Hasidut untuk Amsal 6:23

(First Night) My master, my elder, my teacher, may the memory of the tzadik be for the world to come, said the reason why we bless "that made miracles" when we see the light of Chanukah. This is because the clarification of the miracles happens through the lights. And in truth it is written "these lights are holy". And it seems that after that there was the lightning of the menorah in those days through a miracle, even if there was no oil for the children of Israel to kindle. And now, even though at this moment when we do not have the menorah and the pure oil, it is still relevant to kindle because of the miracle, since this miracle remains for the generations. Yet the vessel for this kindling is the mitzvah of kindling the candle of Hanukkah as it is written "the candle is a mitzvah and Torah is light" (Prov. 6:23), meaning, the candle is the vessel to receive oil and wick and light. So too, the [positive] mitzvot corresponding to the 248 members of the body, plus awe plus love sum up 250, as candle (ner) does, as it is written in the Tikkunim. And it is important that the mitzvot are in action, and the light of the Torah hangs on them, and the mitzvot are written in the Torah and through them the deeds are also fixed. And this is also the fixing of the members of the body of a person. And the Torah brings awareness and wisdom to a person. And also the language "light of Chanukah", that was fixed by our sages z"l, in the blessing of the mitzvah, also, is explained as above, since they did not write "to kindle a light on Chanukah." There is the light of Chanukah. And through the fulfillment of the mitzvah we kindle this known light. And truly, the Tabernacle was hidden, and the menorah was hidden, and after that in those days there was the kindling - and then, through a miracle, even today the light shines. And regarding this my teacher, my master, my father, my elder, may the memory of the tzadik be for the world to come, said that since the western light shines due to a miracle, it also shines in the darkness, where it is hidden, as explained. And our sages fixed this, that we are to arouse and kindle that light through the mitzvah of the light of Chanukah, since through this mitzvah the revelation of the miracle comes about. [And see that the language used in the Tur is "to remind" and not "to remember", see there on paragraph 679 (Tur, Orach Chaim 682:1)]. And all those issues, the Tabernacle and the Menorah, they are found as a hint inside every person in Israel, in that there is in every person in Israel a piece in the Torah [and the revelation of the Menorah, that is hidden, also happens to a person, and in the days of the festival it can also be revealed, through the aspect of character traits].

In the midrash Tanchuma "this day, Hashem, etc, commands you to do the decrees etc let us sing etc bow and kneel etc Moshe our teacher, peace be upon him, saw that in the future there would be no more first fruits, and so he established prayer etc" (Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Tavo 1:1). My master, my father, my elder, my teacher, my rabbi may his memory be for a blessing said that the explanation [for this midrash] is that prayer is also giving the first/best to the Holy Blessed One every day, just as the first fruits, see there (Pri Tzadik, Ki Tavo 9:1). Yet an explanation of the pertinence to "this day" is still needed. And in the midrash and in Rashi they explained: "this day[the mitzvot] should be in your eyes as new every day." And is it possible that a person would desire to make mistakes even if in truth there is no renewal, Heaven forfend? Yet, a person has the power to renew everything, since obviously there is in every thing the aspect of renewal, behold, the Holy Blessed One renews Creation continuously every day, and the explanation is that continuously means every moment. And also, there is no thing that doesn't have Liveness from the Holy Blessed One, and the Point from God forever, and so it can't become old since God's words are alive and flow constantly. However, when darkness covers the face of the land the external husks hides the Flowing Point. And this is why it is written "there is nothing new under the sun", and this is nature and this world, that hide the renewal. However, a person has the strength to illuminate the Point from the darkness, and this is why it is written "this day the One commands you to do" - meaning, to find the aspect of "this day" which is the uncovering and revealing the light, in the aspect of Mirror of Light. This is also true within an action, which can be what hides said Point. And this [revealing the Point] is done through mitzvot, since "a mitzvah is light" (Prov. 6:23), since a mitzvah is a physical action and it contains the Liveness of the Holy Blessed One, in the command to do it, in the strength of a person to cling oneself to the Hidden Light through the action of doing a mitzvah, as explained above and as I wrote in other places. And what is written "the decrees etc" which is to say through the mitzvot of the Blessed One, you are given strength to find the aspect of "this day" also in an action. And this is also the aspect of Shabbat, since it is written "to make the Shabbat" (Exodus 31:16). And the explanation of my grandfather, my elder, my teacher and rabbi, of blessed memory, [on the verse] "faces east" (Ezekiel 46:1) is as the issue that is written "the children of Israel came first in thought", see there (Chiddushei HaRim on Torah, Eikev 4:4). And it is as we explained above, that on Shabbat the Source and the Root from which New Aliveness continuously flows to all creatures is revealed. And one could also say that this is the explanation for "they are crowned with new souls" (Siddur Sefard, Shabbat Eve Maariv, Shabbat Eve Maariv 3), that the Aliveness is renewed in the souls of the children of Israel. And the explanation of "to make the Shabbat" is that we need to bring the aspect of renewal from the Shabbat to the days of making [ie, the week] as it is written in Sha'ar haKedusha, see there, and also as it is written in other places, that on Shabbat one opens the other days of the week through the aspect of Shabbat, as explained. And according to what a person sorts out and clarifies Aliveness in every thing, and in that person's eyes they are like new, truly Renewal is revealed to that person, and this is what is written: If you listened [shamo’a] to the old, then you will listen [tishma] to the new (Berakhot 40a), since given that one believes that there is an aspect of the Holy Blessed One hidden in every thing even in the most external, then one merits to reveal the internal, as we explained. And so too "we will bow and kneel" - meaning, bowing is one's desire to surrender, and kneeling, is a nif'al verb, which means that according to the will, truly one merits to reveal the truth, to surrender to the real, real truth.

And the beginning of the miracle was with Avraham, as the Maggid, may his memory be for a blessing in the life of the world to come, regarding the verse "we will go up there" [ad koh כ"ה] meaning, up to the aspect of כ"ה kah of Hanu"kah. And this is what our sages said (Bereshit Rabbah 12:9) "don't read 'at their creation' [בהבראם  behibaram] rather read 'with Avraham' [באברהם beAvraham] - meaning, the first letters of "the generations of heaven and earth" תולדות השמים והארץ are the acronym of תהו chaos, and this is fixed through 'behibaram' that is through 'beAvraham'. BeAvraham באב"רהם has the same gematria as נ"ר lamp, and this is a hint on why they said that the aspect of chaos was fixed through Avraham, with the lamp of Chanukah as explained. This is because he observed the mitzvah of brit milah, which is something that sustains the world, as it is said "Thus said Ad-nai: As surely as I have established My covenant [brit] with day and night - the laws of heaven and earth" (and see Nedarim 32a)