Chanukah

In the al hanisim text of Chanukah, [one finds,] "You delivered the mighty into the hands of the weak, and the many into the hands of the few." And that is the essence of the miracle, as it is contrary to nature. But afterward, we say three phrases, "the impure into the hands of the pure, the wicked into the hands of the righteous, and the insolent into the hands of those occupied with Your Torah." But this is irrelevant to the greatness of the miracle! However it is [actually] all one idea — that God, may He be blessed, delivered the Greeks into the hands of the Jewish people. Yet the idea of the three [different] things that it mentioned are that the sources of husks are jealousy, desire, and honor, the roots of the husks of Esau and Ishmael, from which branched out 35 on the right and 35 on the left, as ARI, may his memory be blessed, said. The husk of Ishmael is called chamor [donkey]. For the two lads that were with [Abraham] at the binding were Ishmael and Eliezer, as it is written in Rashi's commentary, and it is [sourced] in Midrash Rabbah (Emor 20:2). And our father Abraham, peace be upon him, said to them, You stay here with the donkey (Genesis 22:5), a people that is similar to a donkey, as it is taught (Yevamot 62a:14). And this is the husk of desire, as it is stated, whose flesh is the flesh of donkeys, etc. (Ezekiel 23:20). Whereas Esau is the husk of the ox, as it is found (Berakhot 62a:4), "And don’t we see that it causes damage and bites and kicks?" And the ox that gores is the husk of jealousy and murder. And Amalek is the husk of the dog, as it is written (Zohar 2:65a), "A husk comes out of their might which is called, dog, and that is the most insolent of all of them." And that [is supported by] that which the middle letters of donkey [chamor] and ox [shor] are vav, mem vav, the numerical equivalent of dog [kelev, as Rabbi Chaim Vital wrote. And that is the husk of haughtiness and honor. And Scripture says about him, The proud, insolent man, scoffer is his name (Proverbs 21:24). And it is as they expounded (Shemot Rabbah, Yitro, 27:6), "Strike the scoffer (Proverbs 19:25), this is Amalek," who is the scoffer. That is, as all the peoples heard, they shuddered [alluding to Exodus 15:14], once they saw open and explicit miracles, and they could not deny [God's power]. But this one came from haughtiness, that it could not be that there would be something hidden from his intellect and higher than his comprehension. And from this, he became a scoffer and denied everything through mockery. And that is [the meaning of], Amalek is the head of the nations (Numbers 24:20), it is the head of the husks, since its root was the seduction of the snake — and you shall be like God (Genesis 3:5). And that is the culmination of haughtiness, and it is like it is stated about Nebuchadnezzar and Hiram. Moreover, that is the source of the evil impulse. And this is by way of the shattering of the vessels and the primordial kings that died, which was through the haughtiness of, "I shall reign," as is well known. And it is like we said, that it is from that which God, may He be blessed, dresses Himself with this garment, as it is written, The Lord is king, He is robed in pride [geut, which also means haughtiness] (Psalms 93:1), that man increases it (and as it will be explained, Vayera at the end of essay 1). And it is found [about] Greece (Bereishit Rabbah 2:4), "And darkness (Genesis 1:2) – this is the Greek kingdom, which darkened Israel’s eyes, etc." And it is written in the holy books that darkness [choshech] is [composed of] the first letters of shor, chamor, kelev, the three husks mentioned. As the husks of the Greeks were [based in] heresy, and that is the source of all the husks, as it [all] comes from haughtiness. As their hearts made them haughty, to be sages in their own eyes; from that, they came to heresy. And through this, they also arrived at the [other] husks, which are jealousy and desire. For their wisdom is the opposite of the Torah's wisdom. As it is found (Kiddushin 30b), "I have created the evil impulse, and I have created the Torah as an antidote." And that is the light of Torah, which saves from these three husks. As corresponding to the husk of desire, they said there, "If that scoundrel confronts you, drag him to the study hall, etc." And the evil impulse of desire is called a scoundrel, as it is learned (Shabbat 152a), "A woman is a flask full, etc."; and in the Midrash Neelam (Zohar 1:128b), "[The evil impulse] will not be as roguish, etc." See there. And it said, "drag him to the study hall, etc.," that one should pull this passion to the words of Torah, as it will be in the future, that there will be a craving for Torah (as it is written there, Zohar 1:138a). And corresponding to the husk of jealousy, it is found in the Tikkunei Zohar (in the Introduction mentioned above), "When it is taken from Might, it is called the Oral Torah, as so have the masters of the Mishnah established it — the Oral Torah was given from the mouth of the Almighty." And that is as it is written (Taanit 4a), "When a young scholar gets heated up, it is the Torah that is heating him up, as it is stated, Is not My word like fire (Jeremiah 23:29). So the anger of Torah scholars is good for all the sides." And likewise, the essence of the words of Torah are acquired with lowliness and through words of Torah that are connected to the head of thought. The head [bereishit, which also means, In the beginning] is for the sake of the Jewish people which is called the head. And that is corresponding to the head of the husks, the head of the nations, the husk of haughtiness. And their wisdom, which