Hanukkah’s eight nights produce a total of 36 candles (excluding the shamash). The number 36 connects to the Ohr HaGanuz, the ‘Hidden Light’ of the first day of creation that God concealed for the righteous in the World to Come. The Zohar teaches that the Hanukkah lights are a faint reflection of this primordial light. The menorah’s progressive kindling (adding one candle each night) represents the expansion of holiness and the Kabbalistic principle that one must always increase in light. The 36 also connects to the Lamed-Vav Tzaddikim, the 36 hidden righteous ones whose merit sustains the world.