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First of all, big Yasher Koach to everyone for coming. I just wanted to share an idea that I think is very relevant to a lot of us, especially over the course of this past year. The next Hanukkah is, of course, centered around the menorah, despite the fact that the victory over the Yevonim. In many ways, it would represent the greater nace. But for reasons that we're not going to get into right now, the heftza of the mitzvah of Ner Hanukkah is the menorah. And of course, the menorah is centered around the shemen zayit, the olive oil that we all light with. So the Lubavitcher Rebbe said that there are.
Four properties of the olive oil. Four lessons that we need to learn from the olive oil. The four properties of the olive oil are as follows. Number one. To get the oil out of the olive, you have to press the olive. You have to squeeze the olive. Number two. The olive oil is able, like every oil, to penetrate deeply into substances. That's why it makes it so difficult to get oil off of anything. A couple years ago, I spilled oil all over my floor. Not a small amount of oil. I spilled oil over the floor, and it took us like a week to get the oil out of the floor. So oil penetrates very deeply into substances. The third property of olive oil is that it doesn't mix.
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With whatever liquid the oil is with, it doesn't mix, and the fourth property is not only does it not mix, but the oil rises to the top. So to sum up very quickly, the four properties of the olive oil are number one, it needs to be pressed to come out. Number two, it penetrates very deeply. Number three, it doesn't mix, and number four, it rises above. So the question is, what do these things mean to us? I want to share with you a very beautiful idea. Step one of real growth is the humility that comes from being pressed in our lives. Every one of us, on some level, has been met with opposition.
Things that were difficult for us to overcome, and the truth of the matter is that even if at the time we were struggling with those things, the pressing itself and the humility that comes from that pressing ends up being our greatest gift. Think back to the times in your life, as I'm thinking back right now as I'm speaking to you. I'm thinking of the times in my life. Where it was so difficult even just to wake up in the morning, and in those moments we discover the truth of who we are, and that's what humility really is. Humility is knowing exactly who you are. I heard a maaseh, just last week, that Rav Asher Weiss Shlita was giving mussar to one of his talmidim, and he said.
It's not humble to deny who you are, and supposedly this Talmud told me that Rav Usher asked him to ask himself. Meaning, Rav Usher told this Talmud, "Ask me if I'm a Talmud Chacham." So the Talmud said, "Is Rabbi a Talmud Chacham?" He said, "Arguably, one of the greatest in the world," and it could be that in today's generation, I'm the paisa kador. And he said it. This Talmud told me with no geyva whatsoever. It was just simply like a statement of facts, like you see very often in Chazal that they spoke about themselves. It wasn't Chassar Shalom coming from, to use today's hip lingo, because after all, I still remain the most relevant Rebbe in yeshiva. Jesse, that was for you. I still remain, and you can tell of Hershel. I still remain the most relevant Rebbe in yeshiva. So to use a relevant term, it's not a T four. Chazal weren't sitting there saying, when I died, another die with me. These were simply statements of facts. When Moshe Rabbeinu wrote that he was Anav Mikol Adam, he was writing it as if he was writing, just the simplest truth, like one plus one equals two. Where do we discover ourselves Rabbi Say?
Often in our lowest moments, in our most difficult moments, in our painful moments, when we're pressed, we have nowhere else to go. Our backs are up against the wall. We discover new dimensions of ourselves. We're pushed down, and in that place, we come to a place of self-discovery. So that's the pressing. That's how we extract the oil from the olive. And throughout history, Jews have always declared their Judaism under the most trying of circumstances. Jews who would not live for Yiddishkeit were willing to die for Yiddishkeit. Why is that? The Alter Rebbe in Tanya explains that a Jew does not die al Kiddush Hashem to advance a cause. For example, if I had a cause. Let's say I was Dr. Martin Luther King, and my cause, a meaningful cause, was equal rights for all African Americans. Of course, that's a noble cause. And if Martin Luther King could make a cheshbon, and he could say, 'Will my death advance the cause of civil liberty in America?' If the answer to that question was yes, then perhaps Martin Luther King would choose to die, because it would advance the cause.
