Dear Friends:
                There's oil and there's oil.
                Greece is famous for its olives.  Imagine, the very nations from whose alien ways we liberated ourselves in the Days of Chanukah, is the land from whose trees drips the finest olive oil!  The light of Chanukah emanates from the heart of darkness!
                We live in a world in which even our attempt at purity comes from impurity, a web of Golus from which it seems impossible to escape!  We cannot ascend the Temple Mount because we are impure, but we do not have the means to purify ourselves.
                We seem to be caught in an endless maze.  How will Golus ever end?
 
                We recently spent Shabbos in Baltimore.  It was a long drive.  Today one regularly encounters seemingly insane drivers weaving in and out of traffic at dangerously high speeds. 
                 There is a remez, a hint, for this in a recent Torah portion.  When Yaakov Avinu meets Esav in Parshas Vayishlach, Esav wants to walk with Yaakov, saying, "I will proceed alongside you."
                But Yaakov Avinu demurs: "The children are tender, and the nursing flocks and cattle are upon me; if they will be driven hard for a single day, then all the flocks will die.  Let my lord go ahead of his servant; I will make my way at my slow pace according to the ... gait of the children."[1]  Our Father Yaakov goes slowly through history, because he cares for his family and his possessions.  Esav rushes blindly ahead. 
                Why?  Because he has NOWHERE TO GO!
                Yaakov Avinu, lehavdil, goes slowly, every step with a cheshbon, with thought and purpose, because He is serving the Ribono shel Olam and every detail of his life has to make sense.
                Esav drives ahead like a maniac, because - if he would stop and think - he would realize that his life is devoid of all meaning!  He cannot bear to stop and think, because then he would be forced to contemplate the utter emptiness of his existence. 
 
               My friends, we are in the midst of Chanukah.  The world is dark, but we serve the Ribono shel Olam.  We use the light from the olive oil to contemplate the purity that emanates from our observance of the Holy Torah.  It shines alone in the darkness, just as we are alone in the darkness.  The Yeshua will come, even though darkness seems to rule the world.  But our Father in Heaven always rescues Yaakov Avinu and his children from "a power mightier than he."[2]
                Today, the new Greece is the culture of Edom, the descendants of Esav among whom we dwell.  As Rashi says, "Magdiel (the descendant of Esav) is Rome," and today we are enmeshed in the darkness of Rome, just as our ancestors were enmeshed in the darkness of Greece.  The darkness surrounds us to such an extent that we do not even realize it is dark.  We have forgotten what light is after thousands of years without our Holy Temple, separated from the Shechinah, separated from purity and kedusha! 
                But it will return!  Despite all appearances to the contrary, soon we will see the fulfillment of our tefilla, "Who restores His Shechina to Zion."
                "Is there any doubt that on that day - the words of Hashem - that I will cause the wise men of Edom to be lost, and discernment from the mountain of Esav?  ... For your violence to your brother Jacob, shame will cover you, and you will be cut down forever....
                "You should not have gazed on the day of your brother, the day he was exiled.  You should not have rejoiced over the children of Judah on the day of their destruction.  You should not have spoken arrogantly on the day of distress.  You should not have entered the gate of My people on the day of their disaster.... You should not have put your hands on its wealth.... For the day of Hashem upon all nations is near.  As you did, so will be done to you!  For you have drunk on My holy mountain.... All the nations shall drink, and swallow and become as if they had never been!
                "But on Mount Zion shall there be a remnant, and it shall become holy.  And the House of Jacob shall inherit its inheritors!  The house of Jacob will become a fire and House of Joseph a flame and the House of Esau like straw.... For Hashem has spoken!  ... And saviors will ascend Mount Zion to judge Esau's mountain and the kingdom will be Hashem's!"[3]
 
                My friends, Esav's vehicle is out of control.  Soon, at our slow and steady pace, we, the Children of Yaakov Avinu, will arrive at Har Seir, the Mountain of Esav.  As Rashi says when Yaakov Avinu overthrows the angel of Esav, "No longer will it be said that the blessings came to you through treachery and deceit, but rather through authority."[4] The age-old blood libel will end; the scales will fall from the eyes of the world and Truth will be perceived.
                I had the privilege of hearing Rabbi Aharon Feldman, Shlita"h, Rosh Yeshiva of Ner Yisroel, speak on Shabbos Vayishlach.  He discussed the question why Esav's angel answered Yaakov Avinu's question with the words, "Why do you inquire of my name?"[5]
                Esav has no name!  Esav has no identity! Esav stands for nothing! 
                Once we start asking his name, we find out that there is no answer.  For two thousand years, a power that is in essence emptiness has appeared to rule the world!  This is the darkness that surrounds us!  It is a galactic game of "The Emperor's New Clothes"!  That is perhaps one reason why we are not permitted to use the light of Chanukah for any purpose other than to contemplate its light, because that is ALL WE NEED TO DO!  When we understand that the darkness surrounding us is based on complete sheker, complete emptiness, complete absence of reality, then we will understand that Hashem is King, Hashem is One and His Name is One! 
                The Light itself causes the darkness to vanish!
                Torah itself will heal the world!
                "For G-d has redeemed Yaakov and delivered him from a power mightier than he"!
                This is REALITY, my friends!  It is not a dream!
                "When G-d will return the captivity of Zion, we will be like dreamers."[6]
                 Now we think that the Geulah Shelemah is a dream.  No, my friends, it is real!  We must urgently prepare for it, because - when it comes - the world will look very different.  Esav's out-of-control vehicle will have crashed, and "saviors will ascend Mount Zion to judge Esau's mountain and the kingdom will be Hashem's!"
                 Let us look with intense kavana into the pure light of the Chanukah menorah!  Let us understand that there lies reality and imminent dawning of a new day of purity. On that day, "the Torah will come forth from Zion and the word of G-d from Jerusalem"![7]
                 May we see it soon!