Hanukkah Candelabrum
the message of the menorah

Photo by Chayim B. Alevsky

When dark winter days deepen, the vision of our Hanukkah candelabrum, our gleaming silver family menorah, comes to brighten and rouse me in anticipation. I reflect on its light flickering in the window of every home in which we’ve lived, casting a warm glow on the faces of my children, cast in time as both toddlers and teenagers at the same moment. As the history of our family unfolds in this generation, the lights of Chanukah tangibly tie us to the Chashmonaim of so long ago who blazed a trail of dedication to Torah that we merit to follow today.

Hanukkah traditions are few. We eat latkes and doughnuts fried in oil, play games of dreidle and many families give gifts. But the lighting of the Hanukkah candelabrum is the only tradition that captures the inner essence of the holiday. Hanukkah, like every Jewish holiday has a unique message that its symbols convey to us.

What message does the Hanukkah Candelabrum communicate?

Consider the construction of the original Menorah that stood in the Beit HaMikdash. It had seven cups, three on each side, branching forth from a central stem.

Its purpose was to embody the wisdom of Torah. The word Torah contains within it “ohr,” the Hebrew word for light. The menorah’s branches of light extend in all six directions to illuminate every corner of the world.

But the branches do not stand on their own. Each golden stem is connected to a unifying force, the central stem. It unites the individual branches into one complete object and supports them on a single leg in this world.

Seven cups, seven flames, one candelabra. Each individual flame creates one light, a light unified by the candelabra itself.

The Menorah says what words alone cannot alone convey:

Torah survives because every fiery soul learning and sharing its eternal message is like a flame of the Menorah. Like the Menorah, they are unified in their purpose: to illuminate the world with Hashem’s wisdom.

This idea is completely alien to the Greek world. Hellenistic culture celebrated the individual contribution above all, its goal was self-glorification. In contrast, Torah learning's pirpose is to reveal Hashem's glory.

Just as Torah requires a pure heart,the Menorah’s oil had to be pure. Every vial fit for lighting bore the seal of our religious leader, the High Priest, who was the only one entrusted to lighting the golden Menorah. And in the same way, Torah can only be learned successfully under the guidance of one illuminated with its wisdom.

The Greeks wanted to extinguish Torah's light, but they did not want to annihilate us physically. Their goal was to absorb us into their cause-and-effect culture, to assimilate us into the pagan mainstream.

But the anti-Hellenist Jews were united. It was the unifying light of Torah and our complete dedication to disseminating its pure wisdom the Greeks failed to drench.

The Celebration of Hanukkah: transcending nature

The miraculous events in Jewish history are commemorated on Chanukah by lighting the eight-branched Hanukkah candelabrum. The eighth light is added because of course, the miracle of lights that lasted for eight days until pure oil could be found. But there is more...

Eight has significance in Judaism: is the number that transcends natural law. The eight-day miracle of the Chanukah oil defies the cause-and-effect world. The tiny Maccabee army’s victory over the massive Greek world power was certainly not a natural one. Miraculously, the might of the Greek nation-like the Egyptians before them and the Romans after them-was eventually extinguished for all time.

These dark days of exile since the Roman destruction of our holy Temple are like the dark days of winter. The Hanukkah candelabrum conveys to us that a pure flame of holiness burns within each of us, even in our darkest most hopeless times. The miracle we celebrate is that, in a world shrouded and limited by the laws of nature, the distant branches of the Jewish people are cast together in a unified light, and that light can illuminate the world.

Every menorah in every one of our homes, windows and doorways defies the laws of nature. Against all odds, we are still here, a holy nation and eternal people chosen to illuminate the world with the pure light of Torah. This is the message of the Hanukkah candelabrum.

As you gaze at your Menorah this year, imagine yourself and every member of your family, community members, teachers and Torah leaders as an individual flame united in its light.