To my friends in Gateshead, may they live long,
I am sending my Hanukah greetings: May we feel the light of Hanukah in our hearts, by which our eyes will open and our hearts will rejoice.
I shall write what I said concerning Hanukah: It is known that the candles cannot burn until three conditions are met 1) the candle, which is the vessel in which the oil is placed; 2) the oil; 3) the wick (a woven cord (in a candle or oil lamp) that draws fuel up into the flame). When those three are brought together we can enjoy their light.
We should interpret the three above discernments in the work and ethics. The Kli (vessel) where the oil and wick are placed is the body, called a “candle.”
In the labor in Torah and Mitzvot, one feels contrasts in His providence, concerning things that are not revealed to him, namely that the guidance of the world is in benevolence. According to man’s view, the Creator should have guided the world differently, meaning that His goodness would be revealed to all. Thus, it contradicts man’s reason. This is called a Petillah (wick), from the word Petaltol (winding) and from the word Pesulah (flawed), since it is flawed to think such thoughts.
The clarity and awakening that bring one to crave Torah and work, and to feel the sweetness and pleasantness in Torah and work, are called “oil.”
If one of them is missing, it is impossible to enjoy their light. Likewise, when the body consists of labor and clarity, one is rewarded with attaining the light of the Creator, which emerges specifically through the two of them. And just as there is nothing to illuminate once the oil and wick have burned out, and it becomes dark, once the labor and clarity are over he has no light and it becomes dark for him once more.
If he wishes to obtain more light, he must try to find more labor, called “wick,” and more clarity, called “oil,” since the light has nothing through which to seep and hold. The reason for this is that there is a rule: “The reward is according to the effort.”
The clarity, called “oil,” comes mainly through faith, which is one’s prevailing over the evil inclination that brings one to exertions and contradictions to the external intellect. This is called “tests” in the work of the Creator.
After prevailing over it, one is rewarded with receiving the light of the Creator that illuminates to man’s soul, and then there is no more room for contradictions. This is called the “light of Hanukah.” That is, he is rewarded with open providence, that His guidance is benevolent to His creations.
By that we can interpret what our sages said about the Hanukah candle, “It is commanded from sundown until all feet have vanished from the market” (Shabbat, 21). By this they implied the abovementioned manner.
The “sun” refers to the shining light. Regel (foot) comes from the word Meraglim (spies), when he spies after His guidance. It is as was written about the spies, “See what the land is like … is it good or bad?” This means testing if the upper guidance in the world is benevolent.
“Market” implies public domain. It is so because specifically in the public domain are there spies. But when a person is rewarded with entrance to the single authority, meaning that there is no other force in the world but the Creator, for “He alone does and will do all the deeds,” then there is no more room for spies.
This is why they implied that we must draw the light of Hanukah so it illuminates the open providence as benevolent, “from sundown until all feet have vanished from the market,” meaning from the time when he was still in darkness until all the spies are gone from the public domain, when there is no more room for spies and they have all vanished from the world.
In this way we should interpret what we say in the song, “Mighty Rock of My Salvation”: “Greeks have gathered around me … and have broken the walls of my towers and defiled all the oils.” Homat (walls of) has the letters of Hotam (seal) and Tehum (area/zone). “My towers” is the tower full of good abundance (Midrash Rabah, Chapter 8). The “wall” concerns keeping foreigners from entering the city and robbing its good.
It is likewise here—in order to avoid entrance of foreign thoughts and uninvited desires, we must make a wall by which we keep from the outer ones. This wall is called “faith,” for only by faith can one be saved from all the above. This is called “zone,” for thus far the outer ones can approach, but when they see that the person did not go outside the wall they return to their place.
This is so because faith is specifically above reason, and the domination of the Sitra Achra is specifically within the reason of the outer mind. Thus, it has no connection or contact with the person.
The Klipa of Greece was for the people of Israel to conduct themselves specifically through the external intellect, which is the damned philosophy. This contradicts faith, which is called a “wall.” To the extent that they succeeded in admitting philosophy into Israel, to that extent it is regarded that they have breached the wall.
This is the meaning of “broken the walls of my towers,” namely the wall around the tower full of good abundance, by which we are rewarded with open providence, that the Creator leads the world benevolently.