That's not the same thing as dying al Kiddush Hashem. Dying al Kiddush Hashem means I'm dying despite the fact that it doesn't advance the cause on any level whatsoever. Why am I dying? Because in the moment where the nefesh Elokes, where the godly soul, the Jewish soul, has its back pressed against the wall and is threatened with extinction, it burns brightest. So the Jew comes out under pressure. People who wouldn't live for Yiddishkeit are willing to die for Yiddishkeit, and in that moment they discover the truth of who they are. This leads us to step two. The Jewish mission in this world. The Jewish mission in this world is to bring light to the darkness.
We have the capacity to penetrate very deeply into this world. The world cannot rid itself of us, despite the fact that the world has tried time and time again. We are capable of penetrating substances very deeply. And every time we're pressed, and now the Jewish soul is illuminated. So now that nefeshalokis is set aflame with the mission of penetrating the world, the Jew is not satisfied to live in a ghetto. It's unnatural for a Jew to live in a ghetto. A Jew understands that we have a mission to illuminate the world, which means that we have to go out into the world. We're seeking not to be impacted by, but to impact the world. Subtle but important difference.
We're going out into the world to share the word that there is one God, and everywhere we go, we hold true to that mission. We're loyal to that mission, and it makes a difference. To penetrate the world very deeply means that we are getting to the true essence of the world, namely that the world is not other than God. Remember that from the perspective of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, none of this is anything other than Him. Ani Hashem Lo Shinisi. I am God. I have not changed. Not before the creation of the world, and not after the creation of the world. For God, nothing has changed. All there is Him. That's what it means. Ein od mivado. Ein od mivado does not simply mean there are no other gods.
That was already the second commandment, so we didn't need another pasuk to come tell us that there are no other gods. It was saying, as the Alter Rebbe explains in Shaiyach VeEmuna, that there is nothing other than Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So when a Jew's godly soul is set on fire, it sees the world from the perspective of the Rebbeinu Shalom, and that's what gives the Jew the capacity to impact the world. That's why he's capable of going out. Of course, a person has to be careful though. Because when we're going out into the world, especially around this time of Chanukah, it's appropriate to discuss this topic. When we go out into the world, there's the danger of assimilation. How do we penetrate the world and teach the world what we're trying to teach? How do we impart our Jewish lesson to the world without being impacted by the world?
This too is the property of oil. When a Jew goes out into the world because he recognizes that its true essence is godly, he does not mix. He is not impacted by the world. He impacts. How? What's the secret sauce? The secret sauce is to know that, of course, every single person in the world is a godly creation. And we do not hold ourselves with any gaiva, under any pretense that we are better than any other person in this world. But we are well aware that we have a specific sanctified mission in this world. And as a result of our sanctified mission, we understand that to lower ourselves, so to speak, to behave like the student is unbecoming of the rebbe.
This is of course a challenge in Chinuch. On the one hand, a Rebbe wants deeply to be in the place where his Talmidim are, so that requires the Rebbe to go down. The Rebbe has to be able to speak the language of the Talmud; otherwise, he's irrelevant. What Talmud wants to learn from a Rebbe who he doesn't feel he has anything in common with, and at the same time, how does the Rebbe balance not becoming the Talmud? If the Talmud is behaving in a certain way, how does the Rebbe ensure that he doesn't start behaving in that way? And of course, the obvious answer is that as long as the Rebbe maintains the consciousness that he is the Rebbe, and that the Talmud is the Talmud, and that this entire relationship is designed to facilitate not a friendship, but a real Rebbe-Talmid relationship, then the Rebbe remains the Rebbe.
