Page 568 - BERESHIT

gloom and stayed far away from being imprisoned in a galut within a
galut. He clung to Hashem and reviewed the Torah he learned from home.

What is the connection between this parashah and Chanukah? The
Midrash says that the words, “darkness upon the surface of the deep,”
refers to the galut of Greece. The Greeks tried to estrange Jews from their
religion. They tried to darken the spirit of the Jewish people and woo them
away from Hashem. These Jews were in a galut within a galut. Lacking
faith, estranged from Hashem and His Torah, their salvation remained
distant and all hope seemed lost. This was the ‘darkness’ of Greece.

The Chashmonaim fought a spiritual battle, waging war on the influence
of Greek culture and its stranglehold on Jewish life. They lit up the
darkness of galut with the light of Torah, representing the “Divine
presence which hovered upon the surface of the waters.”

Hashem gave kedushah the power to vanquish and nullify the powers of
tumah. This is how the Chashmonaim were able to overcome the Greeks,
despite their vast difference in numbers. They wrestled with these powers
and brought Am Yisrael out of the depths of tumah.