Pure oil refined through crushing

עוד במדרש שנמשלו לזית שאחר שטוחנין אותו ומקיפין באבנים נותנין שמנן ע"ש.

Furthermore, the Midrash says that Bnei Yisrael are compared to the olive — for only after it is crushed and pressed between stones does it yield its oil; see there.

The Sefas Emes opens with the Midrash's image: just as an olive gives forth its precious oil only through being crushed, so too the deepest light of Bnei Yisrael emerges specifically through pressure and suffering.

וכבר כתבנו במ"א שדורו של משה הי' שמן זך בלי פסולת.

And we have already written elsewhere that the generation of Moshe was "pure oil" without any dross.

The dor de'ah, Moshe Rabbeinu's generation, is the analogue of the first, clear oil that flows without needing to be wrung out — a generation of refined avodah without admixture.

ובימי הגלות הוא שמן השני והשלישי שבא ע"י היסורים.

But in the days of galus, it is the second and third oil, which comes forth only through suffering.

In exile the light no longer flows freely; it must be extracted through the painful pressing of yissurim (afflictions), like the lesser grades of oil squeezed out under force.

וכמו כן בימי המעשה.

And so too during the weekdays.

The same dynamic plays out within every week: the ordinary workdays correspond to galus, where holiness must be drawn out through effort.

שע"ז נאמר יגעתי ומצאתי.

Regarding this it is said: "I toiled and I found."

The Gemara's principle (Megillah 6b) — that only one who labors merits to "find" — describes the weekday avodah of laboriously pressing out the holy oil.

שצריכין לברר השמן מן הפסולת.

For one must separate the oil from the dross.

The work of the week is birur (refinement): sifting the holy "oil" out from the waste mixed together with it.

ובש"ק מאיר בחי' מרע"ה.

And on Shabbos Kodesh, the aspect of Moshe Rabbeinu shines forth.

Shabbos lifts a person above the toil of birur, illuminating him with the level of Moshe Rabbeinu — the pure oil that needs no pressing.

והיא מתנה מבית גנזיו של הקב"ה שהוא זך בלי פסולת.

And it is a gift from the treasure house of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, which is pure, without dross.

The light of Shabbos (Shabbos is a matanah, a gift from Hashem's hidden treasury — Beitzah 16a) arrives already refined; it is not earned by labor but given whole and clear.

ולכן נקודה זו המבוררת בלי פסולת זה נשאר לעולם.

Therefore this refined point, free of dross, is what endures forever.

Only the inner point that has been fully clarified is permanent; whatever still contains admixture is temporary and passing.

וע"ז כתיב להעלות נר תמיד שהשמן שהוא מעורב בפסולת אינו דבר של קיימא.

And concerning this it is written, "to kindle a perpetual lamp" (Shemos 27:20) — for oil that is mixed with dross is not a lasting thing.

The Torah specifies pure olive oil for the Menorah's "perpetual lamp" precisely because only the unadulterated oil can sustain an eternal flame; impure oil cannot.

וכעין זה אמרו בגמרא יגעתי ומצאתי תאמין לחדודי.

And similarly they said in the Gemara: "I toiled and I found" — believe it; this refers to sharpness of understanding.

The Gemara distinguishes: in sharpness of analysis, toil itself produces success — "I toiled and found."

אבל לאוקמי גירסא סייעתא דשמיא.

But to retain one's learning requires siyata diShmaya (Heavenly assistance).

Yet to make the learning permanent — to "establish the text" so it is not forgotten — cannot be achieved by toil alone; it is a gift from Above.

והוא המתנה של ש"ק שמתגלה נקודה זו הברורה בלי פסולת.

And this is the gift of Shabbos Kodesh, when this clear point, free of dross, is revealed.

That Heavenly assistance which grants permanence is itself the gift of Shabbos, which reveals the enduring, fully refined inner point.

ולכן נאמר זכור את יום השבת שהוא בחי' זכירה שאין בה שכחה.

Therefore it is said, "Remember the day of Shabbos" — for it is the aspect of remembrance in which there is no forgetting.

"Zachor" (remember) is the essence of Shabbos: a permanent memory that, unlike weekday learning, is never lost.

ואיתא כי שמן יפה לזכירה אבל הזית בעצמו מביא שכחה.

And it is taught that olive oil is good for memory, but the olive itself causes forgetting.

Chazal (Horayos 13b) note that oil aids memory while the olive itself induces forgetfulness — the refined oil represents enduring zechirah, the raw olive the impermanent.

ולכן אותו שמן זית זך בלי שום פסולת הוא להעלות נר תמיד כנ"ל.

Therefore that pure olive oil, without any dross, is what is fit "to kindle a perpetual lamp," as above.

Only the perfectly refined oil — the aspect of Shabbos and of Moshe Rabbeinu — can be the eternal, unforgotten light.

ועוד במדרש שנמשלו בנ"י לשמן שאינו מתערב במשקין וצף למעלה.

And further the Midrash says that Bnei Yisrael are compared to oil, which does not mix with other liquids and floats on top.

A second quality of oil: it never blends into other fluids but rises above them — hinting at Yisrael's capacity to remain distinct and elevated.

