For the Tzaddikim, There is No Problem Lighting the Vinegar

There is light that bursts forth from oil – and there is light that bursts forth from Emunah (faith). There were generations where the candle burned from Friday until the following Shabbat, and the tent was wrapped in a heavenly cloud. There were Tzaddikim (righteous ones) whose very bitachon (trust in Hashem) lit the candle. But specifically Chanukah – that small jug that burned for eight days – is what merited a holiday. Why? What is in this light that is not in those other lights?

The Daily Chizuk (strengthening) from our teacher, the holy Gaon and Tzaddik, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a (may he live long and good days) - Friday, 18th of Sivan, 5785

Whoever believed in Sarah (merited it), but not everyone believed in Sarah. Esau grew up in the home of Tzaddikim (and yet did not merit Emunah in them). It is impossible to understand this—you see that the candle does not go out, you see the cloud over the tent. (There is a blessing in the dough) Sarah makes challah for 100 people, and 1,000 people come and it is enough for everyone. A person makes 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 yet one doesn't take it to heart)!

We ask, what is the point of the miracle of Chanukah? (After all) with the Matriarchs, the candle never went out!

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Chanina ben Dosa said to his daughter who came to him crying (Tractate Taanit, page 25a). She said, "Listen to what happened to me, I got confused between a bottle of oil and a bottle of vinegar; they are the same color." Vinegar and oil are the same color, so she took out a bottle of oil—she knew the oil was on the right side, but on the right side was the bottle of vinegar. Now it was already after sunset and it was impossible to change it.

〈(Tractate Taanit, page 25a) One Friday evening at twilight, he saw his daughter was sad. He said to her, "My daughter, why are you sad?" She said to him, "I mixed up a vessel of vinegar with a vessel of oil and I lit the Shabbat lights from it." He said to her, "My daughter, why does it matter to you? He who told the oil to burn will tell the vinegar to burn!" It was taught: It continued to burn all day long until they took light from it for Havdalah (the ceremony marking the end of Shabbat).〉

She came crying, the poor thing was crying. She said, "Listen, Father, 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? He who told the oil to burn will tell the vinegar to burn!!" For the Tzaddikim, there is no problem at all!!

So why do we make such a big deal out of Chanukah (regarding the oil that lasted for eight days)? After all, we could look at the miracle of Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa with his daughter, or in honor of Sarah (whose candle burned from one Friday eve to the next). Also with Rachel and Leah, the oil never ran out (Parshat Chayei Sarah, Rashi citing the Midrash); the candle never went out in their lives!