The Gemorah [Shabbos 23b] teaches that one’s children will be talmidei chachamim if he be רגיל (lit. consistent) in fulfilling the mitzva of lighting Chanukah candles. Rashi tells us that the source of this is teaching is a verse in Mishlei (6:23): כִּי נֵר מִּצְוָה וְתוֹרָה אוֹר - Because a candle is a mitzva and Torah is light - by fulfilling the mitzva of lighting Chanukah candles consistently, a person merits to have the light of Torah shine upon his children. The obvious difficulty with this Gemorah is that all of us light Chanukah candles quite consistently, yet only some of us merit to have children who are talmidei chachamim.
Let’s first understand the connection between the mitzva of lighting Chanukah candles and the ‘light’ of Torah. The Rif [cited by Ein Yaakov, Shabbos 23b] explains this connection in the following way: The goal of the Greeks was to make the Torah be forgotten in Klal Yisroel. When we overcame the Greeks and ruined their plot, the candle of Chanukah became a symbol of victory - a victory of the Torah. When a person is ambitious and consistent in the mitzva of lighting Chanukah menorah, he is showing that the Torah is very dear to him — i.e., he rejoices from the fact that the Greeks’ plan against the Torah did not succeed. Appropriately, in return for his love of Torah, such a person merits to have the light of Torah shine in his home — i.e., through his children becoming talmidei chachamim.
Hence a great lesson emerges from this: A parent should rejoice in the fact that the Greeks’ plot failed and his children have the ability to learn Torah and illuminate the world with its pure light. The parent should then channel this joy through being consistent from year to year in lighting the menorah with great enthusiasm. If he will act and feel in such way towards this victory, then the Torah will reciprocate correspondingly. Namely, the light of Torah will shine upon his children. Accordingly, the more a person puts into the mitzva of Chanukah with his heart and actions, such as preparing for this mitzva and beautifying it, the more blessed with the light of Torah his children will be.
