The evolution of sustained lighting in cars reflects the shift from fragile, short lived illumination to reliable systems designed for continuous operation. Early automobiles relied on oil and carbide lamps whose flames were difficult to maintain and poorly suited for long drives. Light output varied with wind, vibration, and fuel supply, making night travel inconsistent and often unsafe. The adoption of electric lighting in the 1910s, enabled by onboard batteries and generators, marked a decisive change. Incandescent bulbs allowed headlights and tail lamps to operate steadily for the duration of a journey, supporting night driving as a normal activity rather than an exception. By the mid twentieth century, sealed beam headlights and later halogen bulbs improved durability and heat management, making sustained illumination predictable and dependable.

In recent decades, sustained lighting has become not only reliable but deliberately engineered for longevity, efficiency, and integration with vehicle systems. High intensity discharge lamps extended usable life while delivering greater brightness, but the rise of LEDs fundamentally redefined sustained automotive lighting. LEDs can operate for tens of thousands of hours with minimal degradation and low energy demand, allowing lights to remain active without significant wear or thermal stress. Today, sustained lighting is managed by software and coordinated with sensors, cameras, and vehicle states, functioning continuously across a wide range of conditions. What began as the challenge of keeping a flame alive has become the management of light as a permanent and intelligent subsystem of the car.

The story of Chanukah similarly had the challenge of keeping a flame alive, both literally and figuratively.

In the second century BCE, the Land of Israel fell under the rule of the Seleucid Greek Empire, a Hellenistic power that sought to impose cultural and ideological uniformity across its territories. While Greek influence had long been present, the situation escalated dramatically under King Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Viewing Jewish religious commitment as a threat to imperial cohesion, Antiochus enacted sweeping decrees aimed at dismantling Judaism from within. Torah study was outlawed, Shabbat observance and circumcision were banned, Jewish legal institutions were abolished, and the Temple in Jerusalem was desecrated. Pagan worship was imposed, including the placement of an altar to Zeus within the Temple itself. These policies were not merely acts of political control, but a deliberate effort to uproot a covenantal, God-centered way of life and supplant it with Hellenistic values that exalted human power, idolized reason, and worshiped surface beauty. The crisis was intensified by internal division, as segments of the Jewish population embraced Hellenization and collaborated with Greek rule.

The turning point came in the town of Modi’in, where a Greek official demanded that an elderly priest, Mattathias, publicly offer a pagan sacrifice. Mattathias refused, killed the official, and called upon all who remained faithful to the Torah to join him. He and his five sons fled to the hills of Judea, where they launched a rebellion against Greek forces. After Mattathias’s death, leadership fell to his son Judah, known as the Maccabee. What followed was an extraordinary struggle in which a small, poorly armed band of fighters faced the most advanced military power of their era. Through guerrilla tactics, fierce resolve, and an unyielding belief that Torah life was non-negotiable, the Maccabees won a series of stunning victories. These successes, achieved against overwhelming odds, were understood by later generations as expressions of divine assistance rather than mere military prowess.

In 164 BCE, the Maccabees succeeded in retaking Jerusalem and reclaiming the Temple. They found it devastated and defiled, its sacred vessels polluted and its service halted. Their first act was not political consolidation but spiritual restoration. They cleansed the Temple and rededicated it to divine service, an act that gave the festival its name, Chanukah, meaning dedication. This moment symbolized more than a reclaiming of sacred space; it marked the reassertion of Jewish spiritual sovereignty and the right to live openly according to Torah.

As they prepared to relight the Menorah, the Maccabees searched for ritually pure olive oil and discovered only a single sealed flask, sufficient for one day. Producing new oil in a state of purity would take eight days, yet they chose to light the Menorah immediately. Miraculously, the oil burned for eight full days, lasting until fresh oil could be prepared. This event was understood as a divine affirmation of their struggle and sacrifice, a sign that their efforts to restore holiness were accepted.

In response, the Sages established the festival of Chanukah as an eight-day celebration of praise and thanksgiving, centered on the lighting of candles and the public proclamation of the miracle. Chanukah thus commemorates both a physical and a spiritual triumph: the victory of the few over the many, and the endurance of sacred light in a moment of darkness. At its deepest level, the story of Chanukah is about resistance to erasure and the insistence that Jewish survival is bound not only to land or power, but to fidelity to Torah and covenant, even in the face of overwhelming pressure to conform.

Each time we light the Chanukah candles today, we reenact an act of bravery, affirming that the light which refused to be extinguished then still shines through our hands now, carrying faith, identity, and hope into our own times.