PMF
Jewish Section - Rabbi Brandwein's Essays
The War of the Greeks Against the Jews
It is necessary to understand the essence of Greece from a more inner
perspective. The Zohar says that Greece symbolizes Klipat Noga. Klipat
Noga bears explaining. There are four Klipot (husks) as in Ezekiel's
vision. In Chapter one is written:
Ezek 1:4
That is: 1) a windstorm; 2) an immense cloud; 3) brilliant fire.
Spiritual reality has three parts:
Besides these two, there is a realm that is called "permission" that
has neither transgression nor Mitzvah. For example, the sages of
blessed memory commanded us that a man should work to make a living or
if, heaven forbid, a man is sick, he must go to a doctor for healing.
This is called the realm of permission. If a man works honestly and
keeps the Mitzvot so as not to cheat his brother and not to lie and
then believes that his salary and living come from the L-rd and doesn't
consider his success as coming from his own force and the strength of
his own hand, he broadens the realm of permission and inserts this
space into the realm of holiness. And if the opposite prevails and he
considers his success as coming from himself and works dishonestly, he
broadens the realm of permission into that of impurity.
Now we can better understand the essence of Greece that the Zohar
defines as Klipat Noga. The essence of Greece is to attribute all of
existence to nature and the forces of nature as existing without Divine
supervision i.e., denial that nature is governed but, rather, that all
depends on the powers of the individual, his body and his wisdom and
that there is no reality above nature nor a G-d that governs the world.
According to this we shall understand what the sages, of blessed
memory, say when the Greeks decreed to annul the three Mitzvoth,
Shabbat, month and circumcision since, principally, these three
precepts symbolize those things that are above nature. Shabbat is a
sabbatical that the L-rd created and gave us after six days of creating
nature. Circumcision is the correction of the human body from the way
it is created by nature. The consecration of the month, according to
which act we have all the festivals, is also opposed to nature because
the sages, of blessed memory, determine when the new month is. That
power is given to the wise ones of Israel and everything depends upon
their determination. This is the reason why the sages, of blessed
memory, say that they ordered the nation of Israel to write on a bull's
horn. "you have no part in the G-d of Israel." The bull indicates rigor
and "Elokim" (G-d) that is the Gematria of "Teva" (nature) i.e., the
side that governs nature - that we, Israel, unify "Teva" to "Elokim"
that the Greeks wished to annul, i.e., as if all depended upon the
strength of man and the power of nature alone.
According to this, we shall understand why the Mitzvah of Chanukah is
to light oil candles. This is also the difference between Chanukah and
Purim that during Purim the Mitzvah is principally in drinking wine.
Wine and oil both symbolize joy and wisdom as it is said in
Ecclesiastes "oil makes the heart joyful and wine will gladden the
heart of man." But the principal function of oil is from the bottom up,
i.e., oil floats and illuminates from bottom to top. Wine, on the other
hand, works from top down, i.e., it is drunk from the mouth to the body
just as we find that on the altar the libation of the wine was from top
to bottom. Oil, we find, was used for the head where Cohens (priests)
and kings were anointed upon the head as it is written in Psalms, "as
good oil on the head."
In the body of man, there are also two parts, head and body. The head
symbolizes thought, judgment and control of bodily impulses. The body
represents nature and its forces. The Greeks didn't wish to annihilate
the bodies of the Jews but rather to impose the forces of nature and
the denial of G-d - that they not look from the bottom up. i.e., to
the upward direction where there is a governor and a supervisor of
nature. Thus during Chanukah, the Mitzvah is with oil that illuminates
from bottom upwards and we are commanded only to see the lights and not
to use them for the purposes of the body - i.e., we are to meditate on
the "above nature" reality. On Purim, to the contrary, the edict was to
"annihilate and to kill and to eliminate," i.e., even if the nation of
Israel were to deny the existence of G-d, heaven forbid, the edict of
annihilation would remain in force and thus on Purim we are commanded
to abundantly drink wine that pleases the body from top down
symbolizing the miracle of the saving of the bodies.
According to Beit Shammai, one should light eight candles the first
night and reduce that number with each passing day since during Succoth
the number of sacrifices - seventy - corresponding to the seventy
nations - are reduced day after day. From the last day of Succoth,
until Chanukah, there are also seventy days and the nations of the
world symbolize nature. Each day, more of nature enters the realm of
holiness until, Chanukah, when all is rendered part of the sacred.
Beit Hillel says we should add a candle each day. There is a famous
story in the Gemara Massechet Shabbat that a non-Jew came to Shammai
and asked to be taught the whole Torah in the space of a moment.
Shammai pushed him away. He then came to Hillel with the same demand
and Hiilel told him "What is hateful to you, do not do unto your
neighbor that is the whole Torah for the rest go and study Torah." In
another story, a non-Jew came to Shammai and asked how to become a
Cohen Gadol (high priest). Again, in this story, Shammai pushed him
away. Then he came to Hillel, Hillel told him to first learn Torah.
Hillel knew that with the sudy of Torah, the non-Jew would learn that a
convert cannot become a Cohen, only the descendants of Aaron. Through
these stories, we learn of the difference between Shammai and Hillel.
According to Shammai, we must first purify ourselves from evil and only
then enter the dimension of the sacred. Hillel, on the other hand,
claims that we must enter the sacred immediately and bit by bit
impurity will be displaced.
The same principle can be seen in fire and its light. On the one hand,
it consumes and on the other it illuminates. In the "Al HaNissim"
prayer said during Chanukah, we see two functions - "Pinu et
Hachalecha" (they cleared Your hall) and "VeTiharu et Mikdashecha" (and
they purified Your Temple). Further on, it is written "VeHidliku
Neroth" (and they lit candles). We see here two functions - that of the
fire that destroys (to purify evil) and that of the light that
illuminates (to clear the way for holiness). Shammai emphasized the
eradication of evil and thus begins with a maximum of fire - i.e.,
eight candles. Hillel emphasized affirmative action - beginning with
one candle and gradually eliminating the darkness.
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