Through the abovementioned breach they have “defiled all the oils,” meaning that they were denied all the vitality and clarity they were granted through faith, for Tuma’a (impurity) comes from Timtum (dumbness) and Situm (blocking). Finally, a miracle happened and the Creator helped them, and they were rewarded with the revealed light once more, called “light of the face.”
And regarding what my friend is asking, these are his words concerning the Shofar (festive horn blown in special festivals): The Creator ascends from the quality of judgment to the quality of mercy. In several places it is implied that the indication is to the quality of judgment, such as “At the time of ostracizing, blow the Shofar,” etc.
The interpretation of Yaarot Hadvash (The Honeycombs—title of a book), that just as the Shofar awakens judgment, when a person sentences himself to a scale of sin, it means that he is telling the Creator that he wishes to take his punishment as long as he gets rid of the sin and is cleansed. By that man’s body evokes mercy. Certainly, we must not doubt the words of the Yaarot Hadvash.
See in The Zohar, Emor (Say, p 99): “On judgment day, Israel need a Shofar and not a trumpet (other kind of horn) because a trumpet implies, wherever it is (meaning the quality of judgment, and see there in the Sulam [Ladder commentary]) and we need not awaken judgment.” This means that the Shofar is the quality of mercy.
We should interpret that he brings the matter of ostracizing because the blowing of the Shofar is due to fact that when ostracizing, the ostracized one is under the power of the quality of judgment. In order to prevent the quality of judgment from governing him, we must awaken mercy on him, which is akin to associating the quality of judgment with mercy, and with a Shofar, which has the power to evoke mercy.
It is likewise with the verse, “Blow the Shofar in Zion,” which is to warn the people to repent. Since we see that there is the quality of judgment, we must blow the Shofar to awaken the quality of mercy, for the Shofar can evoke mercy and give strength to the people to repent.
It is like a person standing on a mountain and watching. He sees from afar that an army is coming to fight with the city-people and rob its bounty, so he blows the Shofar so the people will assemble and go out to fight and save the city. It follows that the Shofar is the quality of judgment, as implied in the words of the holy Zohar.
And concerning the second matter that you wrote me, regarding the love of the Creator, these are your words: “Concerning the love of the Creator, it is as with anyone who loves his friend—he wants to cling to him (be with him). Similarly, with love of the Creator there should be a desire to be with the Creator and feel the pleasure of His nearness until he does not wish to part from Him.
“RASHAR Hirsh interprets that the love of the Creator is the desire in the heart to give gifts, to cajole one’s maker. As with any love of people, the lower wishes to give to the loved one. Likewise, the love of the Creator is called a desire deep in the heart to give and to bring contentment to one’s maker,” thus far his words.
I would add to this that both are true, but we should distinguish between them in terms of time, for we should always distinguish between reality and the persistence of reality. After all, we see that when a baby is born, we see a complete reality—that the baby is alive and nothing is missing in it.
At the same time, if the newborn does not receive its necessary nourishment, that reality is certain to be cancelled, for without nourishment the baby will die. Thus, in order for reality to persist, we need nourishments by which the newborn will grow. Also, if it receives spoiled or insufficient nourishment it will be very weak.
Likewise, the love of the Creator requires both these things:
The first is the purpose, regarded as “reality,” which is the love, the unification and Dvekut (adhesion) when one wants to be annulled before Him and has no other concern in life except to focus one’s mind and heart solely on Him day and night. He has no greater torment in the world than the suffering of being separated from this connection, as it is written, “If a man gives his entire fortune for love he will be despised.”
The second is the persistence of reality, so the love will not be cancelled, as well as for the love to grow and proliferate. This requires nourishment, meaning to provide food, which are called Mitzvot (commandments) and good deeds. To the extent that one engages in good deeds, the love between him and his maker grows. At that time the Creator, too, gives gifts, as lovers do. The gifts of the Creator are called “the revelation of the secrets of Torah,” called Maase Merkava and Maase Beresheet.
It follows that both interpretations are true. Subsequently, one is rewarded with a higher degree, called “unconditional love.”
The Creator will help us attain the love of the Creator.
From your friend who wishes you all the best in corporeality and spirituality.