"One who has delved in Torah has a different heart, a different brain and a different soul."
Midrash Rabbah Bamidbor comments on the verse, "When you shall kindle the lights," as follows:
The Torah first writes about the dedication of the Mishkon, when the princes of Israel brought their sacrifices. Then the Torah says: "Speak to Aharon: When you shall kindle the lights . . . " (Bamidbar 7) This is referred to in Tehillim (34), "Fear Hashem, [you] His holy ones, for those who fear Him lack nothing."
All the eleven tribes brought their offerings; the tribe of Efraim also brought its tribute. Only the tribe of Levi was left out. We know that Aharon was the prince of the tribe of Levi, for it states (Bamidbar 17): "Write the name of Aharon upon the staff of Levi." But Aharon did not bring any offerings. He was dismayed and said: "Perhaps because of me, Hashem has refused to accept the tribe of Levi."
Thereupon, Hashem said to Moshe: "Go and tell Aharon not to fear. You have greatness set aside and waiting for you." Therefore does it say: "Speak to Aharon and say to him: When you kindle the lights . . . " The sacrifices were brought only so long as the Mikdosh stood intact, but the candles will always be lit. "To the face of the Menorah will they illuminate." Besides, the blessings with which I entrusted you to bless My people, the bircas kohanim, will also never be abolished.
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It is explained that the Chanukah candles relate to the candles of the Beis Hamikdosh, and they serve to illuminate the entire world. Therefore, when one speaks about Chanukah, we must know that kindling the lights is a very significant mitzvah, indeed! Kodesh kodoshim! Not for nothing does the gemora in Shabbos (23b) state, "Rav Huna said: Whoever is accustomed to light [Shabbos candles in the most superior fashion, using olive oil], merits sons who are Torah scholars."
In Al Hanissim we say, "To make them forget Your Torah and remove them from the statutes of Your will." It seems that Greece was primarily interested in passing two decrees against the Jews: 1) to make them forget the Torah, and 2) to remove them from practicing the Torah's commandments, that is, those statutes which seem to be arbitrary, without any obvious logical reason behind them.
Upon closer examination, however, it appears to me from the textual explanation that they really had only one design: To make them forget Your Torah. And if, G-d forbid, they had been successful, then consequently, the Greeks would have also succeeded in "Removing them from the statutes of Your will."
We must understand it thus: The statutes of the Torah have no rational explanation. Only one who toils in Torah is privy to a special supernal sensitivity. And this can bring a person to understand the esoteric laws of the Torah as well, even though his intellect cannot sort it out. One who has acquired that special sensitivity of Torah can feel in his heart and can intuit that this is the truth and there is no other.
If, however, one does not toil in Torah, there is no possible way to understand the statutes of the Torah. It becomes something so remote and removed that one cannot absorb it in one's heart at all. Thus, by scheming to make the Jews forget the Torah, they would automatically remove them from observing those statutes of Hashem's will.
Proof to this can be found in the words of the Beis Yosef who wrote that it is forbidden to tell an am ho'oretz the reason behind Torah decrees for they would be unable to grasp them with their intellects and might come to nullify or abolish some laws or safeguards. We are not talking here about fools or sinners, but about uneducated Jews who are initially willing to keep such [rabbinical] decrees. All they lack is Torah knowledge. So why can't we fill them in with the information and explain those mitzvos?
The answer is that one who lacks Torah knowledge is incapable of understanding the decrees of our Sages and of recognizing their inherent truth. One who does not toil in Torah does not have the capacity to appreciate the logic behind the commandments, since his intellect is limited. And thus, such people can come to take them too lightly. Therefore, it is better not to try to explain the rationale behind the decrees to begin with.
Now we can begin to understand the principle we stated before, that without Torah, a person's intellect is limited. And if he is incapable of grasping the reasons of logical commandments, all the more so will he be unable to understand the statutes of the Torah, which are sealed. He would even feel that they are foreign to his heart, G-d forbid.
This principle must be reviewed and integrated, for without toil in Torah, a Jew lacks heart and soul.
By supporting Torah, one is able to bridge the gap, as the Netziv wrote in his commentary on Shir Hashirim (3:1): "On my bed at night, I sought . . . " Shlomo Hamelech wrote a song about a person who was not necessarily great in Torah but who was immersed in communal activities of chessed, one who admired Torah scholars, who cleaved to them and held them in the highest esteem to the point that he was privy to divine spirit.
