The Sealed Cruse: Israel's Untouched Da'as

83aWe may explain Chazal's teaching that the Greeks wanted to abolish these three mitzvos through the Gemara's account, above, of the oils they defiled in the Heichal and the one cruse sealed by the Kohen Gadol that the victorious Chashmona'im found.¹ The question here is plain. From the simple sense of the Gemara, the Greeks' main aim in entering the Heichal was to defile all the oils. But what did they gain by that? We asked this in an earlier maamar on these words of the Gemara.²

83bBut we know from Chazal that oil hints at chochmah, wisdom,³ and “Chochmah is the brain; it is thought within.”⁴ Da'as, knowledge, also has its seat in the brain. The accursed Greeks saw and knew how precious to Hashem is the da'as of the Jewish soul, and how far Israel's exalted levels surpass every nation. “The ways of the world are his”:⁵ the course of the world goes only by the decision of the da'as of the holy people, the seed of Israel. This struck at their hearts and souls, very deeply, and they wanted to abolish Israel's mind and da'as and defile them. And the greatness and preciousness of Israel's exalted standing is made known most of all through these three mitzvos, Chodesh, milah and Shabbos.

83cChodesh shows it. On “which you shall proclaim them,” Chazal read osam, “them,” as atem, “you”: “‘You,’ even if you erred; ‘you,’ even if you did so on purpose.”⁶ The Yerushalmi says that if the beis din sanctified the month and then decided to add a day to it, a young girl's signs of virginity are restored.⁷ All of nature and the whole course of the stars depend on Israel, and all the festivals depend on the month. Shabbos shows it too. Although the holiness of Shabbos is “fixed and established,”⁸ the Jewish nation, in the greatness of its exalted holiness, sanctifies the holiness of Shabbos, as we say, “the people who sanctify the seventh day.”⁹ For the da'as of the holy people stands higher than the holiness of Shabbos.

83dMilah shows it as well. As the holy Arizal writes, it carries the hidden revelation of Godliness of the Name Yud-Hei: in the secret of peri'ah, the uncovering at the circumcision, the word פריעה joins פרע with Yud-Hei (יה). That is at the time of the circumcision. Afterward a person may become worthy to sanctify and purify himself and his mind, and not blemish the attribute of Yesod, the foundation, through the os bris kodesh, the sign of the holy covenant, the seal of the King, the King of the world, which the holy sefarim call the attribute of binding. Then he is worthy to bind and join himself to the light of the face of the King of life, for it is a sign between us and our Father. This surpassing attainment made the Greeks burn with anger. What is this, they asked, that the Creator, blessed be He, has set aside for the Jewish nation and granted it from the light of His holy wisdom? As the holy Torah says, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people”:¹⁰ they have a share in wisdom as a whole, from the true Wise One. And through the light of His holy wisdom that Hashem has granted us, we can repair ourselves and restore our wretched, broken souls.

84aThis is the meaning of the verse “Hashem founded the earth with wisdom … by His knowledge the depths were split.”¹¹ It follows the line of another verse: “For there is no deed, nor reckoning, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in Sheol.”¹² The holy Zohar explains that whatever is done with reckoning and knowledge is not in Sheol.¹³ Perhaps, then, one who has da'as, whom Hashem has graced with true da'as, is not in Sheol, and the verse can be read of him: “by his da'as the depths were split.” The wicked Greeks wanted to abolish and defile the holy da'as and the purity of mind of the Jewish nation, so that Israel would not strengthen itself, and then, Heaven forbid, “we would perish utterly.”¹⁴ So they wanted to take from Israel the three mitzvos we named, Shabbos, milah and Chodesh, through which the preciousness of Israel's da'as is made known.

84bThis answers the question. “They defiled all the oils”: the oils that hint at wisdom. “When the kingdom of the house of the Chashmona'im grew strong,” through their great holiness and righteousness, “and defeated them … they found one cruse” of pure oil, which hints at wisdom: the Greeks could not touch or defile the mind and da'as of Israel. It was “sealed with the seal of the Kohen Gadol.” The Kozhnitzer Maggid writes in his sefer Avodas Yisrael that this was the tikkun corresponding to “abundant in kindness,” the secret of the Kahana Rabbah, the great Kohen, and there was no blemish in it.¹⁵ I mean that the Greeks could not touch or defile the thoughts of Israel, and above all those of the holy Kohanim, in the holiness of their da'as, as it says, “The lips of the Kohen guard knowledge.”¹⁶ That is why it says the cruse was “sealed with the seal of the Kohen Gadol.”

84cThis is what Rashi means: “With his seal: put away in hiding … and one could tell that they had not touched it.”¹⁷ As is well known, Chochmah is one of the first three sefiros, the highest of the Divine attributes, above all the heights of the world. Of these it is said, “Do not seek out what is too wondrous for you, and do not probe what is hidden from you.”¹⁸ This is “in hiding”: no thought at all can grasp it there,¹⁹ and no gentile's touch can reach it. If no thought can grasp it, how much more, many times over, are impure idol worshippers powerless to touch or defile it! And all this came only from the great and mighty love and the extra endearment that the Creator, blessed be He, in His abundant mercy and kindness, showed the congregation of Israel, His treasured people, before the eyes of all.

85That is why the obligation with the Chanukah lights is to cherish this mitzvah and beautify it, as Chazal speak of mehadrin min hamehadrin, those who beautify it most of all.²⁰ We find this nowhere else: elsewhere there is only one who beautifies a mitzvah.