ובאמת זה בכח הנשמה.

And in truth this is by the power of the neshamah.

This "floating above" is the work of the soul, which by its nature stands above the physical.

שהרי הנשמה מחיה כל הגוף.

For the neshamah enlivens the entire body.

The soul gives life to every part of the body, animating it through and through.

וכחה מתפשט בכל האיברים.

And its power spreads through all the limbs.

Its vitality reaches into every limb, leaving no part untouched.

אעפ"כ היא נבדלת.

Nevertheless, it remains separate.

And yet, like oil among liquids, the soul itself never becomes mixed into the body — it remains a thing apart.

וזה הרמז החכם עיניו בראשו.

And this is the hint in "The wise man — his eyes are in his head" (Koheles 2:14).

The wise man's "eyes in his head" hint that the neshamah is seated above, in the head, looking down upon the body rather than being submerged in it.

וברא הקב"ה להיות הנשמה בראש ומוח להיות למעלה מן הגוף.

And Hakadosh Baruch Hu created the neshamah to be in the head and the brain, to be above the body.

Hashem deliberately placed the soul's seat in the head, physically above the body, so that the spiritual would always be positioned over the physical.

הגם שהיא נקשרת בגוף כמ"ש ומפליא לעשות.

Even though it is bound to the body, as it is said, "and He acts wondrously."

The wondrous bond of soul and body (the bracha "u'mafli la'asos") is itself a wonder — that something so separate can yet be joined to flesh.

וכל מה שברא הקב"ה הכל למילף מיני' חכמה.

And everything that Hakadosh Baruch Hu created is meant for us to learn wisdom from it.

Every detail of creation, including the placement of the soul, is a lesson — a source of chochmah for a person to absorb.

ובאמת זה רק בצדיקים כי הרשעים בחייהם קרוין מתים.

But in truth this is only by tzaddikim, for the resha'im even in their lifetimes are called "dead."

The soul's elevation over the body is realized only in the righteous; the wicked (who, Chazal say, are "called dead even while alive" — Berachos 18b) have lost this distinction.

ומערבין כח הנשמה שלהם בגוף.

For they mix the power of their neshamah into the body.

The wicked dissolve their soul's light into bodily desire — like oil forced to blend into the liquid — losing its separateness.

ולכן בנ"י כא) שיש בהם כח הנשמה ואז הנשמה מאיר לכל הגוף.

Therefore Bnei Yisrael, in whom the power of the neshamah is present — then the neshamah illuminates the entire body.

Because Yisrael keep the soul in its proper elevated place, its light radiates down and illuminates the whole body rather than being absorbed by it.

והיא למעלה.

And it remains above.

Even as it shines into the body, the soul itself stays on top, like oil floating above the water.

ואותן הנשמות הגבוהים מהפכין עוד הגוף.

And those lofty souls even transform the body itself.

The very highest souls do more than rule the body — they elevate and transmute the physical itself into something holy.

כענין חסידים הראשונים.

Like the early chassidim.

The Sefas Emes points to the pious of old as the model of souls that refined even their bodies.

שהי' להם התפשטות הגשמיות שע"ז נאמר אפילו במיתתן קרוין חיים.

Who had hispashtus hagashmiyus (a casting off of the physical), of whom it is said, "even in their death they are called living."

Having so spiritualized their bodies that physicality fell away, the righteous merit that "even in death they are called alive" (Berachos 18a) — the inverse of the wicked who are "dead" while alive.

וזהו שמן זית זך בדורו של מרע"ה.

And this is the "pure olive oil" of the generation of Moshe Rabbeinu.

Such souls, in whom the body is fully subordinate to the neshamah, are the "pure oil" of Moshe's generation referred to at the start.

וכן בש"ק יומא דנשמתין מאיר הנשמה יתירה שהיא למעלה מכל הגשמיות והטבע.

And likewise on Shabbos Kodesh, "the day of souls," the neshamah yeseirah (the additional soul) shines, which is above all physicality and nature.

Shabbos is "the day of souls," when the extra soul illuminates a person and lifts him above the entire physical, natural order.

כמ"ש ישמח משה במתנת חלקו.

As we say, "Yismach Moshe — Moshe rejoiced in the gift of his portion."

The Shabbos tefillah's words "Moshe rejoiced in the gift of his portion" hint that the Shabbos illumination is bound up with the aspect of Moshe Rabbeinu.

שבכל שבת יש הארה מבחי' משה רבינו ע"ה כמ"ש בספרים:

For on every Shabbos there is an illumination from the aspect of Moshe Rabbeinu, as is written in the sefarim.

The seforim teach that each Shabbos carries within it a shining-forth of Moshe's level — the pure, dross-free oil that floats above all the physical.

Summary: Bnei Yisrael are compared to oil in two ways — it yields its light only through being crushed, and it never mixes but floats above. The weekday avodah of galus is the painful birur of pressing pure oil from dross, while Shabbos (and the level of Moshe Rabbeinu) is the gift of the already-refined, enduring inner point, the neshamah that reigns above the body and even transforms it, as in the early chassidim whose physicality was spiritualized away.