Concerning the ענין of חנוכה we explained in the last שיעור based on the לשון that the אנשי כנסת הגדולה were מתקן in the לשון of על הניסים, that what the יוונים wanted was להשכיחם תורתך ולעבירם מחוקי רצונך, that what this means to tell us is not that the יוונים didn't want the יידן to learn תורה or they didn't want them to perform מצוות. This is actually what they wanted, but this was not the נקודה, the point of what they actually wanted. What they wanted was להשכיחם תורתך, to make them forget your תורה, ולעבירם מחוקי רצונך, and make them go against, not to keep, the חוקים of your will. It doesn't say they wanted them להשכיחם התורה, to make them forget the תורה, or לעבירם מהמצוות, but it says להשכיחם תורתך ולעבירם מחוקי רצונך. Which means that they didn't want the יידן to study תורה in the form of realizing and doing it because this is תורתך, this is your תורה. They didn't care if they would learn תורה as a חכמה, because we know that the תורה is a חכמה, a very deep חכמה. Even the גוים realize that, as the פסוק says, כי היא חכמתכם ובינתכם לעיני הגוים, העמים, that this is your חכמה and your בינה, your wisdom, in the eyes of the nations. So the nations also know that the תורה is a very deep חכמה. And therefore the יוונים, who were very smart and intellectual people, didn't mind that the יידן study תורה, because it is a deep חכמה. What they didn't want was mainly that the יידן should study תורה realizing that this is תורתך. And the same is with מצוות. They really didn't care so much that the יידן would perform מצוות. What they didn't want was that the יידן should perform the חוקים, those מצוות that have no reason. So then you do it just because השם said so. That's what they didn't want. And even that, it's possible that if the יידן would say, we're doing the חוקים even though we don't have a reason for it, but we believe that there must be a very good reason for it, so logically it makes sense to do it, that they wouldn't mind so much either. What they really cared was when the יידן would say that we perform the חוקים, רצונך, because it is your will, not because of the reason that our שכל tells us we should do it because it's probably good, but because רצונך, this is your will, it's the will of השם. It is not because of our שכל, but because of something that's beyond us. It's because of השם that we do the מצוות, just because it's his will, that's what they didn't want.

This was the reason why they were מטמא כל השמנים שבהיכל, why the way they wanted to hurt the יידן was by making everything טמא, and making the oil טמא. לכאורה, why did they do that? Why didn't they just destroy all the oil? And the answer is, because by doing this they expressed exactly what they had in mind. As we said before, what they had in mind was not fighting the תורה itself and the מצוות themselves, but what they had in mind was to fight the קדושה and the godliness that's in the תורה and the מצוות. The fact that a ייד learns תורה because the תורה is חכמתו של הקדוש ברוך הוא, it's the חכמה of השם, and he was told by השם to learn תורה. He does the מצוות because this is the רצון of השם. So for that reason they also were מטמא all the oil. Because we know what it says in the מדרש, in במדבר רבה in the beginning of פרשת חקת, and the רמב״ם brings it in the end of הלכות מקואות, that not a מת is מטמא, and not a מקוה is מטהר, but it's all גזירת הכתוב. It's all a גזירה, a commandment of השם, a decree of השם. Nevertheless, the רמב״ם says there is a רמז, there is a hint in the ענין of מקוה. But generally speaking, the concept of טומאה וטהרה is a חוקה and a גזירה of השם. It is something which is beyond the understanding of a person. Other מצוות might have a reason, but the concept of טומאה וטהרה is a more spiritual thing. In the ענין of טומאה וטהרה, the קדושה of תורה is expressed much stronger than in any other מצוות, because this is something which is not tangible at all. All other מצוות are tangible, even though the reason we do it and the way we do it is all because it was told by השם, not because we want to do it on our own, it is because השם wants us to do it, but nevertheless there is something that you can grab on. The מצוה of מצה for instance, the reason we eat מצה is because השם told us to do it, but nevertheless מצה is a physical thing that we eat. טומאה וטהרה is לכתחילה a spiritual thing. It is something that is not tangible, something that we can't see. Not only we can't see the reason behind it, we can't even see the effect. When a מת, a dead body, will touch something or touch a person, the person becomes טמא, there is no change in the person. For instance, בשר בחלב, not to eat milk and meat together, not to mix them together. Even though the reason we say it is טרף and it can't be eaten, and it's אסור בהנאה, etcetera, and you can't cook it, all that is only because השם wants us to do it, but nevertheless, there is something that happened here physically. There is a mixture of milk and meat. Why that is forbidden, we could say is a חוקה. שעטנז, you're not allowed to mix צמר ופשתים. Now the reason why if it's mixed you can't wear it is a חוקה, we don't know the reason. It is a מצוה of השם, but nevertheless, there is something physical that happened here, we see a change in the physical object. But טומאה וטהרה is something that we can't even see the effect. When a מת touches a person, we don't see any change in the