As the darkness of the winter sets in, the nights seem to drag on and the long awaited days of light and summer seem so far off. Life can sometimes run us down and the difficulties that we endure seem like they may never go away. Yet at the darkest moment, there is the light of Chanukah. That small spark of Hashem’s light that rejuvenates our spirit and propels us to push on. It reminds us that Hashem’s presence is always with us and He is always holding our hand. Netzach Yisroel Lo Yishaker.

The story is told of the Tchaber Rav, Rav Shmelke Schnitzler who was in Bergen Belsen concentration camp in 1944. As a Rav, R’ Shmelke made sure to constantly give chizuk to all of the inmates in the Gehinnom that was Bergen Belsen. As the dark days of the winter approached, Rav Shmelke wondered how he would be able to light a Chanukah Menorah, as there was no oil available.

A few days before Chanukah, Rav Shmelke was doing his job assigned to him by the SS guards – to collect all of the dead bodies in each barracks – when he slipped into a little hole in the ground. He saw something sticking out and moved away the dirt from the hole. Lo and behold, there was a jar of oil, a menorah and a number of wicks. He was overjoyed. But then he realized that if he took it, the Jew who put them there would miss it. He quickly covered the treasure back up.

When Rav Shmelke got back to the barracks that night, he asked around if anyone had buried the menorah, oil and wicks. Nobody seemed to know anything about it. Sure enough, on the first night of Chanukah, as the prisoners returned to their barracks after the nightly roll call, Rav Shmelke lit the first candle in front of them. The chizuk and joy was palpable as the tiny candle lit up the endless darkness of Bergen Belsen.

After the war, Rav Shmelke became a Rav in Hungary. One year he traveled to America to visit the Satmar Rebbe. As they reminisced about their experiences of those dark days of 1944, the Satmar Rebbe talked about his time in Bergen Belsen and how he was rescued from there just four days before Chanukah. “Before I knew that I was to be rescued,” said the Rebbe, “I bribed some guards and put together a package of oil, a Menorah and some wicks.” I buried it away and was going to use it on Chanukah. I feel bad that it was never used.”

“It was used,” cried Rav Shmelke. “I discovered it and lit it every night. It gave us the chizuk to keep going during those awful times until we were rescued (by the American army) in April 1945.”

While Hashem has bentched us to live in a free country, where we may serve Him in peace, there is a different type of darkness that has set in. A darkness that doesn’t allow many of us to clearly see Hashem’s hand in our every day lives or to truly experience the beauty of a Torah life. 90% of our brethren are enveloped in this darkness. When we light the Menorah tonight and place it near the window for all to see, let us light up the spiritual darkness for our secular brothers and sisters and reach out to them with bonds of love. Let us show them Hashem’s light so they may perceive the joys of Torah and mitzvos and they will bask in the eternal light of the Ohr Haganuz.

Meir Goldberg is the Director of Meor Rutgers Jewish Xperience, a Kiruv organization at Rutgers University. He can be reached at [email protected].