Our Flask of Potential

Chavi Zieleniec (Grade 11) 

As the Chanukah story unfolds, after a victorious battle against the יוונים, the מכבים return to find the smallest portion of oil left in the בית המקדש. The amount of oil was insufficient for one full night, even more so for all eight nights! However, the oil miraculously lasted for all eight nights and Hashem’s נס shined bright. The miraculous oil teaches us about Hashem’s immeasurable abilities, but I’d like to focus on a different aspect of the oil. An aspect that gives us insight into actualizing our own potential. 

Originally the oil only seemed to be able to provide for the first night, certainly not eight full nights. Yet Hashem performed a miracle that would change the perspective of potential. A quote I saw on Chabad.org, writes: “Deep inside your soul, a flask of pure oil awaits just one tiny flame.” We all are given our own flask that may seemingly be insignificant but we have the ability to transform one tiny flame into eight full nights of perfection. It is said that the average person only utilizes 5–10% of their potential. The cause of this statistic may be because we don’t know what our flask can do! Moshe Rabeinu, the greatest leader and Navi to ever walk the earth exemplifies his own flask in a way that will give us insight. Moshe Rabeinu really had 10 names. Batya was the one who named him Moshe, which was the name that Hashem referred to him by. Batya chose the name Moshe because of the meaning of the word. Moshe is derived from “ מן המים משיתהו” which translates to “He was drawn”, which is referring to how Batya drew Moshe from the water. Hashem made a powerful decision to call Moshe by the name Batya gave him out of the 10 names that Moshe had. Many Mefarshim comment that the reason for this was to teach Bnei Yisrael the vital lesson of potential and challenges. The lesson is that just as Moshe was drawn from the water, he will figuratively speaking, draw others from their “waters”. Moshe was put in a basket and floated through the nile, this could have led to drastic circumstances. The water was Moshe’s challenge or ‘flask’. and he was saved from his waters. Just as Moshe was saved he will save and help others. Hashem gives us our flasks in many shapes and sizes we need to break through and utilize all the potential of our oil. 

Happy Chanukah!

An Important Role Behind the Scenes

Mrs. Sharon Fixler (Assistant Principal)

It is interesting to note that, although the Maccabees and their incredible military victory over the Syrian-Greeks takes center stage in the story of Chanukah, there is an important female component to the story, operating behind the scenes.

We learn about the significance of a woman’s role in the victory originally through the Gemara (Shabbat 23a), which teaches: “Women certainly light, as Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi taught: Women are obligated in ner Chanukah, as they were also in the miracle…”

The Rishonim discuss the precise meaning of the phrase, “”they were also in the miracle”. Many Talmudic commentators explain that since women were saved by the military defeat of the Syrian-Greeks, they are therefore obligated to commemorate that victory through lighting candles each night of Chanukah. 

Other commentaries take it a step further. Women also brought about the miracles of Chanukah by contributing directly to the military victory. How so?

Rabbi David Brofsky explains that the Rashbam claims that this miracle was facilitated by Yehudit, a beautiful Jewish widow known to us through the apocryphal book of Judith. Yehudit ingratiated herself to the enemy general, Holofernes, and eventually famously and courageously decapitated him while he slept in a drunken stupor. The Assyrians, having lost their leader, fled, and the Jewish people were saved.

Dr. Erica Brown, noted Jewish scholar and author, writes on the topic of Yehudit and her courageous act, that “these texts challenge the image of what we expect warriors to look like. And just like the Hanukkah story generally, the message of these texts is that it’s not always the likely candidates who save the day. Sometimes salvation comes when you least expect it from those who are least likely to deliver it”.

Chanukah Same’ach!

A Closer Look at the Meaning of Oil

Yosef Grauer (Grade 10)

The Gemara in Shabbat on daf .כא, discusses the story of Chanukah and tells us that when the Jewish people returned to the Beit Hamikdash, they found a jug of oil that was still sealed by the Kohen Gadol. The seal meant that it was Tahor, pure, and not Tamei, impure. What is strange though is that the jug used to hold the oil was made out of earthenware and the halacha is that the contents of earthenware can become Tamei by being moved by a Tamei person even if the jug is sealed. 

Why then does the Gemara tell us that the jug of oil was sealed if the contents of earthenware can become Tamei even with the seal?

Tosfot says that the Gemara really meant that the jug was sealed to the floor so they knew that the jug was not touched. Tosafot also says that the Gemara also could have meant that the jug of oil was inside a room and the room was sealed so they knew it was Tahor. 

Rashi and the Ran say that when the Greeks came into the Beit Hamikdash, they destroyed all of the jugs, but this jug must have been hidden, otherwise it would have also been destroyed. We know that the Greeks did not find the jug because it was not destroyed. Rashi and the Ran believe that since the Greeks wanted to destroy every jug that they found, it is clear that this jug never would have been touched and moved without also being destroyed. 

The Ran says that the Greeks came into the Beit Hamikdash searching for gold and silver and in thinking that the jugs were filled with gold, they destroyed the jugs hoping to find the gold and silver. 

