Lights VIII

“The candle of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying in the Temple of God where the Ark of the Lord was.” (Samuel I 3:3) The Ran (Derashot, beginning of #8) explains that just as when the Temple stood, the Divine Presence rested there, and served for prophetic influence and great nurturance of wisdom, so too, the righteous and the wise serve as a home for the Divine Presence, symbolized by the candle, and the point from which the Shechina

The Alshich (Exodus 25:8) also writes that the main center of the Shechina is in people, not a specific place. ”The Sanctuary of God, The Sanctuary of God, The Sanctuary of God are they!” (Jeremiah 7:4) refers to people who have achieved a state of The Sanctuary of God.

Samuel, the young man, about to receive his first prophecy, was a Sanctuary of God himself, for he would not have been allowed to sleep in the Temple.

The Chanukah candles express the presence of God in our homes. They remind us that we do not have to look outward to find the Divine Presence. We must only live as people who create an environment that nurtures the necessary sanctity for the Shechina to rest.

Application:
We must make a special effort between now and Chanukah to ensure that our homes are proper places for the Shechina to rest, and to shine forth as the light of the Chanukah candles to nurture the world.