By Avi
Lazerson
In commemorating Chanukah, we recall the deeds of the ancient Greeks who entered
the Holy Temple and defiled the oils which were used in lighting the menorah.
The Hasmonean fighters rebelled and drove the Greeks out. When they came into
the Temple and searched for pure oil with the seal of the High Priest, all they
found was just one vial amongst the many defiled ones. This single vial of oil
burnt in the menorah and illuminated the sanctuary for eight days! This was the
miracle of Chanukah.
In mystical thought, oil is symbolic of chochmah, the highest aspect of
the intellect from which inspirational thought is derived. The Talmud mentions
that in a certain area in Israel, Tekoa, where the use of olive oil had become
common, chochmah had also become common. Just as chochmah is
related to the highest level in the intellect, inspired thinking, it is also
related to the fear of G-d as it is written in Psalms 111, “the beginning of
chochmah is the fear of G-d.”
The mystics understand that the intellect is divided into three divisions, chochmah,
binah and daat. Binah is the aspect of the thinking process in which
we understand by comparison and analyses. Daat is the part of the
intellect which connects his abstract thought to the reality of emotions and
action.
An example of binah is a student who studies his chemistry text book and
through careful consideration of the material can understand the subject matter.
Another example is by comparing two given physical phenomena in order to arrive
at a common understanding of them such as studying the effect of gravity on
various objects to understand gravity. Chochmah, on the other hand, is
inspiration which brings to thought. Chochmah is like a teacher who gives
a lesson; whereas binah is like a student who must digest and understand what
has been taught. Chochmah is also compared to seeing, whereas binah
is considered hearing; seeing does not necessarily entail understanding even
though it cannot be doubted, whereas hearing implies understanding.
The Greeks were the world’s great thinkers. They gave the world Aristotle,
Socrates, Plato, Pythagoras, and many more. They boasted of various impressive
schools of philosophy, art, and literature. The Greeks were a light unto the
rest of the world and their ideas spread to many lands. Much of today’s
western thought is based upon their Greek philosophy.
The Greeks believed in utilizing the mind to its fullest and they exalted the
greatness of the human intellect. They admired great thinkers and disdained
those who clung to superstitions. Although they believed in the existence of
good and evil, and that man should live according to what was good they defined
them by the human intellect.
They defined intellectual thought as binah. They accepted chochmah,
but only insofar as it could be verified through intellectual means. In other
words, they utilized binah to verify chochmah.
The Jewish belief is that the concept of good and evil were not humanly defined,
but they are defined by G-d in the holy Torah. To us, chochmah is the
highest gift, a divine present from G-d. We must use our understanding to fathom
the divine dictates of the Torah and thereby reach an understanding of the
divine. But it is merely a human’s understanding of the infinite wisdom of G-d
and not the essential actual understanding of G-d’s rationale. To the Jew, binah
is subservient to chochmah.
Although to some degree the Greeks envied the Jewish mind, they rejected the
subjugation of our thinking to what they viewed as dogma. To the Greeks, the
understanding mind (binah) was the highest form of human endeavor and was
praiseworthy. In their eyes, our suppression of our minds (binah) in view of the
chochmah (inspiration) of the Torah was a derision of our human
faculties.
Therefore their profaning the holy oil in the Temple is mystically understood as
an attempt to quell the Jewish subjugation of the mind to a source which is
above the mind, chochmah of the Torah. Yet although they tried to profane the
oil, the source of our chochmah, G-d Himself, caused them to miss one
small vial of oil.
When the Maccabees found this lone vial, representing the infinite chochmah
of the Torah they ignored the defiled vials of oil (representing the wisdom of
the Greeks). They used this pure oil to light the menorah. The Menorah itself
represents daat the connection between the intellect and the
actualization of the self. In this manner they expressed their desires to return
to G-d and His holy Torah. G-d in turn showed his satisfaction with their
actions by allowing a miracle to occur. In place of burning for one night,
the oil lasted for eight days.
The number eight in mystical thought is significant. Since the world was created
in seven days, seven is synonymous with nature and all that is worldly. The
position of the Greeks was to give esteem to all achievements that were based on
man’s worldly intellect. The eighth day represents one above seven, one above
nature - the divine, the infinite, and the G-dly. The miracle of Chanukah is
eight days reflecting G-d’s favor upon our pure actions.
The menorah in the Temple had only seven branches, unlike our Chanukah menorahs
which have eight. The seven branched menorah burnt and illuminated the Temple
for eight days. This means that the seven branched menorah, symbolizing the
seven days of creation, nature and worldliness, was elevated by oil which should
have burnt only one day. The eight days represents the aspect of the divine, the
aspect of above nature – but it is in the seven branched menorah. This is the
divine light illuminating the mundane world.
Today when we light an eight branched menorah, we must ignite our divine spark.
We must reach to the level above nature. When we kindle our eight branched
menorah for eight days, we are reaching up to G-d to relight our holy spark.
May we, like our brave ancestors, fulfill our aspirations and achieve a radiance
of the G-dly here in our world.
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Avi Lazerson lives in Jerusalem and is a staff writer for the Jewish Magazine, http://www.jewishmag.com
or http://www.jewishmag.co.il
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