The Month of Kislev
The name Kislev derives from the Hebrew word for "security" and "trust." There are two states of trust, one active and one passive.

Trust & Security

The miracle of Chanukah reflects the active trust of the Chashmonaim (Maccabees) to stand up and fight against the Hellenistic Empire and its paganistic culture.
The most infamous of all Syrian Rulers down through the ages was Antiochus Epimanes, whose hunger for power and glory was boundless. He viewed himself as the direct offspring of Alexander the Great although the Book of Maccabees denies this. 
To provoke a war in which he could exterminate the Jews, he set an image of himself up in the Holy Temple pictured as Zeus Epiphanes. He prohibited the observance of any Jewish ordinance and sacrificed the blood of a sow on the Temple altar. Under the pretext of peace, he had attacked Jerusalem on the Sabbath, thinking that the Orthodox would not fight.
The Book of Judith is about how Israelite women behave in the Maccabean Wars. The beautiful Judith, the daughter of Yochanan the High Priest and a widow during a siege of the Jewish city of Bethulia, was determined to save her people by assassinating the Assyrians' general, Holofernes. Bitterness for the Assyrian occupational government was building due to the recent ordinance that every virgin bride prior to marriage was obliged to sleep with the Assyrian Governor. She acted as if she was forced to flee the city with her maid, reached General Holofernes’ camp, and encouraged him to believe that victory would soon be his. General Holofernes invited her into his tent for an evening banquet, intending to seduce her; instead, Judith waited until he fell into a drunken sleep, grabbed his sword, and cut off his head, bringing it in a sack to Bethulia. The Hebrew defenders mounted the head on the town's ramparts and soon routed the leaderless Assyrian troops.

The Second Book of the Maccabees records cases of pious Jews who chose to die rather than submit to the Syrians. A celebrated mother, Hannah, expressed unfaltering faith in Yahweh as she was forced to watch her seven sons die for refusing to bow to an idol, and then she was martyred herself. 
Hannah's martyrdom raises the issue of supreme sacrifice for religion. We might ask ourselves where we would draw that line today. Hannah also calls upon us to hold in our hearts those mothers in every generation who must give up their children to war. We are reminded in particular about mothers in Israel today. 

In the Maccabean Wars, Antiochus was defeated. Exactly three years to the day after his Abomination of Desolation, the Jews rededicated the Holy Temple:
"Then early on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, the month Kislev, in the year 148 (164 BCE), sacrifice was offered as the Torah commands on the newly made altar of burnt offering. On the anniversary of the day when the Gentiles had profaned it, on that very day, it was rededicated … They celebrated the rededication of the altar for eight days" (I Maccabees 4:52-54, 56).
This was the inauguration of Chanukah, the Hebrew word for "dedication." In a strange turn of events, the false gods of Greco-Romans were brought together in a historical moment that illustrated one thing with utmost clarity; HaSatan desires to have his man stand up in the Holy Temple and declare himself as a god.

The Seleucid Dynasty continued until, in the days of Antiochus XIII, Pompey journeyed to Syria and publicly declared it to be a Roman province. This event, in 63 BCE, marked the end of Syrian autonomy. Syria, still to this day, points to the Chashmonaim Revolt as the point in which they lost political face and they have never forgot it.  They still want revenge.
The Syrians believe that revenge has already started with the recent war between Israel and Hezbullah.  The perceived win has bolstered their momentum for blood.

“Concerning Damascus: ‘Hamath and Arpad are dismayed, for they have heard bad news. They are disheartened, troubled by the restless sea. Damascus has become feeble, she has turned to flee and panic has gripped her; anguish and pain have seized her, pain like that of a woman in labor. 
Why has the city of renown not been abandoned, the town in which I delight?
Surely, her young men will fall in the streets; all her soldiers will be silenced in that day,’ declares Yahweh Almighty. ‘I will set fire to the walls of Damascus; it will consume the fortresses of Ben-Hadad." (Jeremiah 49:23-27)

The "wall of Damascus" refers to the Old City. Its ancient wall still stands today, surrounding the Azam Palace, the "palaces of Ben-Hadad". Everything within the wall encompasses the ancient and venerable history of commerce, wars, conquests, religion and politics. The “sons of Hadad” are the Ammonite rulers. The Ammonites are modern Arameans, the original Syrians.  The Assad family is “ben Hadad.”
The ultimate Syria’s destruction acts as a catalyzing factor that precipitates the assault mentioned in Ezekiel 38. This explains why Syria fails to appear in Ezekiel’s list of the forces allied in the attack.

Illumination of Darkness
Kislev is the month of light - the light that illuminates darkness.
This new dedication took place because the Greco Syrians had defiled the Holy Temple. The revelation of Yahweh’s glory in Kislev ("repaying" it) thus followed the spiritual darkness imposed by the idolaters. And specifically because it followed this darkness, the revelation was that much greater - the Chanukah lights are eternal, never to be abolished, similar to the Sanctuary built by Moses
The common theme of the month of Kislev, then, is that the dedication of the Holy Temple by the Chasmoneans occurred specifically after the evil and darkness of the Syrians.
The central concept of this month thus is the illumination of darkness. The Chanukah lights are kindled to illumine the surrounding darkness. So, too should our revelation that we are truly Israel through the gift of Messiah be spread into all the world: "Your wellsprings will spread forth to the outside."

Concerning the Full Messianic Message of Redemption, theoretical understanding is not enough! 
Kislev shows us an Israelite may easily become despondent by his situation in exile, for although on Chanukah we pray: "You delivered the mighty into the hands of the weak, the many into the hands of the few, the impure into the hands of the pure," most of Israel still does not know who they are and are living under foreign domination.  We wait for final redemption, which will not be followed by further exile. When a Israelite thinks of this, thinks about the spiritual murkiness of the exile, he is liable to lose all hope. But we must remember, like seeds planted in soil, we grow in the dark times of our lives – learning and transforming beneath the surface.
The response for our despondence comes from Torah. It is "the living Torah," providing instructions for life, and "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.," (Psalms 119:105) illuminating the way of the Israelite. Torah has taught that the central concept of the month of Kislev is the illumination of darkness. An Israelite need not be affected by the exile, for darkness is not purposeless; the ultimate goal is to convert the darkness into light, and when an Israelite does so, the resulting light is that much greater, illuminating that much more. And when enough light has been produced, when the Kingdom has been revealed to the world, Moshiach will come.

 

"Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of Yahweh rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but Yahweh rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. (Isaiah 60:1-3)”
“And this Full Messianic Message of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:14)”

 

Used with Kind permission from Rabbi Rob Miller