OLIVE OIL

Dear Family,

Hope everyone is well and enjoying Channukah.

Mazal Tov to Hirshy on continually getting good grades in his courses BH. Michayil el chayil!

The halacha for lighting candles on Channukah is that all candles and oils can be used , but the optimal way to perform the mitzva is with OLIVE OIL (as used in the Temple Menorah), and one should pay extra for it.

There was an interesting letter that the Rebbe wrote to someone, and he was discussing the paradoxical qualities of oil, with a message.

Thereafter I saw an essay by Rabbi Yosef Jacobson who used this letter as a Guide for Life.

So the points the Rebbe mentioned about oil were as follows

1. It is made by crushing the olives (Shmos Rabbah, Parshas Tezaveh)

This alludes to Humility

2. It permeates deeply through all solid entities (Yoreh Deah) - like other foods, materials, our own body etc

This reflects its connection to all entities.

3. Conversely oil does not mix with other liquids (Shmos Rabbah)

This alludes to its discreteness

4. And it rises above all other liquids (Shmos Rabbah)

Which indicates elevation.

The Rebbe then gives the following message as follows

1. The beginning of Divine Service must be characterised by kabbolas ol as in 'my soul will be as dust to all'- Siddur

2. Then one must 'Love ones fellow' ie if he sees that his or her fellow's body does not ascend and become one with the light of his soul, he must extend himself and permeate through to him.

3. In the process he himself does not descend and become mingled with undesirable qualities of his fellow. On the contrary, he ascends to great heights, until ultimately.....

4. He reaches a lofty and elevated level (he himself is limited, but the work he is doing is that of The Holy One Blessed be He, and therefore he is now comparable with Him (Bertachos 345b)

Rabbi Jacobson as a guide for life takes these 4 points as follows:

If a human being wants to be a source of LIGHT and WARMTH (like oil) for himself, his family, community, and the world, he must learn to cultivate the 4 properties of oil

1. Be humble ie the antithesis of arrogance and self-inflation

2. Through the above crushing of oneself one will become 'oil' and penetrate others deeply and share with others, and become more open to others.

3. Yet the above should not cause one to lose ones identity. The beauty and magic of a relationship lies precisely in the fact that 2 individuals choose to share themselves with each other- the discreteness of oil.

4. The above 3-fold process of crushing oneself, bonding with another, and at the same time remaining distinct - this allows one to gain a true appreciation of ones unique individual place in G-d's world.

One realises that in some small fashion one owns something that nobody else in the history of humanity ever had or will have. And this is not arrogance. It is an appreciation that we were each conceived with purpose and love, and just like oil we too can rise to the top.

Gut Shabbos and Gut Channukah to all with lots of Light and Warmth