Essential Oil

 Olive oil is the centerpiece of the Chanukah story, both physically and spiritually.  The main observance of the holiday (even more important than latkes and doughnuts!) is lighting the Menorah, commemorating the miracle of the olive oil that lasted for eight days.  In fact, though you are allowed to light with candles and other oils, the best way to observe the Mitzvah is to light with actual olive oil.

 

(Speaking of the miracle of olive oil and doughnuts, you may have heard of the modern day miracle when an eight-night supply of doughnuts lasted one night!  Sorry.)

 

There was another great miracle on Chanukah, of course -  the incredible victory of the Maccabees, also known as the Hasmoneans, over the massive Greek-Syrian army.   Yes, it  was a military victory against all odds, but the victory also shares a mystical connection to olive oil.

 

Oil is the essence of a plant.  And when you mix oil with other foods, it permeates throughout.  Spiritually, that represents the essence and purity of the soul.  We all have our challenges, our quirks, questionable habits and shortcomings.  But at our core is a part of Hashem that is pure and can never be defiled. 

 

In the time of Chanukah, the Jewish people were not allowed to follow the Torah.  But the truth is that the Greeks did not actually object to intellectual study or to cultural Jewish practices.  They even allowed the Jews to practice those Mitzvot which make logical sense.  Their problem was the core of Judaism – the inner purpose of Torah – that it is the will of Hashem.  They wanted to uproot the core connection of the Jewish soul with our Creator. 

 

This is why they “defiled” the olive oil that was used to light the Menorah.  As the Talmud tells us, they broke the seals of the High Priest that were on the bottles.  Their message was: Go ahead and practice your traditions like any other group, but this High Priest stuff – the holiness of Torah – that we won’t allow.  The Maccabees totally ignored the fact that they had no natural way to defeat the Greeks.  The core of the Jewish soul is beyond logic, and when it is challenged, it does super-rational things.  They knew that a life without the expression of our soul is not a life, so they threw all caution to the winds and went to war, a handful of steadfast Jews against the most powerful army in the world.

 

This was their “olive oil” revealed.  And Hashem rewarded them in two ways.  First they won the war in an unimagined, completely miraculous way.  Then when they rededicated the Holy Temple and came to light the Menorah, they found that all the oil had been defiled.  Technically by the letter of the law, they were permitted to use defiled oil in the absence of pure untouched oil.  

But these Jews who had sacrificed everything for the purity of Judaism were not satisfied with impure oil.  They kept searching, and miraculously found one bottle of pure oil bearing the seal of the High Priest.  This was the reward that Hashem gave them, and validation for their efforts, to stand by the core of their souls and the core of the Jewish faith.  Then the miracle continued for eight nights, allowing them to burn only pure and holy oil until more oil could be prepared.

 

The way we manufacture olive oil is by crushing the olives.  This is another mystical message for us, and especially relevant today.  As a nation, when we are crushed, we don’t give up.  The opposite happens.  Our inner core – our “olive oil” is revealed.  Our enemies thought that with terror and intimidation,  and demonstrations of hatred around the world, we would give up.  But the opposite has happened.  The Jewish core has awakened.  Jewish identity has blossomed, and just as oil permeates everything, we have seen this “oil” – the core Jewish identity, spread to places and people who forgot it was there.

 

So this Chanukah more than ever, let’s all proudly celebrate our true identity.  Let’s take the message of light into the dark world.  Proudly light your Menorah every evening.  Proudly proclaim that you are a Jew.  Proudly allow your olive oil to burn, increasing the light of Torah and Mitzvot every day.  And proudly look forward to the imminent revelation of light throughout the world, and the rekindling of the Menorah in the Holy Temple by the High Priest.

 

(Please join us for the Annual Menorah lighting on Sunday at City Hall at 4:30.  This  year more than ever!)