[The following is an excerpt from Vayeishev Moshe written by HaRav Berl. It was originally published in the Israeli English Yated Ne'eman in December 1997 (5757). It has never before appeared on the Web.]
"And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was over the face of the deep" (Bereishis 1:2).
"Resh Lokish explained that the posuk refers to the goluyos. `Without form' — is Bovel. `And void' — is Modai. `And darkness' — is Greece, that darkened [the Jews'] eyes. `The deep' — is Edom, that cannot be measured, like the deep" (Bereishis Rabbah 2:4).
Why was Greece called "darkness?" In fact, we have always understood — although superficially — just the opposite: Greece was the wellspring of scientific knowledge, and knowledge is apparently something bright — something connected with alleviating life's suffering and giving it guidance. Chazal, however, reveal to us that Greece brought darkness and not light to mankind. When the Torah was translated into Greek the world was darkened for three days.
Why Greece is a symbol of darkness can be explained according to the Mesilas Yeshorim (chap. 3): "Someone who is still confined in his yetzer's prison can neither see this truth nor recognize it. This is because the yetzer truly blinds him, and he is as if walking in darkness with obstacles before him that he does not see. This is what Chazal (Bova Metzia 83b) say: `"You make darkness and it is night" (Tehillim 104:20) — this is olom hazeh that is similar to night.' How wonderful this maxim is for someone who grasps it deeply. The darkness of night can cause two types of mistakes about what one sees: either it will blind a person's eyes until he does not at all see what is before him, or it will mislead him until it will seem to him that a pole is a person and a person a pole. Likewise, materialism and the physical entity of olom hazeh work upon the eyes of one's intelligence like the darkness of night. This causes man to make two mistakes: one is that it does not allow him to see the obstacles that occur in the world. Fools have no fear and walk confidently, but later fall and are lost without ever feeling any fear. This is what the posuk says: `The way of reshoim is like darkness; they do not know at what they stumble' (Mishlei 4:19). Since their hearts are so cocksure, they fall before being at all aware of any obstacle.
"The second mistake, which is worse than the first, is that [the darkness] perverts their sight until they perceive evil as if it were really good, and good as if it were evil. This strengthens their evil deeds. Not only do they lack true discernment of the evil facing them, but it appears to them that they have strong proofs and confirmed demonstrations of their wicked logic and false views. This [mistake] is the greatest evil that surrounds them and brings them to the nethermost pit..."
The foundation of free choice and of man's main service of Hashem is his duty to fight against the yetzer — the power that can disturb his avoda and deveikus to Hashem. A person must labor hard to subdue his yetzer and control it, not to allow his yetzer to disturb his avoda and stop him from reaching the utmost devotion to his Creator. Nevertheless, "without HaKodosh Boruch Hu helping him he could not fight [the yetzer]" (Kiddushin 30b). Just as each individual Jew takes part in this battle, so all Klal Yisroel in general is usually in this war. Chazal call this period of disturbing our nation's avodas Hashem and faithfulness to HaKodosh Boruch Hu the shibud arba malchiyos.
This is R' Alexandrai's tefilla (Brochos 17a): "Ruler of the world, it is revealed and known before You that our will is to do Your will. And who prevents us from doing so? — The `leaven in the dough' [i.e., man's evil nature] and the subjugation to the [gentile] kingdoms. May it be Your will that You save us from their hands, and then we will once again observe the statutes of Your will with a full heart."
The two mistakes mentioned in the Mesilas Yeshorim apply to each individual Jew in his battle with the yetzer, and still more so in the war against the yetzer during the "subjugation to the kingdoms" that relates to Klal Yisroel in general.
Golus Bovel (which includes the kingdoms of Babylonia, Persia and Modai) was a time when Klal Yisroel was oppressed under the force of materialism. This analysis of golus Bovel is revealed to us in Kiddushin (72a): "Rav Yosef taught: these are the Persians who eat and drink like a bear and are clumsy like a bear..." — immersing oneself in materialism without thought of what one is doing or considering one's aim in life.
We furthermore see that the whole Purim episode revolved around drinking and intoxication. The talmidim of R' Shimon bar Yochai opined that Haman's decree of the Jewish Nation's destruction was caused by Klal Yisroel's taking part in Achashverosh's feast (Megilla 11a). This is the first mistake mentioned in the Mesilas Yeshorim.