I remember. This is going back now around twenty plus years ago, when there was a fundamental shift in the Jewish world, at least in the modern Orthodox world. It used to be that the rebbeim were all significantly older, and as a result of the age of the rebbeim, they were largely irrelevant. In a couple of schools, they made the bold move of hiring young. We'll call them NCSY style rebbeim, young guys in their twenties and thirties who were much more relevant to the talmidim, and at the time there was an outcry, appropriately, because they said, "With rebbeim like this, who will the talmidim really look up to?" And to be perfectly honest, they weren't wrong. One could legitimately argue that the talmidim suffered as a result of that. And yet, it was a necessary step, because the rebbeim themselves were able to speak the language of the talmidim that the previous generation of rebbeim weren't capable of doing. Ironically, some of those rebbeim now are speaking about the fact that they feel because of their age, some of those rebbeim from twenty plus years ago are feeling very much like they aged themselves out in the process, and it's a real problem. When I started my chinuch career.
I won't tell you who it is because some of you are talmidim of this very chashav rebbe, but one rebbe told me, Mordechai, the day that you can no longer speak about the Knicks is the day that you have to retire from being a rebbe. I think I could probably still be a rebbe without speaking about the Knicks, but the sentiment I believe is true. A Jew pressed to discover his inner reality becomes a Jew reveals his inner Jewishness. As a result, step two, he becomes aware of the nature of the world. Everything in the world is the Rebbe Nishma. This obligates him to act. It obligates him to go out into the world, but he must always remember who he is, and this leads us to step four.
Step four is there's an elevation that occurs because of this process. We all know, especially those who had the chance to learn Baba Kama with, when you were in yeshiva, we all know that the Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the world because He had a tayva for adira b'tachtonim. Hakadosh Baruch Hu had a desire to dwell in the world down below. Why Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants that, we have no idea. We couldn't possibly answer that question. It would be the same thing as asking, why does Hakadosh Baruch Hu create ice cream? Because it's delicious. We don't know why anybody likes ice cream. This is the way that Rebbeinu Shlomo created the world. And the same is true of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Why does Hakadosh Baruch Hu want a relationship with us? We don't know. We're humbled by it, but we don't know.
And so we bring Hakadosh Baruch Hu down into our world, but in so doing, an elevation occurs. There's a dual movement that exists within Judaism. On the one hand, Hakadosh Baruch Hu comes down onto the mountain. He has to come first, the Medrash says, and then Meisher Abenu, representing Klal Yisrael, and ultimately representing the world itself, elevates, goes up to Har Sinai, and in that space. Of Hakadosh Baruch Hu coming down, and Moshe Rabbeinu going up, that is where Judaism occurs. That's the mission of Yiddishkeit. The mission of Yiddishkeit is to bridge the gap between Shamayim and Eretz, and so an unbelievable thing occurs, as the Jew recognizes his Judaism, and penetrates the world, but maintaining his distinct identity, an elevation occurs.
He has become one, so to speak, with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. The ultimate yisod of creation is to build a relationship with Hashem, and that requires an elevation of the person, a revelation of our truest nature. This time, not because we were pressed into revealing our true nature, but because of our mission, we become elevated. So in the beginning of the process, perhaps because we were in exile, because there was darkness in our life, it revealed that we're a Jew. This obligated us into a state of action to penetrate the world, and at the same time to maintain our Yiddishkeit. Not an easy job. But at the end of this, there's another revelation that occurs, not because of the exile anymore, but because of the choice to engage in our yados.
Act in a way that is in accordance with the soul that were created with to access our godly talents. Ultimately, we are elevated. Ultimately, the nefesh luchis reveals itself as achelak elokam mimal mamish. And what greater celebration of life could there be than to live in harmony, organically, with the soul with which were created. This is the story of Chanukah. The story of Jews in exile, who, in moments of darkness, discover their inner light. Maintained their Judaism amongst the Yevanim, and as a result, brought into reality a whole new yontif, an exceptionally beautiful yontif.
Nine months, ten months of our lives, as so many of us have said. Who amongst us thought that Purim would be vinaḥafochu, and that would be a change in the entire world? And yet, what have we discovered? When pressed, what have we discovered? We discovered that shuls, while of course important, and of course, in many ways, are the center of Jewish life. We discovered that our Yiddishkeit is not limited to a particular building. That whether we were at home having seder by ourselves, or having tish above by ourselves, I for one did not have the usual tish above that I'm used to having. I used to go to NCSY Kollel for tish above. I didn't have an NCSY Kollel tish above.
