R' Yehoshua of Belz is known to have said the following: If
Chazal say that, "These lights are sacred, and we are not
permitted to make use of them, only to gaze upon them," then
we can derive the positive from the negative. That is, we are
not permitted to make use of their light but we are
permitted to see them. We are allowed to take advantage of
these Chanukah lights through looking at them and there is,
therefore, a great advantage in doing so.
We stand before their flickering lights, look, contemplate,
and try to internalize their hidden significance. We are
permitted to do so and as such, we must utilize this
permission to the fullest, to absorb the great light and use
it to illuminate those small dark corners and crannies which
only light can penetrate.
"Just to gaze upon them," to study their light and reflect on
how these candles glow.
"How Much Light is Illuminated"
"Beis Shammai says: `. . . Who creates the illumination of
light,' whereas Beis Hillel says, ` . . . Who creates the
lights of fire.' Said Beis Hillel to Beis Shammai, `There is
a conglomeration in light.' Rashi explains, `The flame is at
the same time red, white and greenish' " (Brochos
52).
The light of fire has many shades of color. Red burns and
consumes with heat. White illuminates, tempers and forges,
and warms through heat. Greenish-blue represents the color of
humility and lowliness (Rabbenu Bechaye). The spectrum
of these colors blend into one another in marvelous harmony,
creating a single unit of a burning, searing, illuminating
fire.
"These lights are holy." They incorporate many kinds
of illumination, and we are not permitted to utilize them.
They represent a vessel; we must look at what they represent,
what they signify. The candle flame is a parable, a symbol,
which denotes the flame of the soul. "For the candle of
Hashem is the soul of man."
There are many types of light in the candle of Hashem, the
soul. It is rich with capabilities and properties. We must
learn how to kindle it, set it alight, coax it to burn
brightly. We must bring out its full brilliant potential in
all of its aspects until it burns on its own, independently,
and does not stifle the soul so that it couples into itself,
hidden and smothered, without air to breathe, submerged from
any human eye.
"So that it sing Your praise and never cease," Dovid Hamelech
asks, meaning that the soul, Hashem's glory, was designed to
sing, but it can also be dumb (dom) and silent,
flickering weakly, hiding its light.
"Praise Him with harp and stringed instrument." Praise him
through many vessels, each one with a different song, a
different sound.
"The whole soul shall praise You." Alluding to the divine
soul which rests in Heaven (Ibn Ezra, Tehillim
150).
The soul sometimes participates only partially in the praise
of Hashem. Only a bit of light is shed and the flame flickers
weakly, about to die out. Only a small part of the potential
is utilized and finds expression in the song that the
creatures of Hashem sing to their Creator. The majority of
talents and strengths lie dormant, sealed and cached.
Dovid Hamelech declares at the end of his Book of Psalms:
"The whole soul shall praise." The divine soul in man was
blessed with a multitude of gifts, different tools of
expression. Use them, he urges, employ each and every facet
of your soul to its capacity. Give expression to every
faculty and aptitude and let these chime in unison in one
magnificent comprehensive song of praise to Hashem.
Hallelukah!
The Banner of Levi — Multicolored
"Speak to Aharon and say to him: When you kindle the lights,
let the seven lights illuminate towards the body of the
Menora." Rashi says: "Light the flame until it rises upward
by itself."
Who is capable of kindling the flame that it rise up by
itself? Aharon Hacohen, the chosen one of the tribe of Levi,
is capable of lighting all of the lamps and drawing forth the
capacity of light, the wealth of aptitudes within the soul,
and directing them towards one song: Towards the body of the
Menora. Towards that Light in the West which symbolizes the
Shechina, which rests in the west. For just as a
candle flame incorporates many different hues, so did the
banner of the tribe of Levi, symbolizing his life, embody
many colors and shades.
"Levi's banner and insignia was a third black, a third red
and a third white" (Bamidbor Rabba 2;6).
"These colors symbolize the three advantages incorporated
within the tribe. Black represented might, courage and
strength of holiness. "And Moshe said: `Whoever is for
Hashem: Gather onto me!' " And the entire tribe of Levi
rallied to him.
The red symbolizes sacrifice. Referring to Levi: "Who says to
his father and his mother: I did not see him, and to his
brother: I don't recognize him. And to his sons: I don't know
them, for they heeded Your word."
The white stands for the love and brotherhood, "In peace and
straightforwardness does he walk with Me, and many did he
turn back from sin." Song and praise, "To bless His people
Yisroel with love" (R' Chaim Zeitchik zt'l — Va'ani
Sefilloh).
The kohanim and the leviim, who were able to
locate and reveal all the hidden powers that were latent
within them and utilize them in the right place and in the
proper sage measure — these were made proprietors over
the holy lights and charged to kindle the seven lights,
without exception. Their single-purposed direction being
towards the face of the Menora, towards the
Shechina.
