Kedushas Levi's
tweet
In order to understand Chanuka's significance on a personal,
meditative level (versus historical/national one) Rav Levi Yitzchak of
Berdichev, in his work "Kedushas Levi" says we need to put it in
context of the rest of the year. He states it as follows:
"The rule is on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kipur, Hakosh Baruch Hu prescribes good for the Jewish people but only on Chanuka do the Jewish people start to see it with their mind, that is in thought…and then on Purim in speech when they read the megilah, and on Pesach in action when they eat the matza…"
Anyone familiar with Chasidic/Kabbalistic concepts will
immediately notice the paradigm Rav Levi Yitzchak is referring to. Just so
we're all on the same page, here's a brief breakdown:
Deciphering the
Kedushas Levi tweet: Intro to the Four Worlds
Chasidus talks about how all change happens through four
progressive stages. Whether Chasidus is talking about how G-d created the world
or about how a person functions consciously – the same paradigm is used and
that is the paradigm of descent through four worlds.
The four worlds start from the most abstract and ethereal, Atzilus,
pass on to Beriyah, then Yetzirah, and end off in the most
concrete, Asiyah. These worlds also have their counterpart within the
garments of the soul (Chasidus's term for human functions) : Atzilus
parallels Will/Desire, Beriyah - Thought, Yetzirah is the world
of Speech and Asiyah is the world of Action.
This paradigm illustrates what makes humans tick. For example:
where do my actions (the world of Asiyah) come from? It all starts with
a desire which is very abstract – so abstract that I might not even be aware of
it. The first step to actualize my desire/will is to contract it into a
thought. Then the thought needs to be further constricted (into
words/breath/syllables) in order to be communicated outside my head so it can
get one step closer to becoming reality. And finally, I follow through on my
thoughts and speech and it becomes action.
Back To Berdichev and Putting Things in Context
Now with all of this background we can return to that terse
Kedushas Levi and put all the pieces into place.
He said that G-d prescribes tremendous good to the Jewish people
for the year. How do we bring this down into our lives? Into which vessels can
this light flow? Turns out that each of the holidays embodies a different
world, and by hashgacha pratis (divine providence) falls in the calendar
at just the right time.*
[*The Pri Tzadik goes into a detailed clarification, explaining
the anachronism of the mystical paradigm and the historical revelation of the
holidays. In simple English: how the heck did the Jewish people receive the
light that Chanuka gives, before the Maccabees' victory? What did we do for
centuries before that?? I might cover this topic as an appendix.]
Tishrei is the palace of divine will, where on the one hand, G-d
seals us in the Book of Life etc but after we spend the holidays
(R"H, Y"K) getting in tune with OUR will (for teshuva, health,
etc). Then the good can trickle down through the levels of consciousness (aka
the garments of the soul thought, speech and action).
The Kedushas Levi seems to be hinting that the special mitzvot are
a perfect reflection of the essence of the function of the holiday. Or if
I could put it slightly differently, the vessels (for mitzvot always
arrive know order to create receptacles for divine bounty/light) are a perfect
reflection of the light they come to contain.
Calendar
Dynamic
So working backwards, Pesach is all about action. (It is
true that Pesach has a whole speech side to it as well, as developed by Sfas
Emes etc, but that is on the national level, on our ability to express
ourselves as a nation. On the level of
the individual its facet is that of action.) All the main mitzvot such
as destroying chametz and eating matza, drinking four cups
of wine, the dipping and reclining - all actions. Rav Levi Yitzchak points out
that in contrast, Purim is all about speech; the main mitzvah is reading
the megila.
Which leads us to Chanukah: in the previous installment I pointed
out that other than lighting candles and gazing at them there is nothing else
we do in order to consecrate the holiday. Now we can understand why: because
that is its essence, the purification of thoughts. The Greeks didn't want to
execute us - they wanted to taint our wisdom, our philosophy, our mentality.
They had no problem with us learning Torah - as a means to becoming more
intelligent; what they had a problem with was our active belief that our
learning was sacred and that through it, we can connect with our Creator. All
of their decrees were to change our mentality and intentions – not necessarily
our actions or speech.
So the mitzvah is to let the pure olive oil (a recurring
icon for "chochmah" in midrashic and mystical literature) and
the light of the miraculous candles cleanse our mind. By purifying the mind,
this will in turn influence our entire year so that we think correctly the rest
of the year; that in turn will help our speech and actions to be correct, since
all stems from thought.
Chanukah doesn't lack mitzvot because it is a rabbinical
holiday, but rather because everything about it is cognitive and meditative.
That's why the mitzvah is not just lighting the candles but sitting for
at least half an hour and just gazing at them, not doing melacha,
etc. Instead of fussing and doing - we are meant to be absorbing the clean
unpolluted light and wisdom that they are meant to unlock within our souls and
clean out the chambers of the mind.
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