Todos the Roman used to fill the pockets of Torah scholars with coins. Of him was it written, "In the shadow of wisdom, in the shadow of money" — one who helps support Torah scholars is rewarded by being able to sit in the yeshiva shel ma'aloh. This same unscholarly Todos eventually even taught Torah in public . . . One such as he is granted divine inspiration to even compose songs of praise through the greatness he acquires in his love for Hashem.
We see, in any case, that the Torah supporters who merit studying Torah in Olom Habo are not only those who give money to Torah scholars, which is very meritorious in of itself, but really refers to those who adhere to Torah scholars, tend to their needs, seek their proximity and advice and the like. Such a person utilizes every free moment for study since he appreciates its value. And even during those times when he is compelled to engage in business, he feels he is doing it against his will, by coercion, at the expense of Torah study. This lack [of study input] can be compensated by supporting Torah. This is the true degree of Torah support for which one will be rewarded by being seated in yeshiva shel ma'aloh.
One should clearly know that a person who toils in Torah possess a different heart, a different brain, and a different soul.
We find in the writings of the Rishonim, and the Ralbag mentions it in several places, that just as it is forbidden to transgress the Torah except for a temporary horo'as sho'oh dispensation, like when Eliyohu Hanovi built an altar on Mt. Carmel, so is Hashem bound, as it were, not to perform an overt miracle except for the extenuating special circumstances of a horo'as sho'oh.
According to this, a well-known question arises. Since there is a rule that when the entire community was in a state of impurity, and all the oils were contaminated, it would have been permissible to light the Menorah from impure olive oil, and there was no necessity for a miracle. Why did that cruse of pure oil have to last for eight days, which is surely a supernatural miracle? They could have used simple oil!
The Kotzker Rebbe reconciled this question in a very basic manner. When dealing in education [and spiritual illumination], it is not enough to rely upon a leniency. Purity, through and through, is required. This means that even had it been permissible for the entire community, which was impure, to use contaminated oil, still, if pure oil was at hand, this was ultimately preferable since even that rule, while allowing the use, does not by any means transform what is impure into pure!
Substantiation to this can be brought from Bovo Metzia 85b: R' Chanina and R' Chiya argued over whose contribution was greater in preserving Torah amongst Jewry. R' Chanina said that through his polemics, he would have taught and disseminated Torah and guaranteed that it not be forgotten. R' Chiya, however, began from the beginning, sowing flax, hunting deer for parchment and so on, and then teaching young children Chumash very thoroughly so that they could teach others.
The Gaon explains that R' Chiya's reasoning was that in order to preserve the Torah from being forgotten among Jewry, it was necessary to begin in purity from the very onset, without any loopholes or leniencies.
You should know that when a person seeks to educate and improve himself, and especially young people at the beginning of their spiritual growth who are like young saplings affected by every change in their environment, it must be done in total purity, seeking no leniency, allowances, compromises, postponements. There must be no bedi'eveds, but purity in its ultimate, most pristine form.
Chazal in Bereishis Rabba 2 write: "`And darkness' — this is the Greek exile, which obscured the eyes of Jewry through its decrees. The Greeks ordered the Jews to inscribe upon the horn of the ox that they had no portion in the G-d of Israel." This decree was designed to uproot their faith, to deny their very creed. In Al Hanissim we find that "the kingdom of Greece rose up against Your people, Yisroel, to make them forget Your Torah and to remove them from the Statutes of Your will . . . "
The question is raised why it does not simply state that they wished to uproot their belief in the G-d of Israel? We must also ask why their method of having the Jews deny their faith was expressed in this particular manner of inscription upon the ox's horn that they had no portion in Hashem.
There is another question asked in Shabbos 21b: "What is Chanukah? That the Sages learned that they rested on the 25th [chonu — kof — hei] of Kislev. These are eight days of Chanukah during which one does not eulogize the dead nor fast, for when the Greeks entered the Beis Hamikdosh, they defiled all of the oils. And when the House of Chashmonai overcame and defeated them, they searched, but all they found was one cruse of oil still bearing the seal of the Kohen Godol. All it contained was enough oil to burn for one day, but a miracle took place and they lit from it for eight days. In the coming year, they [the Sages] established [those days as] days of celebration through praise and thanksgiving."
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The main aspect of the miracle was the finding of the cruse which burned for eight days. In Al Hanissim, however, all that is mentioned is the victory of the weak over the mighty, the few over the many. No mention is made of the finding of the oil that should have sufficed for only one day, but lasted for eight. The gemora, however, mentions this miracle as being the highlight of Chanukah, which was established in the following year as a festival of thanksgiving and praise.
