How could Bnei Yisrael have been yotzei for lighting the menorah with shemen shel nes? Lighting the menorah can only be done with shemen zayit from a tree! R' Chaim Brisker writes that really, the miracle was not in the quantity of the oil, but in the quality. The Maccabim poured in all of the oil on the first day, and rather then new oil miraculously appearing, the same oil was able to last for 8 days, burning up only 1/8 every day. Following this, the nes also occured on the 1st day, resolving the Beit Yosef's kashya.
An apparent message in the words of Reb Chaim is that we should try improve oursleves, not just by increasing the miztvot we do, but the quality of the ones that we already do. That is a real task! As the days of Chanuka come to a close soon, we should not forget how the candles represent not just a physical light to remind us of the nissim Hashme does for us, but a spiritual light which should help light our way through the darkness of this world (maybe i'll write more about that next Chanuka iy"H). B'ezrat Hashem, we should be zoche to keep this flame with us throughout the rest of the year, to light the path when we might be drifting off into the dark.
I hope you enjoyed your Chanuka 5769!
An apparent message in the words of Reb Chaim is that we should try improve oursleves, not just by increasing the miztvot we do, but the quality of the ones that we already do. That is a real task! As the days of Chanuka come to a close soon, we should not forget how the candles represent not just a physical light to remind us of the nissim Hashme does for us, but a spiritual light which should help light our way through the darkness of this world (maybe i'll write more about that next Chanuka iy"H). B'ezrat Hashem, we should be zoche to keep this flame with us throughout the rest of the year, to light the path when we might be drifting off into the dark.
I hope you enjoyed your Chanuka 5769!
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