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Translated and annotated by Rabbi Moshe Miller
During the Flood, Noah sent out a dove out of the Ark to see if
the waters of the Flood had receded. The first time, the dove returns without
finding dry land. Noah waits another seven days and again sends the dove out of
the Ark. The dove returns towards evening...
And there was an olive leaf plucked off in her beak....
(Gen. 8:11)
Had the Holy One, blessed be He, not aroused the spirit of
the Kohens to light the candles with [pure] olive oil, then the remnant of Judah
would have been lost to the world.
There are several difficulties in this mysterious statement:
1) The Torah requires the Menorah to be lit using olive oil only, as per the verse:
"G-d spoke to Moses saying, 'Command the Children of Israel that they take to
you clear olive oil, pressed for lighting, to kindle a continual lamp... an
eternal decree for your generations'" (Lev.. 24:2-3; see also Ex. 27:20). We
could perhaps say that the Zohar is referring to the time of Chanukah when the
Greeks had defiled all the oils in the Temple. (Shabbat 21b) When the
Hasmoneans drove the Greeks out of the Temple, technically, the priests could
have lit the Menorah with impure olive oil; however, they searched every
nook and cranny of the Temple until they found a single jar of oil that had not
been defiled by the Greeks. So we can assume that the Zohar here means "pure"
oil. Because of their efforts, the remnant of Judah was not lost to the world.
(We will explain this shortly).  | | " Chanukah... corresponds to the first verse of the Shema...." | | |
2) What is the connection between the olive oil used for the
candles and the remnant of the tribe of Judah? The Zohar does not address this
question directly. However, the Tikunei Zohar hints at a possible answer:
The victory of the Hasmoneans over the Greeks that resulted in Chanukah took
place on the 24th of the month of Kislev. The Zohar continues on this
course.
The eight days of Chanukah [begin after the] twenty-four
days [of the month of Kislev, which] correspond to [the twenty-four letters in
the verse said after the first verse of the Shema prayer] "Blessed be the
Name of His glorious kingdom for ever. Immediately thereafter - "And there was
an olive leaf plucked off in her beak", because twenty-five - corresponding to
the 25 letters of the first verse of Shema "Hear O Israel, G-d our Lord
is One" (Deut 6:4) - rests upon Israel on the twenty-fifth of Kislev. This is
"Chanukah": [which can be broken into two works] "chanu" [meaning
"rested"], "kah" [the numerical value 25, in that kaf and
hei have the numerical value of 20 and 5 respectively.]
In other words, the level represented by 25 rested upon them (on
the 25th of Kislev).
Thus, the victory over the Greeks on the 24th Kislev
corresponds to the second verse of the Shema, while Chanukah itself, on
the 25th corresponds to the first verse of the Shema.
The Zohar elsewhere (Zohar I, 18b) points out the
difference between the first and second verses of the Shema:
"Hear O Israel" is Yichuda Ila'a [higher level unity,
in which all of existence is nullified within G-d, so that there is nothing but
G-d], and "Blessed be the Name" is Yichuda Tata'a [lower level unity -
the entire Creation is filled with G-dliness.
Accordingly, the victory in war is Yichuda Tata'a,
while Chanukah itself is Yichuda Ila'a. See Sefer HaMaamarim Melukat
vol. 4, maamer V'Ata b'Rachamecha chap. 3 ff.
Now the final piece of the puzzle from the Zohar, vol. II p.
147b:
Oil to illuminate.... (Ex. 25:6)
The supernal anointing oil comes from above. There are two
types of oil: One, which comes from above is called "the oil of the luminary"
[in Hebrew, "shemen ha-ma'or"]. The other, which comes from
below, is called "oil to illuminate" ["shemen la-ma'or"]. The "oil
of the luminary" is supernal and never ceases; it is always fills the anointing
oil. All blessings and all illumination and all luminaries are blessed and shine
forth from it. However, the "oil to illuminate" is sometimes full and sometimes
not.
We can now answer the second question: Because the Kohens
made every effort to find pure, undefiled oil, the level of Yichudah Ilaah
rested upon it, and it therefore became "the oil of the luminary", rather than
merely "oil to illuminate". The "oil of the luminary" comes from above and is
the same as the anointing oil. Hence, the efforts of the Kohens to find pure
olive oil to light the Menorah, which resulted in the miracles of Chanukah, also
ensured the survival of the remnant of Judah, from whom Mashiach - the
Anointed One - comes. [From Zohar Chadash, Midrash Ha-Ne'elam, parashat Noach;
Tikunei Zohar, Tikkun 13, p. 29a; Zohar II, p. 147b]
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