Kislev is the month when the hidden becomes revealed — a spiritual environment that allows inner light to emerge from concealment.
The Bnei Yissaschar explains that the very name Kislev contains the root kesel — trust and security. Kislev therefore invites the Jew to live with deep reliance on Hashem.
As the days shorten toward the winter solstice, the darkness seems to peak. Yet the Sefat Emet writes that precisely then a higher light becomes available — light that comes mi’pnimiut ha’nefesh, from the innermost part of the soul. The small flame of oil — the light of Chanukah, which burned beyond its natural capacity and revealed a holiness that could not be extinguished — represents the indestructible spark that every Jew carries. This spark is not merely resilience but the point of the soul rooted in the infinite, untouched by any confusion or exile.
The Greeks sought to confine holiness to the realm of human intellect and aesthetics, stripping the world of its connection to Hashem. The Tanya describes this as a war against da’at eloki — the awareness that every dimension of life expresses God’s presence.
This dynamic remains alive today. There are powerful cultural forces that encourage a worldview in which transcendent meaning is dismissed, the human being is reduced to self-invention, and the religious dimension of existence is denied. Such ideologies promote a form of darkness that refuses to acknowledge the presence of God in the world.
The light of Kislev, and especially the light of Chanukah, stands as a counter-voice to any ideology that obscures Hashem’s presence. It demonstrates that when a Jew grounds their life in emunah, Torah, and mitzvot — and lets these foundations shape how they think, speak, act, and interpret the world — they introduce a form of clarity that directly challenges and disarms the surrounding confusion.
This is the message of Kislev: the quiet, persistent light of the soul can defeat even the greatest darkness when one trusts in Hashem and brings the hidden spark within to expression.