Dvar Torah for Chanukah

Based on Likutey MoHaran I, Lesson #1

Believe it or not, there are actually a number of good things about galut (exile). For example, not only is it temporary, but we can actually do something about it! This in itself could be one of the most important lessons of the Chanukah miracle. (If you have forgotten the story, click here. [The link may have been changed.]) Of course, all the efforts of the Chashmonaim (Hasmoneans) would have amounted to naught if the good Lord wouldn't have helped, but that's another dvar Torah.

Rebbe Nachman begins the Likutey MoHaran with an impassioned call to study Torah, and to study it as best as one can. This plea starts out with a statement that our prayers are answered in proportion to the grace we find in God's eyes, but now, in exile, we Jews have fallen from grace.

Everything that Hashem (God) created, He created with a purpose. The ultimate purpose is to build the malkhut d'kedushah (Kingdom of Holiness). In order to do that, we must understand the specific purpose for which each thing exists, how the existence of any particular thing (or concept) is meant to contribute to the building of malkhut d'kedushah. The Rebbe refers to that purpose as the seikhel of each thing. Because that seikhel gives the reason for the thing's existence, seikhel is associated with the letter chet, from the word chiyut, vitality. Seikhel (literally, intelligence) is a great light. Potentially it can shine for a person no less than the sun. When the sun shines one sees clearly the road before him. S/he knows where the road twists and turns, where the potholes are, and how to navigate them all, to arrive safely at the ultimate destination.

However, because it is so great, the light of seikhel must be contained in order to be usable. The only container for it is malkhut. Malkhut is related to the letter nun (Rashi on Psalms 72:17). Rebbe Nachman explains that malkhut, in and of itself, is totally empty. It has nothing but what others invest in it. Thus, it would seem, we merely have to acknowledge the malkhut d'kedushah and–voila–all our seikhel will be properly harnessed and we will be enlightened. But, no. Malkhut d'kedushah has an evil twin, malkhut d'Sitra Achra (Kingdom of the Other Side, namely the energy of evil in Creation). Each of these twins, like a moon, reflects the light of intelligence given off by the sun–but each has its own sun, its own source of intelligence. Of course, since you don't want to get any of the evil 'GreekÓ light, you want to know how you can do to get the holy Jewish light.

The answer is, by pledging allegiance to the malkhut d'kedushah. Not merely by saying you side with the Kingdom of Holiness, mind you, but by making extra effort to study Torah, whether that effort is at the expense of some extra sleep, or overtime, or your own laziness. Because the guiding doctrine of the malkhut d'Sitra Achra is 'do what you want with the world,Ó regardless of what it's here for. Decide what you want and set about getting it, achieving it. This creed ignores the ultimate purpose of the wisdom contained within Creation. Which, of course, is foolhardy.

It is foolhardy in the main because one loses chein (grace) in Hashem's eyes as a result. For when one requests something from another, it is only granted if the one being asked has room in his heart for the one asking. Pledging allegiance to the malkhut d'kedushah by exerting yourself in the study of Torah unites the letters chet (seikhel) and nun (malkhut), which together spell chein These two letters are also the first two letters of the word ChaNukah. When the Chashmonaim rebelled against the Greeks and thereby declared that it was not acceptable to do whatever one wants, they were pledging themselves to the malkhut d'kedushah. In the circumstances they found themselves–Torah study was prohibited–their exertion to study necessitated waging a real war against the Greeks.

They won the war and were freed from exile. They were able to re-enter the Holy Temple. The discovery of the jar of pure olive oil, the fuel to light the Menorah, told them that through their actions they had indeed succeeded in revealing the seikhel. Thus, the Jewish people had the Temple restored to them, the gate through which all prayers ascend to Heaven. They had found CheiN–ChaNukah–in Hashem's eyes and their prayers would again be answered.

alikhtige Chanukah!
Chanukah sameiach!

(The lighting of the Menorah between 3ø10 handbreadths from the ground indicates that the seikhel God invested in Creation reaches even to the most seemingly insignificant items. The reason we do not put the Menorah on the floor itself is to show that the light was intentionally placed there by its owner/Owner and is not there by chance.)