person. Nevertheless, the דין is that he becomes טמא. Then when he goes into the water, there is no change in the person, the person didn't change, it's not because he became clean, cuz he's clean before, too. But this is a complete רוחניותדיקע thing. So amongst the חוקים, the one that is the least tangible is the concept of טומאה וטהרה. And that is the reason when they wanted to express their philosophy, that they don't want that the אידן should be connected to anything which is higher than what we see with our eyes, higher than the person's שכל, they expressed it in the concept of טומאה. They special made everything טמא, wanting to show that there is no effect and nothing happens, because this expresses the ענין of רוחניות that we find in the תורה. And that's why they were מטמא the שמנים שבהיכל, the oil of the היכל. And for that reason, too, when השם performed the miracle and helped the אידן, the miracle was specifically done in this ענין. In the ענין of the טומאה, השם wanted to show that when the גוים were מטמא the שמנים שבהיכל, I will make a miracle that even though you don't have the oil, you will not have to use שמן טמא. So he made a miracle in the ענין of טומאה וטהרה, that the איד should not have to use anything טמא, because this again expresses the רוחניות of the מצוות. Since this is what the יוונים wanted, so השם showed, \"I will not allow that, and I will not allow that you should have to use טומאה.\" Even though על פי הלכה they were allowed to light the מנורה with שמן טמא, as the פני יהושע explains that since the דין is that טומאה הותרה or דחויה בציבור, that when it comes to a קרבן ציבור or any עבודה in the בית המקדש that has to do with the whole community, you're allowed to do it בטומאה if there is no choice, so in this case, even if they wouldn't have found שמן טהור, they would be able to light the שמן טמא, nevertheless השם performed a miracle because this was the whole idea of fighting the יוונים. They wanted to be מטמא the things, which means they wanted to bring this concept that we don't look at טומאה as something special, in other words, we don't care about רוחניות because there is no such thing. So השם wanted to show them just the opposite, that this is important, and therefore he performed the miracle with the ענין of טומאה. They shouldn't have to light the מנורה בטומאה. And for that reason, the miracle was also in the ענין of lighting the מנורה. Because באמת, the miracle could have been in other things, because they made טמא everything. When they entered the בית המקדש, they made טמא the whole בית המקדש, and therefore they had to be מחנך the מזבח and all the כלים of the היכל again, as רש\"י says in עבודה זרה דף מ\"ג עמוד א'. So then why did השם make the miracle דוקא in connection to the candles of the מנורה? But the answer is, because we find that whenever we want to symbolize a ענין רוחני, a spiritual thing, usually the expression of light is used. As the פסוק says, \"כי נר מצוה ותורה אור\", that a מצוה is like a candle, and the תורה is like light. And the reason for that is, as it is also explained in שומר אמונים in ויכוח שני where it starts with the expression of \"אמנם\", that the ענין of אור, the ענין of light is different than all other things of creation in this world. It's the only thing that is not נתפס in גשם, which means is not tangible at all. We do find a few things which the גמרא refers to as not being tangible, and that is קול, מראה, וריח. קול is voice, noise; מראה is sight, which is connected to light; and ריח, a smell. And concerning קול, concerning voice, noise, the גמרא תאקע says in פסחים דף כ\"ו עמוד א' that אין בו ממש, that has no ממש, which means it is not tangible, nevertheless it does have an effect on the physical world, which means that when you speak, when the noise comes, it makes certain forms in the air of this world. The same is with smell, that even though this is just as we would call a התפשטות, an extension of the thing, but it doesn't have anything in itself, nevertheless it is נאחז, as we would call it, that does have something that it grasps onto in this physical world. And therefore רש\"י in פסחים there says that ריח יש בו ממש, that a smell is considered a tangible thing. But מראה, which is sight, that has nothing to do with the גשמיות, that is nothing that is tangible to grasp onto. So therefore, whenever we want to express an ענין רוחני, a spiritual thing, and we have to use something of this physical world, because we're talking in our language so to speak, so we have to use something that we could relate to, the expression is always light. So since the ענין of light represents רוחניות as far as we are concerned, in relationship to us, so therefore, when השם wanted to show that this fight that the יוונים had, trying to take away the רוחניות, the spiritual feeling that a ייד has in תורה and the spiritual reason a ייד has in תורה and doing מצות, so therefore the miracle השם performed was concerning the ענין of טומאה, to make sure that they shouldn't have to do the עבודה בטומאה, even though they were allowed, to show that the ענין of טומאה, which is a גזירת הכתוב, which is amongst the חוקים the most רוחניותדיקע חוקה, that they should be able to keep that, and also in connection to the נרות המנורה, in connection to a מצוה which is connected to light, because light, as we said before, also represents the ענין of רוחניות within this world.

