The Empty Cruse: A Vessel Ready for Miracles

184My holy father and teacher, zt"l, zy"a,¹ spoke in his holiness to answer the Beis Yosef's question [why eight days?]: on the first night there was no miracle, since, as Chazal say, there was oil in the cruse for one night.² In his holiness he said that in truth they found only an empty cruse of oil. Had it been full, it would have held enough to light for one night; and a miracle was done with it, so that it held enough to light for eight days. This answers the question: the light of the first night too was a miracle. At first glance his holy words are puzzling. What joy did they have in finding an empty cruse? And why was an empty cruse sealed with the seal of the Kohen Gadol?

185It seems that if a vessel has been sanctified in holiness and purity as the law requires, without the slightest trace of contact with impurity, so that Michael, the great prince who stands for Israel,³ can testify that it was sanctified in holiness and purity as the law requires, then the vessel is worthy and fit for a miracle to happen to it for the sake of all Israel, even above nature. This is the meaning of the Gemara's “a cruse of oil” [the cruse, the vessel, is what counted]: in truth it was empty, but it was sealed with the seal of the Kohen Gadol, with the testimony of Michael, the great prince, that it had been sanctified in holiness and purity, with no touch of an idolater. So a miracle was done with it, and they lit from it for eight days. That was his holy meaning.

186aTo explain the matter: for anything made and set apart for holiness to rest on it, or to be fit for a lofty miracle to take hold in it, the vessel must be prepared and worthy for holiness to dwell in it and be received. This is called chinuch, dedication. As the holy sefarim write, Chanukah comes from chinuch, dedicating something anew. In the chinuch, which is the beginning and the first, it is not fitting for any impurity to be found: there must be complete purity, in holiness and purity as the law requires, with nothing lacking in the root and the beginning. In this way my holy father answered the question of the Pnei Yehoshua: why was the miracle needed at all, when impurity is permitted for the community?⁴ He answered that Chanukah is a matter of chinuch, as we said, and, as the Maharsha writes, it was the dedication of the altar.⁵ At the time of a dedication it is not fitting for any impurity to be found. Impurity is set aside for the community only while the Beis HaMikdash stands in its proper order and holiness. But to dedicate and sanctify a thing, so that it becomes a vessel fit to receive holiness, it must be wholly in order, with no lack and no impurity.

186bIf a person is sanctified in complete holiness and purity as the law requires, he is a vessel fit for a miracle above nature to be done for him. And if, Heaven forbid, his holiness has been blemished, even so there is faithful counsel for him: to nullify himself completely, down to the very dust, until he becomes like hyle, the formless first matter. Then the impurity flies from him and he becomes a new vessel, like something that sheds its form and afterward puts on a new one.

186cThis is what the holy Maggid of Mezritch, zt"l, zy"a, said in explaining the Mishnah “and their opposites in a golem.”⁶ Chilufeihen, “their opposites,” is read as “their exchange”: when something becomes a golem, an unformed thing, as in “unformed wooden vessels,”⁷ it can be exchanged and made into the form of a new vessel. Golem (גלם) has the numerical value of chochmah (חכמה), 73, and chochmah is alluded to in the letter yud, as is known. The yud, we know, is the smallest of all the letters; every letter can be made from it, and it can be turned into whatever letter one wishes. The hint points to smallness and submission. For the core of chochmah (חכמה) is ko'ach mah (כח מה), “the power of what”:⁸ a person makes himself small, humbles himself to the very ground and believes in Hashem. In this way he mends his chochmah, which the yud alludes to, and through this he becomes a vessel fit to receive holiness. This is why the day [the eighth] is called Zos Chanukah: zos, “this,” is the receiving vessel, worthy and fit to receive the lofty holiness and worthy of a miracle above nature.

187This explains Chazal's saying: “When the Greeks entered Yerushalayim, they made thirteen breaches in it; and when [the Chashmona'im] prevailed, they instituted thirteen prostrations corresponding to them.”⁹ The accursed Greeks saw the holy congregation in a low state, with broken hearts and crushed spirits, and still they grieved and humbled them further: they reminded them of their sins and of how far the blemish reached. So they breached the walls of Israel, and kept the light of the thirteen attributes of mercy from shining on Israel. And when the Chashmona'im prevailed, they instituted thirteen prostrations corresponding to them, that is, to match them, to repair the breach and draw down the thirteen attributes of mercy. For with each and every prostration they drew down the light of mercy from the thirteen attributes to shine on Israel. The words “corresponding to them” tell us what they took to heart: how far the strength of the opposing force reached. When they saw how great the breach was, they instituted thirteen prostrations to match it, to repair the breach and rebuild the wall.