"Many Waters Cannot Extinguish . . . "
"`To kindle the ner tomid' — this signifies the
Western Light which was never extinguished"
(Midrash).
From where does one take fire that will have the power to
burn? From the ner tomid.
"If the western light goes out, one can light it only from
fire taken from the outer altar."
"To kindle an everlasting flame — a fire that is to
burn throughout can be taken only from the outer altar"
(Rambam and Raavad: Hilchos Temidin Umusofin).
It is impossible to kindle the Everlasting Light from fire
that does not, in itself, have everlasting properties. If one
wishes the Ner Ma'arovi to burn and not be
extinguished throughout the night, one must light it with a
powerful fire that can withstand any and every blast of wind
in the world.
One of the ten miracles that manifested themselves for our
ancestors in the Beis Hamikdosh was that the rains
never extinguished the fire of the atzei ma'areches on
the altar. The strongest storm could not put out that
fire.
Thus it is with the fire of the Jewish soul. Throughout all
times, throughout all the difficult exiles which the Jews
endured, in the face of lightning, thunder and black clouds,
their flame burned steadfast and they remained true and loyal
to the Creator and His Torah. "Many waters cannot extinguish
the love." The strongest streams that washed over us were
incapable of washing away the love for Hashem that burns
within us."
(R' Shmuel Gotlieb zt'l of Puppa — "Shmuel
BeRamah")
The Secret of the Light
What is the secret of the light which is not extinguished?
What are the special properties of the flame of Hashem which
withstands all the winds in the world? Its secret lies in the
nature of the candle. "For a mitzvah is a candle and Torah is
light." The light is sustained by a thick wick and a sturdy
candle. The entity which preserved and guarded the light of
Torah, which many waters could not extinguish, was the
observance in practice of all the commandments of the Torah
in day-to-day life. The Jewish people never permitted its
knowledge to supersede and outweigh its deeds. On the
contrary, it always preceded the na'aseh to the
nishma, and therefore its wisdom had endurance.
"To what can we compare one whose knowledge is more than his
deeds? To a tree whose branches are many and whose roots are
few. Along comes a wind and uproots it and overturns it. But
whoever has deeds which are more plentiful than his knowledge
can be compared to a tree whose branches are few and whose
roots are plentiful — so much so that all the winds in
the world can blow but will not budge it from its place"
(Pirkei Ovos).
When the Greeks conquered the Jewish people and sought to
make them, "forget Your Torah and lead them astray from the
laws of Your will," their first act was to contaminate all
the holy vials of oil. To contaminate the vessels so that
they would not be fit to contain the light.
The Greeks differentiated between knowledge and practice.
"That there is wisdom among the gentiles — you can
believe. That there is Torah by the gentiles — don't
believe." They had chochmoh, but Torah —
directives for life, practical application for the day-to-day
— they lacked. And lacking a suitable vessel, the light
could not illuminate. Therefore, there was "darkness upon the
face of the abyss," which Chazal say refers to Greece, which
obscured the eyes of Jewry (Midrash).
R' Yechezkel Abramsky ztvk'l used to tell about the
young assimilationist who once tauntingly baited him, saying,
"Teach me, Rabbenu, what is the purpose of those little black
boxes and leather straps which you bind on your head and
arm?"
R' Yechezkel replied, "You know what? Why don't you put
tefillin on for a month's time, day after day except
for Shabbos. Then come back to me and I'll answer your
question."
The young man agreed to do so, R' Abramsky relates, "but he
no longer needed an answer to his question for the
na'aseh accomplished more than any nishma
explanation would have done."
These two words uttered by our ancestors epitomize the entire
approach of Judaism, of practice before preaching. Action
speaks for the heart, it is the causation that prompts the
intellect and not vice versa. If our ancestors were not
prophets, at least they had a marvelous intuition that
prompted them to precede na'aseh to nishma.
This is a profound secret which the Torah states more
explicitly, "Which man shall do wherefore to live by
them."
A person who actually executes the commandments in practice,
lives by them and through the spirit of the mitzvos finds the
purpose of his existence on earth. He is newly stirred and
motivated each day. One who fulfills the Torah day by day and
everything that he does, big or little, is according to its
laws and statutes, shall live an elevated and ethical
life.
There is an interesting symbiotic relationship, as it were,
between the mitzvah in practice and in theory. The more one
performs it, the more one finds intellectual meaning and
rationale hidden in it. And the more one understands the
principles and fundamentals behind the commandment, which are
the very soul of the mitzva, the better he can put it
to superior practice. For through practice, a person can
grasp its secret and essence.
The lesson to be derived: Those who have shaken off the yoke
of mitzvos in practice cannot understand them in theory
either, for it becomes obscured from them. They forfeit their
portion in "Hashem's commandment is lucid, illuminating the
eyes."
(Kovetz Ma'amorim, Maran HaRav Yechezkel Abramsky,
ztvk'l)
