Thought or Deed: Beis Hillel's Way for the Lowly

161In the dispute above, Rashi explains Beis Shammai's reason, “the days that are coming in,” as the days yet to come, set against Beis Hillel's “days that have gone out.”¹

162aThe dispute of Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel can be explained through the dispute of R' Eliezer and R' Yehoshua. R' Eliezer says, “In Tishrei the world was created”; R' Yehoshua says, “In Nissan the world was created.”² Tosafos there writes in the name of Rabbeinu Tam that one may say both are the words of the living God: “In Tishrei it arose in thought to create the world, and it was not created until Nissan.” So far his words.³ So it is also in the writings of the Arizal, by way of the hidden teaching. Following these words of Tosafos, we can explain the dispute of R' Eliezer and R' Yehoshua. For R' Eliezer, the will and the thought to do the deed are the main thing, even though they exist only b'ko'ach, in potential. R' Yehoshua holds that a thought cannot be counted as real existence until it is in actual deed. So he holds that the world was created in Nissan, when its creation took place in actual deed.

162bThis is the dispute of Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel. Beis Shammai hold with R' Eliezer that the thought and the potential are the main thing, and in potential the miracle was greater on the first night than on all the other days. That is why Rashi explains “the days that are coming in” as the days “yet to come.” For, as is known, Binah, the sefirah of understanding, is in the hidden teaching the World to Come, the world “yet to come.” And the first night is the source of all the days; it is called “the mother of the children,”⁴ the source of the middos, the Divine attributes. Through awakening the attribute of Binah, the source of teshuvah, as it says, “and his heart will understand, and he will return …,”⁵ they were privileged on that first night to complete teshuvah. So Beis Shammai hold that one lights eight then, for that was when the miracle was at its height.

162cBeis Hillel hold with R' Yehoshua that the main thing is the actual deed. And in actual deed, the full force of the miracle's working was seen on the eighth day more than on all the others. So they hold that one adds as he goes and lights eight on the eighth night. For this reason the eighth day of Chanukah is called Zos Chanukah, “This is the Chanukah.”⁶ Zos (זאת), like zeh (זה), its masculine form, signifies something plain to the eye, something one can point to with a finger. As Chazal said, “In the future the Holy One, blessed be He, will make a circle dance for the tzaddikim, and each one will point with his finger and say, ‘Behold, this (zeh) is our God.’”⁷ That is, the revelation of Godliness will be so great that it will be recognized and seen by every eye. All this is heard in the word zeh. So too here: according to Beis Hillel, the full force of the miracle's working was recognized and seen on the eighth day more than on all the other days.

163To explain this by the ways of avodas Hashem, the service of Hashem, we begin with the Arizal's well-known words on Chazal's saying “Beis Shammai are sharper.”⁸ Beis Shammai, he says, were too sharp for the world: their middos were higher than this world, which cannot bear them or endure at the level of their great holiness. In the time to come the halachah will follow Beis Shammai, as the Arizal writes. Their view is that the main thing is the potential, the thought. Beis Hillel's middah is kindness, as the Ra'aya Mehemna, a part of the Zohar, says: “Hillel is from the side of mercy.”⁹ The letters of Hillel (הלל) begin the words HaRofei Lishvurei Lev (הרופא לשבורי לב), “He heals the broken-hearted”:¹⁰ Hillel heals the broken hearts of Israel. The halachah follows Beis Hillel, and the letters of halachah (הלכה) begin the words Hari'u LaShem Kol Ha'aretz (הריעו לה׳ כל הארץ), “Shout to Hashem, all the earth”:¹¹ through the study of halachah one raises up the whole earth, even one who is at the lowest ebb, in the depths of the earth. So Beis Hillel hold that the main thing is the actual deed. Even one who is not on a high level, and cannot serve with the inner power, with a holy and pure mind and with proper kavanah in doing the mitzvah, can still serve in actual deed, and through the work of his hands the inner self, the power within, will awaken.

164aSo my holy father and teacher, zt"l, zy"a,¹² explained the Rema's words in Orach Chaim: “The meticulous have the custom of swaying while the Torah is read …”¹³ The Midrash too says that one must sway with all his limbs, because of the verse “All my bones shall say, Hashem …”¹⁴ And the Magen Avraham writes in the name of the Asarah Maamaros that a few perushim, men who hold themselves apart, have the custom of swaying gently, to fulfill “and before My Name he is nichas.”¹⁵ Nichas there means “in awe,” but here it is read as nachas, “gently.” My father explained the dispute between the Midrash and the Magen Avraham this way. The Magen Avraham wrote only of people on a high level, whose movement comes from within: it is the inner self that sways. As the holy Zohar says of Israel: “Once a man has said one word of Torah, the light kindles, and they cannot keep still, and they sway to and fro.”¹⁶ For he stands in trembling and sweat, in awe and fear, before the splendor of Hashem's majesty, as it says, “The people saw, and they trembled (vayanu'u),”¹⁷ the same word as swaying. But if the swaying does not come from within, from the depths of the heart, one should not sway, for “the matter depends on the understanding of the heart,” as Chazal said, “The Merciful One wants the heart.”¹⁸ That is why the Asarah Maamaros wrote that only a few perushim have the custom of swaying gently.

