The uplifting feeling of Shabbos is wonderful. But it lasts only until motza'ei Shabbos. After we recite Havdalah, everything changes. It seems as if we leave behind life as a holy Jew and return to ordinary human existence.
There are several ways in which we can bring the kedushah of Shabbos into the weekdays. One way is, "Remember the Shabbos day to sanctify it." During the week, we should remember the kedushah of Shabbos. Another way is by having the Melaveh Malkah meal on motza'ei Shabbos. This carries the material aspects of Shabbos into motza'ei Shabbos and thus into the weekdays. Yet another way is by reciting "Vihi no’am" on motza'ei Shabbos, which carries the spiritual aspects of Shabbos into the weekdays. In "Vihi no’am" we pray to be saved from the formidable spiritual dangers we face during the week.
All these practices are like sparks of the holiness of Shabbos within the weekdays. But in the end, Shabbos is light and the weekdays are dark. If so, it seems we hardly benefit from the kedushah of Shabbos. It's like someone who goes into a diamond mine, fills his pockets with glittering jewels, and then loses them all. All he has left is a little diamond dust in his pockets. When Shabbos is over, the person goes back to the way he was before.
That's why we have Chanukah. The Chanukah candles radiate the holy light of Shabbos in the weekdays as well. The following Gemara hints to this idea:
The Shechinah never descended below...for it is written (Tehillim 115:16), "The heavens are heavens for Hashem, and He gave the earth to the sons of men". But how could it be said that the Shechinah never descended below? It is written (Shemos 19:20), "And Hashem descended on Mount Sinai." When the Shechinah descended, it remained ten tefachim above the ground." (Sukkah 5a)
Ten tefachim create a separate domain. If the Shechinah hovered ten tefachim above the ground, it never really came down to earth, because it remained in a separate domain. This is reflected in the halachos of Shabbos as well. The reshus ha-rabbim (public domain) extends only ten tefachim high. But the reshus ha-yachid (private domain) extends upward without limit.
Shabbos Kodesh reveals to us the reality that the world is the reshus ha-yachid of Hashem. It is all His alone, because "there is nothing besides Him." Therefore, the Shabbos candles are placed higher than ten tefachim, beyond the reshus ha-rabbim, for this is the position from which they can shed light. Once a week, a Jew "visits" Hashem's reshus ha-yachid, so to speak. He sees the truth that Hashem is yachid b'olamo, alone in His world. But during the week, a Jew is in the reshus ha-rabbim. He's in the dark.
Then comes Chanukah and teaches us that with those same candles —with the same enlightened view of the world that we have on Shabbos —we can illuminate the darkness of the weekdays. We can bring the reality of ein od milvado into our daily lives. For in truth, the message of Shabbos is not limited to that day alone. It applies just as well during the week.
The preferred position of the Chanukah candles is below ten tefachim, because something below ten tefachim is in the domain of this world. It is "down-to-earth," so to speak. Thus, the Chanukah candles radiate the light of Shabbos from within the reality of this world, illuminating our lives in a way that even Shabbos cannot.
Let us do all we can to take the true reality that reveals itself on Shabbos and bring it into the weekdays —to live with the recognition that “there is nothing besides Him” -אין עוד מלבדו!
