Humility and happiness

Chanukah is all about oil. The oil in the potato latkes and the oil in doughnuts. More importantly, the oil that miraculously lasted eight days instead of one day. In Judaism there is a basic teaching that we learn a lesson from every occurrence we experience in life, especially when it comes to such an important holiday like Chanukah.

Oil has a lot of what appears to be contradictory characteristics. On the one hand in order to produce oil it must be extracted by crushing and squeezing the olive. Oil, penetrates and makes its way in to everything. Oil doesn’t mix with liquids and gravitates to the top.

This is the lesson. Oil, is many times a metaphor for wisdom, since oil fuels light. The bible says a fool walks in the dark and a wise person shines with light. Oil wisdom and light; go all together, while dark and a fool, go together.

Oil is produced by crushing the olive. When a person is crushed he is humbled. Only humble people, people who have a place in their heart for others and are sensitive to others, people who have empathy and compassion, produce the fuel for light and wisdom. That is why in Hebrew the word for wisdom – Chochma, can also mean, “what am I”, a sign of humility. True wisdom is acquired only through the trait of being humble.

When someone has developed the characteristic of humility, the quality within oil they will be heard by others because others sense the modesty and unassuming nature that they possess. Like oil they will saturate and soak through. A person who is humble has influence, he is an example, a necessary trait to become a leader.

An arrogant person who thinks it’s all about him, he is smart and everyone owes him because he deserves the credit, someone who is full of himself chases G-d away from himself, and his ego is a source of darkness and foolishness. G-d says, “I and him (an arrogant person) can not dwell together.” An arrogant person obstructs his own path to receiving and to hearing. He places obstacles in his own way for acquiring knowledge.

Oil naturally gravitates to the top. The only way someone can really acquire wisdom is when they have acquired and live with the quality of humility. They don’t think they know it all. They appreciate that everyone has something unique in this world to contribute to the universe and so they learn from everyone. A humble person knows he must continuously learn, he looks out for all the lessons he can acquire on a daily basis and because of that, not only expanding his own knowledge, he learns to respect everyone and everything around him.

That is why on Chanukah we “…acknowledge and give praise to His great name.” People who are humble naturally express gratitude for all the good they have in life. They recognize the miracles G-d bestows upon them all the time and take nothing for granted. People who are grateful for all they have, people who know to count their blessings, the so many of them in their lives, are happier people.