by Rav Yair HaleviOn Chanukah we are encouraged to ideally light the candles at the entrance of our homes. Why is this detail so important? The first mention in the Torah of the entrance to a home is with Avraham. The Sefat Emet explains that the inside of one’s home is a place of relaxation, but the entrance is an area of yearning. Avraham sat in the entrance of his home, yearning to find people to help.
We light our candles in the doorway to understand that what we need to learn from the Maccabees is that they didn’t know if they would win but they were yearning for a new world.
As we light our candles we should focus on the fact that the place we are lighting is demanding of us to think about what we are yearning for. Do we care enough about Shabbat? Are we yearning to connect to Hashem through our learning and davening? Because if we are yearning, that itself makes a difference.
