With Intention

First of all why do we use ch or h to represent a sound that is more hk — Hkanukah?

Sorry for the tangent, on to the lights …

What is the deal with Chanukah lights? Here is an article snippet from Chabad.org.

“the Chanukah lights should be kindled after sunset and
must burn into the night.3 Further­more, they should be placed “at the outside of
the entrance to one’s home,”4
which shows that they are primarily intended to illuminate the public domain
rather than one’s own home.” — The Message of the Chanukah Lights Adapted from Likkutei Sichos on Chabad.org

I also learned in my Meah class (100 hours of Jewish Study – Meah = 100) that there are 3 levels of lighting the candles.

• Level 1: Light 1 candle per household each night
• Level 2: Light 1 candle per person in the household each night
• Level 3: Light the Chanukiah (the menorah/ candleabra) with 9 holders – 1 for each night and the shamash candle to light them with – some customs from the Islamic world said level 3 was to light the Chanukiah for each person in the house so that the progression of levels was made consistent

On Friday night as we were getting ready for the temple’s Chanukah and Shabbat festivities, I brought my children outside with their Chanukiot. We stood up all 18 candles and each child got to light their candles. We sang the blessings and lit one Chanukiah. We sang the blessings again and lit the second. Then we ran out to the road to view the lights as others would see them.

On the darkest night of the year, on Shabbat, we lit the candles and shut off the lights. Our candles lit up the whole road. It was beautiful.