Tzaddikim Don’t Have Any Problem Lighting Vinegar

THERE IS A LIGHT THAT EMERGES FROM OIL – AND THERE IS A LIGHT THAT EMERGES FROM FAITH.  THERE WERE GENERATIONS WHEN THE CANDLE BURNED FROM EREV SHABBAT TO EREV SHABBAT, AND THE TENT WAS ENWRAPPED IN A CLOUD FROM ABOVE.  THERE WERE TZADDIKIM WHOSE VERY TRUST LIT THE CANDLE.  BUT IT WAS SPECIFICALLY CHANUKAH – THE SMALL CAN OF OIL THAT BURNED FOR EIGHT DAYS – THAT MERITED TO A HOLIDAY.  WHY?  WHAT IS IN THIS LIGHT THAT ISN’T IN THOSE LIGHTS?

THE DAILY CHIZZUK BY MOREINU HARAV ELIEZER BERLAND SHLIT”A

FRIDAY, 18 SIVAN 5785

Whoever believed in Sarah [merited].  Not everyone believed in Sarah.  Esav grew up in the home of Tzaddikim [and didn’t merit to believe in them].  It’s impossible to understand this.  You see that the candle never goes out.  You see the cloud over the tent.  [Her dough is blessed and] Sarah makes challah for a hundred people, and a thousand people come, and it’s enough for all of them.  A person prepares food for a hundred people, and a thousand arrive.  A woman makes food for a thousand, and ten thousand arrive.  You see only miracles.  You see miracles day and night.  The candle never goes out [and you don’t take all of this to heart]!

SO WE ASK – WHAT IS THE IDEA BEHIND THE CHANUKAH MIRACLE?  AFTER ALL, BY THE MATRIARCHS, THE FLAME NEVER WENT OUT.

Chanina ben Dosa’s daughter came to him crying (Ta’anit 25a).  She said, “Listen what happened to me.  I got confused between the oil bottle and the vinegar bottle – they’re the same color.”  The vinegar and the oil are the same color, so she took out a vinegar bottle.  She knew that the oil was on the right side, but on the right side, there was a vinegar bottle.  Now, after sunset, it already can’t be changed.

[(Taanit 25a) One Friday evening at twilight, he saw that his daughter was sad.  He said to her, “My daughter, why are you sad?”  She replied to him, “I mistook a container of vinegar for a container of oil, and I lit the Shabbat light with it.”  He said to her, “My daughter, what does it matter to you?  The One who commanded oil to burn, He can command vinegar to burn as well.”  It was taught, “The lamp continued to burn the entire day until they took from it the flame for Havdalah.”]

She came crying, the poor thing, crying.  She said, “Listen, Abba, to what happened to me.  Don’t ask – I poured vinegar instead of oil.  It’s the same color.  It’s the same bottle.

RABBI CHANINA BEN DOSA SAID TO HER:  WHAT’S THE PROBLEM.  THE ONE WHO COMMANDED OIL TO BURN, HE CAN COMMAND VINEGAR TO BURN!!  WITH TZADDIKIM, IT’S NO PROBLEM!!

SO WHY DO WE MAKE FROM CHANUKAH [THE MATTER OF OIL LASTING FOR EIGHT DAYS]?  AFTER ALL, THERE WAS THE MIRACLE OF RABBI CHANINA BEN DOSA WITH HIS DAUGHTER, OR IN HONOR OF SARAH [THE CANDLE BURNED FROM EREV SHABBAT TO EREV SHABBAT].  ALSO BY RACHEL AND LEAH, THE OIL NEVER RAN OUT.  THE FLAME NEVER WENT OUT!

https://vimeo.com/1092635194