CHANUKAH פך שמן – THE CRUCIBLE OF OIL

There is a Midrash that states that when Yaakov Avinu had the famous dream with the angels going up and down the ladder and he then woke up in the morning, the Torah tells us that he made the stone on which he slept into a מצבה, the Torah continues ויצק שמן על ראשה, He poured oil onto the top of it. The Midrash asks where did he have the oil from. It answers that this was sent to him “מן השמים” this was heavenly oil. Because Yaakov found the oil, unaccountably there, he realised that he was supposed to anoint the stone with oil. That way he would be able to recognise which particular stone it was and, therefore, to eventually, when he returned to that place, comply with his promise והאבן הזאת אשר שמתי מצבה יהיה בית אלקים And this stone which I have set aside as a testimony shall become the House of Hashem.

I heard a tape by Rabbi E Meisels where he quoted that Midrash and continued with the story of Yaakov being attacked overnight when the rest of the family had been transferred by him to the other side of the river יבק. The Torah says ויותר יעקב לבדו And Yaakov remained on his own. Rashi comments שכח פכים קטנים, He forgot the small vessels and Rabbi Meisels suggested that this in fact refers to the oil that had been found by Yaakov Avinu and which he had used to anoint that famous stone.

Rabbi Meisels then added that this was the very same פך של שמן, the crucible of oil, which was found almost 1400 years later when they were searching for oil with which to light the Menorah. This was the oil from which came the נס, miracle, of Chanukah.

It occurs to me that immediately after the Torah states ויותר יעקב לבדו, That Yaakov remained on his own and Rashi comments that he forgot the small vessels, the Torah then says ויאבק איש עמו, A man wrestled with him. Our Chazal tell us that this was the angel who looked after Eisav, שרו של עשו. Would it be too fanciful to suggest that because Yaakov “forgot” these vessels with the special oil in them, although the angel could not defeat Yaakov, nevertheless, he managed to touch כף ירכו, the socket of his hip. You will note that the word כף is exactly the same letters as פך but inverted.

The Gemorra says that the פך שמן was found בחותמו של כהן גדול, had on it the seal of the Kohen Godol. Before the Kohanim were appointed, the עבודה, service to Hashem was carried out by the בכורות, the firstborn.

In view of the fact that Yaakov had purchased the right of the בכורה from Eisav, and he was presented with this crucible of oil, מן השמים, it would be, I would suggest, possible to say that the בחותמו של כהן גדול mentioned by the Gemorra was, in fact, from Yaakov Avinu.

When the Bnei Yisroel fought לשם שמים, for the sake of heaven, at the time of the second Bais Hamikdosh and on 25th day of Kislev, they entered the Bais Hamikdosh, they found that very same פך, crucible of oil, and it was only fitting that this should be the oil that should be used. This is especially as Yaakov Avinu had said in his tefillo to Hashem והאבן הזאת אשר שמתי מצבה יהיה בית אלקים. It came back full circle to the original place where Yaakov had anointed the stone. Bearing all the above in mind, one can also understand how the oil burned miraculously for eight days.

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VAYISHLACH - THE MEETING BETWEEN YAAKOV AND EISAV

Yaakov Avinu had been forced to leave his parents home at the age of 63 after he had received the brochos from Yitzchok for which Eisav did not forgive him. In fact, the Torah tells us that Eisav hated Yaakov because of this and Yaakov then went into hiding for 14 years learning day and night in the Yeshiva of Eiver, the great grandson of Shem. He then made his way to Choron as instructed, but Elifaz, the son of Eisav, ambushed him and all the valuables that he had with him, given to him by his parents, were handed over as ransom for his life.

As the medrash tells us, Elifaz stated that he had been sent to kill Yaakov but Yaakov told him עני חשוב כמת a poor person is counted as dead.

Yaakov then spent 20 years with Lovon amassing a family and wealth.

On his way back to Eretz Yisroel, he was confronted by Lovon and successfully made a pact with his father-in-law.

As we are told by Rashi, quoting the medrash, Yaakov Avinu was still very apprehensive about this brother’s attitude to Yaakov. He, therefore, sent מלאכים ממש , namely angels who were with him, as mentioned right at the end of the sedra Vayeitzei, to find out whether Eisav had by now calmed down and whether his hatred had become diminished.

The sedra of Vayishlach commences with the story from that point onwards. We are told that the angels came back and reported to Yaakov that “We had come to your brother but he was still the same Eisav”, in a very nasty frame of mind. Not only that, but he is coming towards you and your family with 400 men. Yaakov Avinu was terribly afraid. He split his family and belongings into two separate camps and he prayed to Hashem. He also sent lots of presents to Eisav in the hope that this would satisfy him but he then had a further problem.

Overnight, after he had transferred his family and belongings to the other side of the small river יבק, Yabok, he was confronted by a man. Our חז''ל tell us that he was none less than the שרי של עשו, the angel who looked after and represented Eisav. Whilst it is true that Yaakov bested the angel, he, nevertheless, suffered a serious injury, ותקע כף ירך יעקב, and Yaakov’s hip became dislocated.

The next morning, before Yaakov could take precautions, when he was in a bad physical state, all of a sudden Eisav appeared. Yaakov tried to separate out the various wives and children into three separate groups and the stage was set for the two brothers to meet for the first time in 34 years.

Let us examine in detail what happened, Yaakov bowed down to the ground seven times when he reached Eisav. Eisav ran towards him, embraced him, fell on his neck, kissed him and cried. He then proceeded to speak to Yaakov very civilly as the Torah continues to tell us.

Truly extraordinary!!

We are told only a day or two before this, that the malochim had reported back to Yaakov that Eisav was still in a terribly ugly mood and out for revenge. Surely the presents that Yaakov had given didn’t change the position so dramatically?

I think that the answer to the point raised lies in the fact that Yaakov bowed down to the ground seven times and got up again.

Remember Yaakov was limping badly, having a dislocated hip. I once asked my dear friend Dr A S Levy, whether it was possible for somebody with a dislocated hip to actually bow down flat onto the ground. After consideration, he said that he thought that it was possible. How about him then getting up onto his feet? I enquired. That would be a virtual impossibility unless he was an extremely strong person both physically and mentally, was the answer. I continued with my enquiries. To be able to do this seven times?, I asked. He just shook his head in disbelief.

I believe that the same thing happened when Eisav watched Yaakov coming towards him.

Eisav’s ethos was, כחי ועוצם ידי, my physical strength is what beings me all my greatness.

He watched in disbelief when his brother, תם ויושב אהלים, the simple man used to sitting in the houses of study suddenly turned out to be a very, very strong person physically. The one thing that Eisav respected was brute strength.

(The Torah revealed to us previously that Yaakov was very strong. This was when he removed the large stone from the well outside Choron. All the shepherds were needed each day to perform that task together. Yaakov did it himself with ease. Eisav, however, did not know about that incident.)

When he saw this display of strength and courage by Yaakov, Eisav’s resolve melted and he decided that discretion was the better part of valour. That is why, I would suggest, he ran towards Yaakov embraced him, kissed him and cried, because he was afraid that if he tried any strong arm tactics, he would be defeated.

No doubt, Yaakov’s tefillos to Hashem had a strong effect, but the crunch was seeing Yaakov bow down seven times and then him raise himself up without assistance.

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