This is also the רמז in this that the גמרא says that טמאו כל השמנים שבהיכל. They made טמא all the oils of the היכל. The ענין of שמן, as we know, שמן זית, olive oil, is a רמז, hint, for the ענין of חכמה, as the גמרא says in מנחות. We also find in the גמרא that when a person sees שמן זית in his dream, יצפה לחכמה. He should expect, he should hope for חכמה, because שמן represents חכמה. The reason for that is, because since שמן זית is the source for אור, the source for fire which brings light, and usually שכל is expressed in the ענין of light, as the לשון is always אור השכל, the light of שכל, so therefore, שמן also represents שכל. And this is the רמז that טמאו כל השמנים שבהיכל, they were מטמא the oil of the היכל. This is the רמז to this ענין that what was their גזירה? To be מטמא the שכל of the ייד. Which means, as we said before, they didn't care that the יידן should have the שכל of תורה. What they wanted, that the שכל of תורה that the יידן have should be a טומאהדיקע שכל, should be a שכל the way the גוים have it. It shouldn't be a תורהדיקע שכל. Because when the שכל התורה, the way it's in the ייד, the logic of תורה, the understanding and the wisdom of תורה, the way it's in the ייד's mind, is absorbed with the קדושה of the תורה. Even though he learns תורה knowing that this is שכל, he understands it, but nevertheless, the whole time, while he understands with his שכל, he knows that really this is not what the essence of the תורה is. The essence of the תורה is that this is חכמתו של הקדוש ברוך הוא, the חכמה of השם. השם just wants that he should learn it and use his own שכל to understand as much as he can of the תורה. But in essence, it is not the שכל itself which is the essence of the תורה, but it is the קדושה and the חכמה of השם that it is. So a ייד also has the שכל התורה, but the שכל התורה in a תורהדיקע way. What the יוונים wanted was טמאו כל השמנים שבהיכל, they wanted to be מטמא the שמן of the יידן, which means they wanted to be מטמא the חכמה of the יידן, that the way the יידן would approach the תורה should be חכמה as חכמה, which is a טומאהדיקע חכמה, rather than חכמה which is pure, meaning חכמה which is connected to the רוחניות of the תורה, which means to the feeling that the תורה is חכמתו של הקדוש ברוך הוא. And that is another reason why השם performed specifically the miracle בנוגע the מנורה, because the מנורה which was lit with oil, and the מנורה is light which represents שכל, to show that השם wanted them and gave them the victory to be able to have שמן טהור and to have pure light, light that comes not from a טומאהדיקע מנורה, טומאהדיקע oil, but pure light, to represent this ענין that their שכל should be pure שכל, תורהדיקע שכל, and not שכל the way the גוים wanted it, that the שכל התורה should be טמא, that it should not be based on the קדושה and the רוחניות of the תורה, but that it should be based on the שכל of the person. So השם showed them, no, I'm going to perform a miracle, and the miracle will take place in the ענין of oil, in the ענין of light, to express this concept that the ייד's שכל has to be pure and has to be constantly connected to the קדושה of the תורה, and not as the יוונים wanted, that the שכל should remain just שכל אנושי, the שכל of the person, and not get the feeling of קדושה, it should be שכל טמא, שכל that is impure.

This explains something else that we find by נרות חנוכה. By every מצוה there is a thing as doing the מצוה properly, and then there is a concept of doing הידור מצוה, doing the מצוה much better. We find the same thing by נרות חנוכה. The גמרא says that there is the way to perform the מצוה מצד הדין, that you light one candle every night for the whole household, and then we have מהדרין and מהדרין מן המהדרין, which is to light for every person a separate candle, and not every night one candle for each person, but מוסיף והולך, every night to add another candle. And the רמ״א says in the שולחן ערוך that the מנהג is נתפשט, that the way the custom is accepted, is that everyone does in the form of מהדרין מן המהדרין. And the question is, why is it so that בדוקא in the מצוה of חנוכה it comes out so that everyone is מהדר? By other מצות, it doesn't say that נתפשט המנהג to be מהדר. Some people are מהדר, some people are not מהדר. So why isn't it by נרות חנוכה it should be the same, that some people should be מהדר and some not? לפועל we see that everybody does the מצוה in the form of מהדרין מן המהדרין. And the answer is, because this is connected to the whole idea of what חנוכה stands for. Because it's self-understood that when will a person be מהדר in a מצוה, certainly to do it in the form of מהדרין מן המהדרין, only when he really knows the importance of the מצוה and knows the קדושה of the מצוה. If a person does a מצוה only because על פי שכל he feels it's the right thing to do, then the person would not be מהדר. He will only do it as much as the הלכה requires, as much as the דין requires. But to do it beyond the דין, why should he do it? But if a person does the מצוה because this is the רצון of השם, so then, if he's able to fulfill the רצון of השם more, he certainly would do it. And therefore, when it comes to חנוכה, to this מצוה, everybody does it in the form of מהדרין מן המהדרין, because the whole idea of חנוכה is to bring out that we do מצות just because it's the רצון of השם. And therefore, it came out so that in the מצוה of נרות חנוכה everyone is מהדר to show that we all realize, and we do the מצות because this is what השם wants of us, and therefore we do it in the form of מהדרין מן המהדרין.