Hanukkah celebrates the triumph of light over darkness in nature as well as in history. In the second century BCE, a small but devoted group of Jews, led by the Maccabees, defeated the much larger and more powerful Syrian-Greek army. Jewish tradition was thus kept from disappearing into the sea of the surrounding pagan culture.

In nature, Hanukkah comes at the darkest time of the year. Hanukkah always falls close to December 21, the winter solstice, when daylight hours are at their least. And Hanukkah begins on the 25^th of the lunar month of Kislev, when the moon is approaching the end of its waning and its light is dim. It is at this time of the shortest days and the darkest nights that we celebrate the holiday of light, increasing light by adding a new candle in the Hanukkah menorah on each of the eight nights of the holiday. We light a candle instead of cursing the darkness.

In ancient Israel, the source of light was not the wax candles most of us use today, but burning olive oil. Interestingly, the olive harvest and oil-producing season always comes very close to Hanukkah.

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