The Talmud asks an odd question: mai Hanukkah? What is Hanukkah? The answer stresses not the military victory of the Maccabees over the Syrians, but that one small cruise of oil for the menorah was found in the restored Temple in Jerusalem. It should have been enough for only one day but it miraculously burnt for eight days. Since then, we light the menorah for eight nights. We reject the opinion of the School of Shammai that suggested we should light eight candles the first night and decrease the candles by one each night. Perhaps they understood that the truth of our lives is that each day we are one day closer to the end. The School of Shammai generally valued truth, even if unpleasant, over anything else. 

     However, we follow the opinion of the School of Hillel that says we start with one candle and add to it each night until the last night we light eight candles. Perhaps this is because each day our lives become even more enriched by our experiences of that day. Each day there are new books, music and art. Each day is a new possibility to add to the light in this world through deeds of connection and compassion.

     The light of the menorah is no ordinary light. According to halakha, we are not supposed to use the light of the menorah for mundane purposes. That is why we light the extra candle, the shammash—we can pretend we are using only its light if we need to walk into the room with the menorah.

     What is the purpose of the menorah light? It is to remind us that when things seem the darkest, there is a light within each of us. Like in the Hanukkah story, that little light can continue to burn and even to grow brighter. It is the opposite of the plague of darkness as it is described in Egypt-- A person could not see their fellow human being (Ex. 10:23).  That is the deepest form of darkness.

     The question is asked—what is the miracle of the first day if there was enough oil to burn for that day? One answer is that the greatest miracle was for people to light the menorah that first day with a faith and optimism that despite all the evidence to the contrary—the light would increase and dispel the darkness.