חנוכה א

Section Chuf [כ] For the essential loss of days — that a person loses the days of his life, G‑d forbid — the essential cause is through lust for money and wealth and the anxiety of livelihood, as is tangibly seen. And as Rabbainu, of blessed memory, wrote on the verse: "and dust shall you eat all the days of your life, etc." And the essential lack of livelihood and the great bitterness and anxiety of each person is through anger — and it flows from the sin of the first Adam who blemished the Tree of Knowledge — of which it is said: "a fool makes his anger known that very day" — as the Midrash says, for then it was decreed: "by the sweat of your brow shall you eat bread, etc." For one who nullifies anger merits wealth always — for he is always content with his portion, and through this merits actual wealth, as stated. But one who does not break his anger — of him it is written: "and it shall be that when he hungers he shall rage" — and even when he has wealth he is filled with anger, as it is written: "all his days are anger and suffering" — for each time he lacks more. And therefore in truth all his wealth is nothing — and of him it is said: "you lack knowledge — what have you acquired?" — "you lack knowledge" is the bechina of anger, the bechina of: "all who become angry, their wisdom departs from them — what have you acquired?" — for certainly his wealth is nothing, for he always lacks more and more, as stated. And of him it is said: "wealth stored up by its owner to his own harm", as stated — and ultimately nothing remains for him, as it is written: "and he shall take nothing with him in his hand, etc." And of this it is said: "one who makes wealth not through justice — in the midst of his days he shall leave it" — "in the midst of his days" specifically — for he does not merit to complete his days through the rectification of judgment that nullifies anger and completes the days, as stated — rather, he loses his days, as stated. And as one sees tangibly that a person loses his days through the anxiety of money. And therefore the expression used in the books of mussar: a person worries about the loss of his money yet does not worry about the loss of his days — for the two depend upon each other. And therefore in the Counting — in which one is engaged in completing and magnifying the Name and the soul through holy wealth — one counts the days, which is the bechina of judgment as stated. For through this is the essential rectification of the days — by nullifying anger and meriting holy wealth — to be content with one's portion, not to become outraged or angry or resentful over one's lacks. And through this one merits actual wealth — for according to the degree that anger is nullified, so is wealth merited, as stated. And this is the bechina of "seven complete Sabbaths" — and let no day be lost or blemished through anger — for through anger one tears his own soul and loses the days of his life, as stated. For one must begin to count at the beginning of the day, to fulfill "they shall be complete" — to draw down the bechina of the rectification of judgment at the beginning of the day, in order to save his soul from anger — through which his days shall be complete, in the bechina of "they shall be complete." And through this he shall merit that his soul be included with all the souls depending upon him in the bechina of the Holy Sanctuary cited above — to draw close to Hashem, blessed be He, and to His holy Torah — which is the bechina of the preparation for Shavuos, which is the receiving of the Torah, as stated.

And this is: "there was not sufficient in it to kindle except for one day, and a miracle occurred and it burned for eight days." For this encompassing intellect will not be revealed and illuminated until the future — which is the one day that will be known to God, etc. And this is why the sealed oil mentioned above could only illuminate for one day — the future, which is "one day that will be known to God," etc. And a miracle occurred and it burned for eight days — that is, "one day" as above — the aspect of the World to Come — illuminated through the seven lamps, the aspect of the seven days, the aspect of this world. And through this they grasped that it was not difficult at all — because they received an illumination from the light of the encompassing intellect. It emerges that the essential miracle was accomplished within seven days (as brought in the legal decisors), that is: "one day" as above — the aspect of the World to Come, the aspect of the encompassing intellect — illuminated through the seven lamps, the aspect of the seven days, the aspect of this world. Therefore one must kindle all eight — in order to illuminate on "one day" of Chanukah the illumination of the aspect of the World to Come, which is the aspect of "one day" as above. And from there the illumination flows to all seven days — the aspect of this world, as above. For since they contaminated all the oils — they corrupted through their heresy all the intellectual dimensions of holiness — therefore it was necessary to arouse anew the intellect of the World to Come, the aspect of the encompassing intellect, in order to receive from it illumination into this world, into the inner intellect, as above. Therefore each day one adds increasingly — in order to return each day to the first day. For on the first day one kindles one, on the second day two — that is, aleph-beis — on the third day aleph-beis-gimel — it emerges that each day one returns to the first, for the first day illuminates through all seven days, as above.

Likutay Halachos — Orach Chaim III: Chanukah §§1–6