The Point of Holiness

When the Chashmonaim reclaimed Jerusalem, when they triumphed over the impure forces and reclaimed spirituality, they wanted to restart the Temple Service — to serve God in complete purity.

Part of the Temple Service is the lighting of the Menorah with pure oil. They searched and searched and searched, and finally found one little jar of pure oil — only one singular point of holiness. 

That tiny little jar is the נקודה טובה that’s within each and every one of us. The part of us that is holy and pure. The part that has never been contaminated. The good that remains despite everything we’ve been through.

Our job is to search and to not give up until we find it; then once we discover it, to focus on it, and fan it into a flame that keeps growing night after night, through all the darkness surrounding us, through all of galus; until — with that one single נקודה טובה, we manage to rectify the physical of 7 and reach the spiritual dimension of 8. 

The miracle of the first night is that we’re even able to find the נקודה טובה amidst so much destruction, within the chaos, surrounded by darkness, inside of galus. 

We know that, as Rebbe Nachman says:

״‏אפילו בהסתרה שבתוך ההסתרה בוודאי גם שם נמצא ה׳ יתברך״

“Even in concealment that is within the concealment, certainly also there Hashem Yithborach is found.”

We know that Hashem is in the darkness. That there is never an absence of Him. That He never forsakes or leaves us, no matter where we go or what we do.

As The Gemara says:

״תניא ר"ש בן יוחי אומר בוא וראה כמה חביבין ישראל לפני הקב"ה שבכל מקום שגלו שכינה עמהן״

“It has been taught, Rabbi Shimon the son of Yochai says, ‘Come and see how beloved Israel is before the Blessed Holy One, that, in every place they are exiled, the divine presence accompanies them.” (Brachot 29b)

But the question isn’t if Hashem is here, the question is if we can find Him. The question is if we can see Him even in the darkness. 

And that’s why we put the menorah in a place where it is visible to others. 

Not just to acknowledge that the light exists, but to express the fact that at this miraculous moment, it’s there for all to see.

Hashem redeemed us miraculously then, and even though it might look dark at times, from within the darkness will come one tiny jar of hope, truth, and holiness. (The secret of the Western Wall, the secret of the Luz bone.)

And if we choose to kindle a holy flame from that tiny little jar, it will grow until we are redeemed once more.

״האש שלי תוקד עד ביאת המשיח״