This past Sunday was the last evening of Hanukkah, and everywhere that Jews live you will have seen lights in the window – the full set of eight, symbolising the eight days we are told that the miracle of the oil lasted. You might say that we are celebrating the miraculous solution of an ancient supply chain issue.

This blast of light, this triumphant defiance to the cold and the dark, brings the holiday to an end with hope and joy. We started with just one little candle, plus the shamash, the servant candle, and now we have all of them. But it was by no means a foregone conclusion that that would be our practice. There was a serious discussion in Talmudic times, around the beginning of the common era, about which way the lights should go – from one to eight, or from eight to one. Surely it’s conceivable that we could start with all eight candles, and reduce the light by one every night. That was the position of the House of Rabbi Shammai, whose epic discussions with the House of Rabbi Hillel the Elder form a fascinating part of our tradition.

The Talmud tells us (Shabbat 21b) that there were good reasons for both positions – the House of Shammai refers to the remaining days of Hanukkah – starting with eight days remaining and ending up with just one. The House of Hillel, whom we follow, says that the number of candles corresponds to the actual day – one for the first day, two for the second, etc. In the end, Hillel’s followers won the day (as they usually did), by invoking the principle that in matters of the sacred, we always increase sanctity and never decrease it.

This discussion of the number of candles we should light is a great springboard for thinking about our lives in general. While everyone’s life is full of ups and downs, what would it be like if we tried to follow Hillel’s principle about sanctity? 

We are told (Eruvin 13b) that a heavenly voice declared that both the words of Shammai and those of Hillel are “the words of the Living Divine”. Sometimes we need to take a step back, and sometimes we need to dim our light a little bit. We can’t have Shabbat every day – we need the six days of the working week to really appreciate the holy day. Time is not linear, and neither is sanctity. 

Still, the fact remains that we are likely to do better if we at least prefer to increase sanctity and beauty in our lives as much as possible. The quote from the Talmud above concluded “and the Path is according to the House of Hillel”. Let’s always try and do better, and have the lights go up, not down.