The Greek Kingdom's period of oppression was antithetical to golus Bovel. It was a unique oppression, one of being under the kingdom of mortal wisdom, a wisdom that fights against Torah wisdom — against kedusha, which is above the natural grasp of human intelligence. Greek wisdom's failure was that since the Greeks were knowledgeable in natural science they thought that was the only wisdom, and that besides that kind of wisdom no other wisdom exists. Natural science was everything and besides this (they thought) there is nothing. Greece was surely misled by the second mistake mentioned in the Mesilas Yeshorim: "that they see evil as if it were really good, and good as if it were evil."
How fitting is Chazal's description of "darkness" in the Creation as meaning the yetzer of Greece. That golus was the real darkness within the darkness, and the victory of Yisroel over it was the victory of light over darkness.
Halachic commentaries cite the Levush (Orach Chaim chap. 670) as defining the difference between Chanukah and Purim, that Purim was a decree against our bodily existence — to obliterate us physically — and therefore we allude to Hashem's salvation from physical dangers by our drinking and being joyous. Chanukah was, however, a decree against the Torah and mitzvos — against spiritual matters — and therefore we mention Hashem's salvation through Hallel and thanking Him in Shemoneh Esrei and Bircas Hamozone — spiritual ways of expression.
According to the above, we can add the following explanation: Each Jew is immersed in a fierce battle with his yetzer. Hashem's will is that man choose to follow the good, that man conquer and rule over his yetzer so that it will not disturb him from clinging to Hashem. This is still not enough. The complete victory comes only when man uses the powers and vitality of his yetzer hora itself to serve Hashem. "`With all your heart' (Devorim 6:5) — with both of your yetzorim" (Brochos 54a).
The blessed Creator protected us during the darkness of Persia and Modai. We were encompassed with an "oppression" that expressed itself by encouraging excessive eating and drinking — indulging in physical delights while remaining oblivious to our aim in life. With Hashem's assistance, by awakening to complete teshuvah and fasting we were delivered from danger, and eventually even conquered and dominated over that yetzer. The sign of perfect avoda is, nonetheless, much more: it is the binding of the yetzer's vitality to our personal service of Hashem. To do this a person is "obligated to become intoxicated on Purim until he cannot discern between..." (Megilla 7b).
The Greek Kingdom's oppression was in the sphere of natural science; it was secularism's attempt to humble kedusha and Klal Yisroel's natural desire for spirituality. Again, with Hashem's assistance, together with our awakening to teshuvah, we were saved. We therefore mention on Chanukah, the time when we were saved from the Greeks, Hashem's rescuing us from spiritual harm. Furthermore, Chazal decreed Chanukah to be yomim tovim exclusively within the weekdays, as the beraissa writes, "and they were made yomim tovim through Hallel and thankfulness" (Shabbos 21b). Only through Hallel and showing our thankfulness to Hashem are the days of Chanukah considered a yom tov; in other ways they are basically ordinary weekdays.
The concept of yomim tovim is relevant only to days when melocho is forbidden, and therefore chol hamoed is not called a yom tov since we are allowed to do melocho during it. Chanukah is unique in that its victory was not only that kedusha had been maintained but that kedusha was carried over into the regular weekdays.
See the Ramban on the Torah (beginning of Behaalosecho) and the Ramban on the Milchamos Hashem (Shabbos, chap. 2). It seems that the Ramban wants to teach us that the mitzvah of each person kindling a Chanukah light in his home is actually the expansion of the menorah's kedusha — the kedusha of the Beis Hamikdash. The victory of Yisroel over the yetzer of Greece is the use of chulin (the secular) and elevating it to kodesh.
The Beis Yosef (Orach Chaim 670, s.v. vehataam) asks why we celebrate Chanukah for eight days, when actually the miracle was only for seven days, since the menora would anyway have naturally burned for one day. According to the above, we understand that the victory of Yisroel over the yetzer of Greece was revealed in that nature (the menora's first day of burning) was made subsidiary to the supernatural (the seven days of miracle).
"And not stray after your heart and your eyes" (Bamidbar 15:39). "`Your heart' — is heresy; `your eyes' — are impure thoughts [of promiscuity] (Shabbos 12b).
The yetzer of promiscuity includes immersing oneself in materialism — the kingdom of Persia and Modai (Hevel).
The yetzer of heresy includes all ideologies antithetical to daas Torah — the oppression of the Greek Kingdom.
