspond to the 36 (Lamed Vav) times the words Or (light), Ner (candle) and M'orot (Illuminating lights) are mentioned in the Torah, which hints at the 36 hours that Or HaGanuz (concealed light) shined for the original Adam. After these 36 hours, the treasured light was hidden and concealed within the Torah. That is why, in my opinion, the name of the month is Kislev; Kisui Lamed Vav [trans: the concealed thirty-six], in which there is an illumination of the concealed light within the Torah—the 36 times that light, candles and luminaries [are mentioned in Torah]. This illuminating light is revealed in this month [Kislev].

(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 called the darkness Night. And there was evening and there was morning, a first day.

(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.

The Sages taught: When the first Adam saw that the day was progressively diminishing, as the days become shorter from the autumnal equinox until the winter solstice, he did not yet know that this is a normal phenomenon, and therefore he said: Woe is me; perhaps because I sinned the world is becoming dark around me and will ultimately return tochaos and disorder. And this is the death that was sentenced upon me from Heaven. He arose and spent eight days in fasting and in prayer.Once he saw that the season of Tevet, i.e., the winter solstice, had arrived, and saw that the day was progressively lengthening after the solstice, he said: Clearly, the days become shorter and then longer, and this is the order of the world. He went and observed a festival for eight days. Upon the next year, he observed both these eight days on which he had fasted on the previous year, and these eight days of his celebration, as days of festivities.

The Gemara answers: in accordance with Rabbi Elazar, as Rabbi Elazar said: The light that the Holy One of Blessing, created on the first day was not that of the sun but a different kind of light, through which man could observe from one end of the world to the other. But when the Holy One of Blessing, looked upon the generation of the Flood and the generation of the Dispersion [from Babel] and saw that their ways were corrupt and that they might misuse this light for evil, He arose and concealed it from them, as it is stated: “And from the wicked their light is withheld” (Job 38:15).

But didn’t Abaye say: The world has no fewer than thirty-six righteous people in each generation who greet the Divine Presence every day, as it is stated: “Happy are all they that wait for God [lo]” (Isaiah 30:18)? The numerological value of lo, spelled lamed vav, is thirty-six, alluding to the fact that there are at least thirty-six fully righteous people (Tzaddikim) in each generation.

(6) "and they that turn the many to righteousness (will shine) as the stars forever": Just as the stars are high and exalted above all mortals, so, the righteous. And just as the light of the stars can be seen from one end of the world to the other, so, the light of the righteous. And just as the stars are sometimes revealed and sometimes concealed, so, the righteous. And just as there are innumerable "coteries" of stars, so, there are innumerable coteries of the righteous. If Israel do the will of the L-rd, they are like the stars; if not, they are like the dust. And thus is it written ((II Kings 13:7) "for the king of Aram had destroyed them and made them like the dust for threshing."