Weekly Letter: Why Festival of Lights?
In preparation for Chanukah we present a letter in which the emphasis of the Rebbe is on the great miracle of the oil – oil being the essence and most crucial aspect of the Chanukah festival. The pure, holy oil, without any touch of uncleanliness that gave rise to the Festival Of Lights – is also crucial to the illumination of our individual Beis Hamikdash, each Jewish home.
By the Grace of G-d
Chanukah, 5733
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Mr.
London, N.6
Greeting and Blessing:
I duly received your letter from Jerusalem and may G-d grant that all the matters about which you write should get ever brighter, in keeping with the spirit of the4 Chanukah Lights, increasing in number and brightness from day to day.
As has been often said before, all matters of Torah are an inexhaustible source of lessons and inspiration for our daily life, especially when they take the form of practical mitzvos, since the Torah and mitzvos are infinite, being derived from the Infinite (En Sof). I mention this here apropos of the mitzvah of ner Chanukah, specifically in relation to one particular aspect which, at first seems puzzling.
I am referring to the fact that although Chanukah recalls may miracle and wonders, the main event for which Chanukah was instituted was the miracle with the cruse of oil. The one and only that was found in the Bais Hamikdash, that was intact and undefiled by the enemy, which was then kindled and which lasted for eight days, until new, pure and holy oil could be prepared.
What is puzzling about it is that the oil was not required for human consumption, nor for the consumption of the mizbe’ach (altar), but for the fuel in the menorah to be burnt in the process of giving light. It would seem, at first glance, of no consequence, in so far as the light is concerned, whether or not the oil had been touched and defiled for, surely the physical quality and intensity of the light could hardly be affected by touch?
Yet, when the Talmud defined the essence of the Chanukah festival, the Sages declared that the crucial aspect was the miracle with the oil. Not that they belittled or ignored the great miracles on the battlefields, when G-d delivered the “mighty” and “many” into the hands of the “weak” and “few”, for these miracles are also emphasized in the prayer of “V’al Hanissim.” Nevertheless, it was the miracle of being able to light the menorah with pure, holy oil, without any touch of uncleanliness, which gave rise to the Festival of Lights.
The obvious lesson is that in the realm of the spirit of Torah and mitzvos, as symbolized by the Chanukah Lights, there must be absolute purity and holiness. It is not for the human mind to reason why and what difference does it make, etc.
Much more could be said in the subject, but it will suffice to lend further weight to our conversation during your visit here, when the point was made how most vital it is that the right person would head the institution which Divine Providence has privileged you to establish in the Holy Land and even holier City of Jerusalem, as a center for the dissemination of Yiddishkeit in its purity. The purity and holiness of the oil must be ensured.
To carry the analogy further, it is the purpose of the central Bais Hamikdash to illuminate and bring holiness and purity into the individual “Bais Hamikdash” – every Jewish home and every Jewish person, which is also the obligation of every Jew towards his fellow Jew, in accordance of the mitzvah of “v’ohavto l’re’acho komo.” But special precautions are necessary that the Bais Hamikdash itself should be illuminated with the purest, sanctified oil, so that even the Kohen Godol, if he should happen to be tomeh, could not enter the Bais Hamikdash, much less kindle the menorah.
May G-d grant you hatzlacha in establishing the sais institution in fullest accord with G-d’s will, in the spirit outlined above, truly reflecting the spirit of the Chanukah lights, lighting ever more candles and increasing the spirit of the Chanukah lights, lighting ever more candles and increasing their glow from day to day.
With prayerful wishes for the utmost hatzlacha in all above, and
With blessings,
P.S. The enclosed copy of my general Chanukah message has an obvious bearing on some of the points touched above.