164bThe Midrash's view is also true. That level, swaying only from within, is very good, but not every mind can bear it. So the Midrash says that one must sway with all his limbs, even when his awe does not come from within his heart. Let him do whatever he does, so long as he directs his heart: let him serve in actual deed and with force, in outward service, with voice and crying out, until the inner heart is kindled and catches fire. Let him do all that is bechocho, in his power, to do. As the holy Baal Shem Tov taught on the verse “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your strength (bechochacha)”:¹⁹ let him do it b'ko'ach, with force, and through this he will awaken the koach, the power, of the inner self. That is why the Midrash says that one must sway.

165This is the meaning of “the halachah follows Beis Hillel.” Even one who is at the lowest ebb, and cannot serve with the inner power, with a holy and pure mind and with kavanah in the mitzvah, should still at least do the mitzvah with the work of his hands alone. Through the outer powers the inner ones will awaken, for “a log that the fire does not catch, they strike it.”²⁰ Otherwise he would do nothing at all, and we have been commanded by the Holy One, blessed be He, to do the mitzvos. Only let him do the mitzvah with great and true humility: let him know truly where he stands and how little he is worth, that he knows nothing. Then he will be privileged to draw the power from the holy Avos into the deed.

166Chazal's words can be explained the same way: “Now that we know the fixing of the month, why do we keep two days? Because they sent word from there: Take care with the custom of your fathers that is in your hands.”²¹ The people in Eretz Yisrael, who were close to “the light of the King's face, which is life,”²² felt the full force of the festival's precious holiness and its bright lights on the first day. Those who were far from the service of Hashem did not yet feel the precious holiness of the festival's light on the first day. Even so, in Hashem's kindness, “so that no one banished should stay banished from Him,”²³ Chazal added another day for us, misfeika deyoma. The phrase means “out of doubt about the day,” but here it is read from hispiku, “had time enough”: the day was added for those who did not have time enough to feel the holy light. As for us, the lesser people of these times: though we know the fixing of the month, and though we do not feel the light even on the second day, at least “the custom of our fathers is in our hands.”

167aIt is as the holy Zohar says at the end of Parshas Yisro, on “May the pleasantness of Hashem our God be upon us, and the work of our hands, establish it”:²⁴ “No man is wise enough to direct his will; there is only the deed. ‘Establish it’: in one bond with the Avos.”²⁵ The Zohar's words mean this. No'am, pleasantness, is the pleasantness and sweetness that come from the World to Come, as the Zohar says: “No'am is the pleasantness that goes out from the World to Come.”²⁶ This is the heart of our prayer “May the pleasantness of Hashem be upon us”: that we feel the delight and sweetness of the mitzvah. “The work of our hands” is one who cannot direct his heart and do the mitzvah as is right and fitting. His doing is only “the work of our hands,” a deed of the hands alone, like a beast, without understanding and without kavanah. Even so, through true humility he comes to the pleasantness and sweetness of the mitzvah. That is the Zohar's phrase, to be joined as one with the Avos, the holy Avos. They gave all their heart and will to Hashem, and they served with kavanah, in purity and holiness of mind, with mocha de'Abba, the mind of Abba, “Father,” which in the hidden teaching is Chochmah, wisdom, the higher Father. The Avos reached great perceptions, lofty and exalted, that are not our concern.

167bThis is what Chazal meant by “the custom (minhag) of your fathers that is in your hands.” Minhag speaks of hanhagah, leading and drawing down: drawing the power and the thought from the holy Avos into “the work of our hands,” into the mitzvos and good deeds that we do with our hands alone, without understanding or kavanah, in the act alone. All this comes through true humility, when a person knows how little he is worth and has a broken heart. Through great humility he is privileged to draw understanding and will into the deeds of his hands. This is what the Gemara says: “If a deaf-mute, a shoteh or a minor lit it, they have done nothing.”²⁷ A shoteh there is one not of sound mind, but here it is read as the fool who is proud and thinks that he lights the Chanukah lamp properly and as it should be done: he has done nothing at all.