All Jewish holidays, joyful and mournful days, refer to the spiritual process followed by the special group called Israel. In the past, this group already passed through some states in potential, and now it has to implement them in practice. We are approaching this implementation, and therefore we have to learn what should be done on every holiday or special day, as it is written: “The actions of the fathers are a sign for the sons.”
Some holidays were originally set through an awakening from above and others were set by people through an awakening from below. Hanukkah is a special holiday that is not mentioned in the Torah. It comes entirely from the awakening from below, from the degree of Bina, from the created beings wishing to achieve bestowal, the state of smallness, GE, stopping along the way (Chanu-ko) before continuing further.
After acquiring the bestowing desires of GE (Galgalta ve Eynaim), we move to the purpose of creation, to the desires of AHP. This holiday is called spiritual because it relates to the bestowing desires of GE, to the degree of Bina, unlike Purim where we use the receiving desires, and therefore, the customs are completely opposite. Purim relates to the end of correction and it is called a corporeal holiday because the spiritual descends to the corporeal world, correcting and fulfilling the desires of the AHP.
Hanukkah is closer to us than Purim, and so it is more understandable. We can imagine what it is to be in bestowal, above our desire, opposite to it, acting above it. Therefore, it is worthwhile to study the customs of Hanukkah in order to try to approach the closest spiritual degree. All spiritual degrees are based on this condition because each of them begins with GE, the state of smallness, which is the main one, and the state of greatness is just an addition that comes and goes.
Hanukkah is a very special holiday and let us hope that during the week of celebrating it, we will be able to reach this state, scrutinize, and realize it.1
The events related to the holiday of Hanukkah are told in an allegorical language, but our difficulty is that instead of a spiritual state, we imagine a corporeal one. Actually, it is about inner actions and phenomena in which only the desire and the Light, the Creator and the created being, participate, nothing else.
If we want to know what is happening inside such a state, then the Light comes and begins to correct the desire, elevating it to the degree of Bina. Malchut rises to Bina, that is, to the degree of Hanukkah. Malchut must rise to Keter, but it makes a stop in Bina along the way.
In our corporeal life we also celebrate such a state because there was a group that began to develop in spirituality who formed from representatives of various nations living in ancient Babylon, and they called themselves Israel. In their inner, spiritual development, they experienced such states and told about them in the words of the corporeal world. Now we are studying this in both a corporeal and spiritual form.
They established a calendar according to which we celebrate these special events, and called them external traditions, which include lighting candles and cooking food in oil.
The holiday of Hanukkah lasts seven days because the correction must go through all the Sefirot of the Partzuf: Hessed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, and Malchut. It is only about inner desires.2
The most important thing are the disturbances and the work on them. It is impossible to advance without disturbances. The disturbances and our reaction to them are the only thing that advances us toward the purpose of creation. Then we understand that these are not disturbances, but “help against.” Advancement is possible only through additional egoism, the desire to enjoy, due to which we fall, stop understanding and feeling, cannot move, and only want to sleep.
These are the very disturbances by which when we overcome them, and preferably quickly with the help of the group, we are advancing. All our work, our development, every step forward occurs only through the revelation of disturbances. It is written: “A thousand times the righteous will fall and rise again.”
Advancement is based on descents and ascents. You need to see the disturbance in advance and use it as an aid along the way. The work with obstacles and disturbances happens continuously.3
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/2/18, Lesson on the Topic of “Hanukkah”
1 Minute 0:20
2 Minute 1:26:40
3 Minute 1:30:00