Hanukkah is often portrayed as a holiday celebrating light overcoming darkness, but to me, that’s an over-simplification, one that misses a key point of the holiday: Darkness still exists during Hanukkah — and it remains after Hanukkah too. One important lesson Judaism has taught me is that how we choose to sit with darkness can help us come out in the light, a lesson that feels important for me to share right now.Â
As a college student, it can be difficult to find peace during this time of year. College finals, uncertainty about the future, and global crises can make the darkness feel all-consuming. But I’m reminded of a story that challenges this idea.
In the Talmud, when Adam is exiled from Eden and realizes that the daylight is shorter, he fears the world is returning to chaos, uncertainty, and danger. Seeing the darkness as punishment for his sins, he fasts and prays, fearing the world’s end. Then, in the morning, the sun rises, and he learns that the darkness is natural, that it has to occur in order for the light to shine after. Although Eden does not return and his days are still difficult, his newfound interpretation of his hardship still leads him on a natural path towards the light.
Darkness does not mean an absence of light forever; it can serve as a reason to seek out change, light the lights, and understand that dawn will come again.
The story of Hanukkah has a similar message. The historical events leading to the holiday — foreign rule, violence, cultural silencing — did not disappear with the lighting of the cancels or the prayers said over the eight days, but the light of Hanukkah is still found amid the darkness that surrounds it.
Lighting a candle during Hanukkah is not a symbol of victory or closure, but it is a defiant act in peace; it is a conclusion that darkness is not the whole narrative, that we have a hand in our own future. To light a Hanukkah candle, a hand must ignite the flame; it’s a choice. When I choose to light a candle, I am choosing to seek out peace in times of darkness. With all of the violence, turmoil, pain, and suffering we have in this world, Hanukkah reminds me that light will come again — and that we must look for it.