is darkness, the opposite of the light of Torah, brings one to the husks of desire and jealousy, the powers of the evil impulse. And this is [the meaning of] that which is written, "the impure into the hands of the pure," corresponding to the husk of desire. For the main thing called impurity is impurity that comes out from a person's body, and that is a genital flow [zivah], which comes from the power of desire. As it is written (Zavim 2), "We check one with a genital flow [for its cause] in seven ways, etc. By way of fantasies." And [although gentiles] do not have impurity, the sages made them like those with a genital flow in every matter, because their bodies are full of the pollution of this impurity, which is the pollution of the snake that it put into Eve, which has not left them. And that is why they said (Bereishit Rabbah 80:11), "One who engages in sexual relations with an uncircumcised man, it is difficult to pull away." As he puts this pollution of desire into her. And that is the husk of Ishmael, which is the leftovers of our father Abraham, peace be upon him. As he was the trait of love in holiness, since all of his love and passion was only for the Holy One, blessed be He. And the holy power to separate from desire is called purity. And it is like King David, peace be upon him, wrote in that psalm, when he came, etc. — which was about the blemish of desire — Create for me a pure heart, etc. (Psalms 51:12). And the sages, may their memory be blessed, said (Sukkah 52a), "By inference, there is an impure one!" And this is [the meaning of] that which is written, "into the hands of the pure." As it is written, The fear of the Lord is pure, abiding forever (Psalms 19:10). And it is through this fear that they separate from desire, as it is stated, As I said, surely there is no fear of God in this place, etc. (Genesis 20:1), and as a result, they were full of desire. And when our father Abraham, peace be upon him, had the test of the binding, He said to him, Now I know that you are someone who fears God (Genesis 22:12). For the clarification of the completeness of his love for God, may He be blessed, was when another love came against it, as it is written, your son, etc. who you love (Genesis 22:2). Whereas in the previous tests, it was only against wishes of this world, which were like nothing in the eyes of our father Abraham, peace be upon him, in opposition to his love for God, may He be blessed. But his love for our father Isaac, peace be upon him — which was because of his holiness and because he was promised that a holy nation would come out from him — in this test, it was clarified that he feared God. As He thought that since he is his son, it is possible that it is from the angle of the love of any father for his son. So this is the clarification of the completeness of the love of holiness, when he fears God and his heart is pure of any foreign loves that are from the husks of Ishmael. And this is [the meaning of] "into the hands of the pure." For the Jewish people is the woman that fears the Lord [alluding to Proverbs 31:30]. And they are the ones that fear and are pure. "And the wicked into the hands of the righteous" — that corresponds to the husk of Esau, according to that which is written in Midrash Rabbah (Bereshit Rabbah 75:1, the beginning of Vayishlach), "Deliver my soul from that wicked one, who is Your sword through whom You subjugate the world." And it is written, Let favor be shown to the wicked (Isaiah 26:10), which they expounded (Megillah 6a) about Esau, "As Isaac said, 'Let favor be shown, etc.'" And it is written, The wicked draw their swords (Psalms 37:14); and it is written, and they shall be called the border of wickedness (Malachi 1:4). And the trait of holy might is to be mighty as one who conquers his [evil] impulse [alluding to Avot 4:1]. And Joseph is Esau's opponent (as it is written in Bereishit Rabbah 73), as Joseph was also mighty in conquering his impulse. And because of this, he was more distinguished [for this role] than all of the brothers. As that is why he was given the appellation, the righteous one. And this is the distinction between a righteous person and a pure one, as a pure one is completely pure by being filled with a love of holiness. Whereas a righteous one is someone who conquers it with his might, that he strengthens himself against it, so that he is a chariot for the trait of Righteousness [Tzaddik], and that is with the holiness of Like a firstling bull in his majesty, etc. with them he gores the peoples (Deuteronomy 33:17). And that corresponds to the husk of Esau, who is a goring ox. So that is the meaning of "the wicked into the hands of the righteous." And "the insolent" corresponds to the husk of honor, which is arrogance and conceit, as is stated, The proud, insolent man, scoffer is his name (Proverbs 21:24). And that corresponds to the holiness of the Torah, which is called with holiness, honor, as it is said (Chullin 133a), "There is no honor besides Torah, as it is stated, The wise shall obtain honor (Proverbs 3:35)." And this was merited by our father Jacob, peace be upon him, whose image was engraved into the Throne of Glory, since he sits in tents [alluding to Genesis 25:27), meaning to say, the tents of Torah. Moreover, the voice is the voice of Jacob [alluding to Genesis 27:22] in Torah. And that is the trait of the truth is for Jacob [alluding to Micah 7:20], as it is said (Berakhot 5b), "Truth is Torah, as it is stated, Buy truth (Proverbs 23:23)." And the main spread of the Oral Torah was at the time of the Hasmoneans, and God made one corresponding to the other [alluding to Ecclesiastes 7:14]. So