If, according to the prayer, the miracle commemorated the victory, why did they wait a full year to establish Chanukah? We must say that the miracle was only evident after the eighth day, when they saw that the oil had lasted until a new supply was ready. And if so, they had to wait a full year before celebrating the miracle on the 25th. Then, again, we ask again why no mention of this miracle is made in the Al Hanissim.
In Midrash Rabbah Devorim 3 we find: "It is told of R' Shimon ben Shettach who once bought a donkey from an Arab. His disciples discovered a precious stone tied around its neck and came to him, quoting, `The blessing of Hashem makes rich.' But R' Shimon said to them: `I bought a donkey, not a precious stone.' He went and returned the stone to the Arab, who declared, `Blessed is Hashem, the G-d of Shimon ben Shettach'."
This must be understood in the following way: Every person has Divine Providence guiding him, as we say, "The G-d of Avrohom, the G-d of Yitzchok and the G-d of Yaakov." When a person sanctifies Hashem's name in a superior way, then, reflectively, he gains a special, supernatural measure of Divine supervision. Because R' Shimon sanctified Hashem's name beyond the call of duty, he was elevated to a degree beyond the natural, deserving of a special divine supervision. And as such, he merited that Hashem be called "the G-d of Shimon ben Shettach."
The essence of Greek philosophy was to idolize and venerate the beauty and prowess of the human body. They did not deny the existence of a Creator; they only said that once He had completed His work, he relegated the conduct of the world to man. There was no divine supervision, no accountability for one's acts. If a man succeeded in life, it was thanks to his own efforts and not to outside forces guiding or controlling him. Precisely while they were engaged in earning their livelihoods, in plowing and sowing, must they inscribe on the horn of the ox that they were not subject to any divine control in their lives.
My friend, HaGaon R' Moshe Finkelstein, showed me that in his famous Letter to Yemen, the Rambam quotes the words of Chazal above, adding "and you shall worship it [the ox]." The Greeks' purpose was to uproot that faith in divine providence over each individual person. They sought to ingrain the idea amongst Jews that the very act of toiling for their bread was dependent upon their own physical effort, upon the ox, and not on any higher power. They must worship that human exertion and not rely on any higher power. If you don't work, you won't have bread.
They were not concerned in uprooting the faith in a Creator but in Hashgochoh Protis. While this is heresy in one sense, it still does not deny the existence of a Creator, which is why it is not mentioned in Al Hanissim.
They did seek to uproot the study of Torah, to make Jews forget the Torah, and consequently, they would transgress those commandments that were divinely ordained. They had no problem with social laws, with a code of living, so long as it was subject to human logic and was not an inscrutable edict, a divine statute which held no meaning to them. This, of course, is heresy, for if man does only what makes sense to him, he will bend his logic to his desires and will not be accountable to any higher law. He will, of course, arrive at a total denial of the existence of G-d.
This is also the explanation why, in our prayers, we only mention the miracle of the war and not of the cruse of oil. The Chashmonai victory essentially proved that there was Divine intervention and supervision in the world. And truly, the victory was over Greek rule, which had subjugated the Jews for many years. Suddenly, there arose a handful of men who declared war against the reigning power in the world. Under normal, natural circumstances, they did not have an iota of a chance to succeed. Still, against all odds, those few and weak ones overthrew their many and powerful rulers.
A miracle like this shows the undeniable existence of a Superpower guiding their fortunes. Nevertheless, this is not completely conclusive evidence since it has happened before in history that a small minority overthrew its outnumbering rulers through various clever tactics. And so, there was a very small margin left to claim that it was not a supernatural victory. But if we see that it culminated in a real supernatural miracle, definitely beyond the norm, that oil was found enough to last for one day, which actually lasted for eight days, this is undeniable proof of Divine intervention on behalf of the Jewish people. And it also reflects on the miracles of the war, which must have been likewise effected by that Divine power, Hashem.
The Chashmonaim risked their lives to sanctify Hashem's name in the world, to rescue their people from the Greek decree which had been designed to make them "forget Your Torah . . . " Subsequently, Hashem repaid their efforts with special Divine conduct that was beyond the sphere of nature; this was proven by the miracle of the oil.
Therefore, only after it became clear that the miracle of the oil testified to Divine Providence over the Jewish people were the Sages able to establish days of praise and thanks- giving for the following year to commemorate the military victory, as we have explained.
(In his work, Ner Mitzvah, the Maharal writes: "The days of Chanukah were established to show the victory over the Greeks, but not because of the superior Jewish military power. And in order to highlight this, the miracle occurred with the Menorah, so that all would know that everything inclusive was a miracle from Heaven, even the military victory."
From a talk given in Yeshivas Beis Dovid, Chanukah 5764