Rashi however, said that the reason why the Greeks wanted to destroy all of the jugs was not because the Greeks wanted to physically kill the Jewish people, but rather, they hated religious practice and they wanted everyone to be philosophers devoid of religious beliefs. Since the Greeks associated jugs of oil with religion, they naturally had to destroy all of the jugs. 

What is most ironic and where we can see the Yad Hashem is that the Greeks tried to destroy the oil to remove religious practice, but it is exactly because they tried to destroy the oil that Chanukah has become such an inspiring religious holiday. 

As we know, there are two miracles we commemorate on Chanukah: One, the miracle of the war and the miracle of the oil. Without taking away from the military victory, which was certainly a great nes, it was the miracle of the oil which became the symbol of our Chag and the reason so many celebrate it today. 

In the end therefore, the exact thing that the Greeks tried to destroy (the oil) was the object that inspired us in the time of the Beit Hamikdash and continues to inspire us today. 

We all think of Purim as the holiday of “venaafochu” in which HKBH reversed the plans of Haman, but as we can see – to a certain extent the same thing happened here on Chanukah. 

We should do our best to look at the oil, remember what the Greeks tried to accomplish and recognize that every time we light our oil, we are in effect showing the Greeks how strong our Jewish commitment really is.

Chanukah Sameach!

להשכיחם תורתך ולהעבירם מחוקי רצונך

Rabbi Hillel Horovitz (Shaliach/Judaic Studies Teacher)

During Chanukah we celebrate the Jewish victory over the Greeks in the time of the Second Beit HaMikdash. When we describe the Greek plan in “על הניסים”, we mention that they wanted to do two things – “להשכיחם תורתך ולהעבירם מחוקי רצונך”, translated in some Siddurim as “make them forget your Torah and compel them to stray from the rules of your will”. To simplify this, we may say that the Greeks wanted us to forget the Torah and not perform Mitzvot.

Why are these two goals of the Greeks described by different verbs? Why is the goal to “forget” Torah, and to “compel” not to do Mitzvot? The Hebrew word “להעבירם” is a more active word than “להשכיחם”.

Let us try to understand how we can make someone forget something we want him not to have in mind. Any instruction to forget will be counterproductive! If I mention to you what I would like you to forget, I am in fact reminding you of it! Forgetting is not an action we can actively do. Research shows that one of the best ways to forget is to change perspective, add new memories, and focus on new content. This will not “erase” the memory, rather, this will make access to the previous memory harder and in time that will be forgotten.

When the Greeks wanted to change the Jewish way of life they knew that people will not “forget” Mitzvot and laws. In order to prevent a Jew from performing a Mitzvah we need to compel or to force him to do so. Mitzvot are active things that we do in our day to day lives; we define ourselves by them and every attempt to stop us from doing them will result in a resistance. 

But what about the “spirit of the law”, the Torah? How do we draw people away from that? The best way to do that is by distracting them, introducing them to other values, making sure that they are busy with other beliefs and thoughts. You do not need to actively threaten someone to change his values, just create a long unthreatening exposure and the person will slowly forget his previous beliefs. The best attack possible from the Greek perspective is the one where you are not even aware that you are under attack.

Forgetting our values is something that the Torah feared in earlier days as well. “It shall be, when Hashem your God shall bring you into the land … to give you, great and goodly cities, … vineyards and olive trees, which you didn’t plant, and you shall eat and be full. Then beware lest you forget Hashem, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt…” (Devarim 6:10-12) When life is good, we are more prone to forgetting our values.

This can also be seen in a famous Aesop’s Fable:

The wind and the sun argued one day over which one was the stronger. Spotting a man traveling on the road, they sported a challenge to see which one could remove the coat from the man’s back the quickest.
The wind began. He blew strong gusts of air, so strong that the man could barely walk against them. But the man clutched his coat tight against him. The harder the wind blew, the tighter the man held his coat against him. The wind blew until he was exhausted, but he could not remove the coat from the man’s back.
It was now the sun’s turn. He gently sent his beams upon the traveler. The sun did very little, but quietly shone upon his head and back until the man became so warm that he took off his coat and headed for the nearest shade tree.

These two dangers are always present, but it seems that we are more prone to להשכיחם (forgetting) than to להעבירם (compelling) with any threats or forceful acts. How do we fight this notion even in our days? 

The Pasuk in משלי tells us: “כי נר מצוה ותורה אור” (Mishlei 6:23) The Mitzvot are like a candle and the Torah is like a great light. We need to actively be adding light in our life. We have Chanukah, when we light the candles and remind ourselves that we are maintaining our way and will not be actively thrown off our path. Additionally we have an obligation to increase our Torah learning throughout the year, ensuring that we are aware of our battle against forgetting, aware of the danger of our unawareness and that we are actively adding light into our lives.

Remembering Mr. Howard Kleinberg z”l

This year’s Sparks of Light series is dedicated in memory of Mr. Howard Kleinberg z”l, grandfather of a number of BAS alumni, who passed away on Erev Chanukah. We’ll be sharing memories from some of his many visits and speaking engagements at BAS over the years.

Dancing with Mr. Kleinberg during a visit from YOC students and rebbeim