alongside the growth of the Oral Torah, there was the growth of Greek wisdom, which is the opposite of the wisdom of the Oral Torah. And Aristotle was then the head of the sages of the Greeks. And besides their wisdom, they had arrogance and conceit, and they mocked all of the earlier faiths, even idolatry and sorcery. However, they also wanted to eliminate the holy Torah and the word of prophecy. As they said, if prophecy was real in the world, such that God, may He be blessed, speaks with people, they would have grasped it. But because they did not grasp the words of Torah through their wisdom, they did not believe in the words of Torah. As they said that the only wisdom in the world was what they grasped. And that is why they were called the insolent ones. And our father Jacob, peace be upon him, merited Torah by his lowliness in his own eyes, as it is stated, I have been too little for all, etc. (Genesis 32:11); and it is stated, Jacob since he is little (Amos 7:5). As words of Torah leave alone a high place and go towards a low place. So a sign for conceit is poverty in Torah (Kiddushin 49b). And they said (Sotah 21b), "Words of Torah only survive with someone who makes himself as if he were not." And that is [the meaning of] "the insolent ones," which is the husk of haughtiness. And in the blessing of the heretics and all of the insolent ones, it ends, "who humbles the insolent," since they are the source of heresy that comes from haughtiness. "Into the hands of those those occupied with Your Torah," as the Jewish people is called those occupied with Your Torah. For this is always the expression [used] — "anyone who is occupied with Torah." And, likewise in the blessing over the Torah, the formula is "to be occupied with words of Torah." And that is that one's occupation be Torah, as man is born to toil, so that he be occupied and not go around wastefully. And in truth, he was created to be occupied with Torah, and "happy is one who is privileged, who is a receptacle for Torah" (as it is said in Sanhedrin 99b). And in any event, one who is required to also be occupied by the toil of the way of the world, should nevertheless know that he was created only to serve his Maker. It is just that I have committed evil actions, etc. (Mishnah Kiddushin 4:14); that after the corruption, Adam the first man was cursed with, you shall eat bread by the sweat of your brow (Genesis 3:19). So his main intention [in his work] should be that he be able to fix times for Torah [study]. And one who is incapable of such should have the intention that he should raise his children to Torah study. And it is like that which Rambam, may his memory be blessed, wrote, that by way of fulfilling, In all your paths know Him, (Proverbs 3:6), such that all of his actions should be for the sake of Heaven, all of his actions will be commanded actions, since the intended goal is for the service of God, may He be blessed. And that is [the meaning of] "those who are occupied with Your Torah." And also all commanded actions are included in being occupied with Torah. And that is like what we said about the Gemara (Sota 21a), "The verse (Proverbs 6:23) associates the commandment with a lamp and the Torah with light, etc. to say to you [that] just as a lamp only gives light temporarily, etc." And the Gemara explains that the lamp of a commandment is like the lamp of oil and a wick. When it is kindled and lit, it gives light temporarily. But in the holy Zohar (2:166a), it is found that the commandment being like a lamp means a lamp which is oil and a wick without a flame, and a lamp without a flame is nothing. But the Torah is light is that it is the light from which the lamp is lit; see there. And at first glance they contradict one another. But we said that it is all one. And that is that with all of the commandments, the commandment itself, the raw act, is only oil and a wick without any light at all. However in each commandment there is the light of Torah, and that is the intention of the commandment to be for the sake of Heaven, such that it not be like the commandment of someone doing it by rote, but rather to do as the Lord my God has commanded me [alluding to Deuteronomy 4:5]. That is the light of the Torah that is in a commandment, and it is, "the light from which the lamp is lit," which is written in the holy Zohar. And [regarding] the commandment of Torah [study], the study itself is a commandment like all of the positive commandments, and it too is the lamp of a commandment, a lamp without light. And the intention for the sake of Heaven in the Torah study — that is the light of Torah in the commandment of Torah [study]. And the distinction between a commandment and Torah is that the light of Torah in a commandment, meaning the holiness and the intention for the sake of Heaven that is in it, gives light temporarily, whereas this is not the case with the light of the Torah in the commandment of Torah study, which gives light forever. And this is [the meaning of] that which is written in the Gemara, that a commandment only gives light temporarily like a lamp, but Torah gives light forever. And it is well known that every Jew, even one who is not occupied with Torah at all, as he is incapable of it at all and does not have children to raise them for Torah study, is nevertheless at least occupied with commandments. And there is the light of Torah in the commandments as well, that being the intention and the holiness in the commandment. So any occupation with the commandments is the light of Torah, and all of the Jewish people are "those who are occupied with Your Torah."

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