Each year as Hanukkah approaches, Jewish families begin to get very excited. For many little children, Hanukkah represents games, family, gifts, and fun. For older children, Hanukkah is a time where they can be with their families and still feel "cool." For adults, Hanukkah is probably a time for reflection. As adults light the hannukiyah each evening they will most likely take a moment to reflect on what it was like to light the candles as a child.

What makes the lighting of these candles so special? What were the ancient rabbis trying to do when they discussed in the Talmud* the intricacies of how to light the candles? Should we start with eight candles on the first night and then decrease each night thereafter, or begin with one candle and then increase each evening? What time should we light the candles? What bracha do we say? Where do we place the hanukkiyah once it has been lit? All of these questions about a simple act: lighting a basic candle, or originally, an oil lamp.

In the rabbis' discussion of the details we find that there is not specific type of light that must be used. The rabbis assume that it is a regular oil lamp that people will use to fulfill the mitzvah, so why such detail over such a regular item?

The rabbis are showing we have an opportunity to make sacred each regular or mundane item we possess. By placing the candles in a window and saying a bracha, we are acknowledging a transformation on that evening. We are saying that this candle, which on any other night would be used to give off light, is on Hanukkah viewed as holy.

Seeing the holiness in mundane objects and moments is something we should all strive to do. We have in our liturgy blessings over food, drinks, and fragrances. For example, why do we say a bracha over a meal and over wine? Because, by saying a bracha, we are make eating a sacred activity. Or, for example, if we see an ocean we can recite, "Blessed are you, Sovereign of the Universe who made the great sea." This is just one of many blessings that allow us to remember the sacredness of our surroundings. These blessings do not just apply to things in nature; there are also brachot upon seeing scholars and leaders.

So this Hanukkah, as we carefully light the candles, methodically place the hannukiyah in the window in order to publicize the miracle, and say the she'echiyanu, we should remember that with each little act we do, we are bringing a level of holiness into our lives that might not have been there before.

Sources and further reading:

• Babylonian Talmud, Mesechet Shabbat 21b
• Goodman, Philip. "The Hanukkah Anthology" (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society)

*Talmud -- A piece of the canon of the Oral Torah which includes in it a compilation of rabbinic discussions regarding Jewish behavior. These books were codified in the 6th century C.E.