I didn't have a Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Simchas Torah this year. I was in B'edud. I didn't daven with a minion on Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, or Simchas Torah. And yet we discovered that our relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu was not confined to minion. It was not confined to shul. It was not even confined to yeshiva. It didn't matter where we were. We maintained our posture of growth, and one could even argue that many of us have grown not despite but because of the darkness of the last nine months. Perhaps this makes us more aware of why we were created to begin with. That when the borders do open up, as the vaccine, Beisr Hashem comes out in a way that is healthy, that we should all be able to take it with no repercussions and no medical ramifications. That when we do go out into the world, we understand that we have been empowered to penetrate deeply.
That a Jewish soul is meant to go out and have an impact, and at the same time not to be impacted. How many young men over the years atrophy when they go out into the world? Maybe this time it'll be different. Maybe all that pressure of being inside all of this time and the clarity that comes with that pressure—that my Yiddishkeit is the most important thing in the world to me. Maybe when we leave and we go out into the world, maybe now that stays with us and that gives us cause for great hope. And of course, all with the ultimate goal of a higher level of illumination, an elevation of the self, reaching into the truest nature of who we are, and touching that chelik elokami mal mamish and saying yes, this is who I am. We get a little bit of a taste of it. I may ain olem habav, but we are thirsty for more.
Very recently, I had to fill out a couple of forms for a program that wants to join up with Mivaseret, and they said, 'What do you do to prepare the boys for life after yeshiva?' It's a good question. What do you do to prepare the boys for life after yeshiva? And I'm sure that there were other places that had very wonderful and beautiful ideas, different programs that they run, different shiurim. Perhaps specifically, maybe they offer a couple of halacha shiurim on how to survive in the workforce and maintain your halachic position. And there's no doubt that all of those shiurim are important. But my answer, I think, was true, and I hope more profound than simply offering a sheer and practical halacha of how one is able to maintain their posture of halachic Judaism when they're out in the world.
My answer was that in everything we do in yeshiva, we are trying to make the boys more cognizant of their godly soul. The higher cognition they have of that godly soul, the more deeply connected they are to Torah and mitzvos, and the more likely they are to remain loyal when they leave the confines of our beis medrash. I have seen it to be true. When a person goes out into the workforce, there are those that certainly fall, and there are those that are certainly impacted, as there is no doubt that is the challenge of being out in the world. At the same time, I have seen time and time again how some of those guys, after they have that initial foray into the world, discover how important their yiddishkeit is to them. As they get older and they have children, they become more inspired, not less so.
Even though you'd think they're further out from yeshiva, the pressure of being out awakens in them how important their yiddishkeit is. And we in mivaseret and as alumni of mivaseret, we are not satisfied with only calling our Jewish soul into action when we are pressed up against the wall. That's not who we are. We are a G O C, as the Rashi shiva says. We are growth oriented men. Unsatisfied with simply coasting through life, challenging ourselves to be our very best always. Certainly, that's what makes me a proud talmid of the Rosh Yeshiva. And I know, as I look out at the group of people that we have here with us today, I know it's what makes you proud to be talmidim of our yeshiva and of our Rosh Yeshiva. We are relentless, ambitious in our mission to touch our higher self. Rabbi Say, I want to thank Rav Hershel for putting this together.
He's here as Yose, but that's only because of his humility. I want to thank Rev Herschel for putting this together. I want to thank the office for all the hard work they have done to put all the alumni affairs together. It's great to be back with you guys. I want to wish you all a lichter Gechenna. Let's take these final moments of Corona. We're in the final home stretch of Corona. Let's take these final moments of Corona to clarify for ourselves who we really are to bring our light out into the darkness and illuminate the world. Ad bias gualt zedek. P'meh rabbiyameh nu amine.
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