Be Oil, My Friend

“Be water, my friend,” Bruce Lee famously said.

It’s a powerful practice. Water adapts and flows. It finds a way through resistance rather than fighting it. For much of life, this is not only practical advice, but wise guidance. Learning how to bend without breaking, how to adjust rather than harden, is an essential skill in both avodas (service of) Hashem and everyday living.

But Chanukah comes along and adds an important layer to that message.

It doesn’t negate “be water.”

Chanukah teaches something deeper:

“Be oil, my friend.”

Water, wine, and oil in Chassidus

Chassidus* explains that water, wine, and oil represent three distinct spiritual states, or supernal attributes known as sefirot.

Water corresponds to Chochmah, wisdom. Chochmah is that initial flash of insight - the moment something suddenly becomes clear. This is reflected in water’s nature: it’s tasteless, simple, and formless. Water takes the shape of whatever contains it.

This is also why Torah is compared to water. Torah descends from a very high spiritual place and becomes enclothed in physical reality - halachos (laws), details, practical guidance for daily life. Like water, it adapts to its container.

Wine corresponds to Binah, understanding. Wine has taste, depth, and complexity. In Hebrew, the word ta’am (טעם) means both “taste” and “understanding,” which already hints at this connection. Wine represents the process of developing, expanding, and internalizing an idea.

But wine comes from grapes and grapes must be squeezed. Understanding doesn’t emerge without pressure. Growth requires effort.

Oil, however, represents something deeper. In Chassidus, oil corresponds to Chochmah Setima, hidden wisdom, rooted in Keser, the sefira above the brain. Oil always floats above other liquids, not because it resists them, but because its nature places it higher.

And oil comes from olives, which must be crushed, not just squeezed.

On Chanukah we bless Hashem, “she’asah nissim la’avoseinu bayamim ha’heim bazman hazeh,” for the miracle done in those days, at this time. The blessing refers not to the miracle of military victory, but the miracle with oil.

The miracle of Chanukah centered on oil because oil represents the deepest dimension of the soul. Wine is described as the secrets of Torah; oil is the secrets of the secrets. To reveal that level, a greater concealment and greater effort is required.

This helps explain something fundamental about spiritual pressure. When something is squeezed, it releases what was already visible in potential (wine from grapes). When something is crushed, it reveals what was hidden at its core (oil from olives).

Chanukah teaches that there is a level within us that does not merely adapt to circumstances, like water, but transcends them entirely, like oil.

There are times when being like water is exactly what’s needed. Life demands flexibility. Not every obstacle is meant to be confronted head-on. Sometimes the healthiest response is to flow around resistance rather than fight it.

But there are other times, especially in moments of spiritual challenge, when adapting is not enough.

Oil doesn’t adjust itself to the obstacle.

Oil rises above it.

This isn’t about denial or avoidance. It’s about accessing a part of ourselves that exists beyond the struggle itself. When we live from that place, challenges no longer define us.

They don’t shape us. They reveal us at our core.

Chanukah helps reframe difficulty entirely.

Pressure is not here to break you.

Resistance is not a sign that you’re on the wrong path.

Resistance reveals your mission.

Whatever is “crushing” you right now is drawing out something very deep and very real, something that cannot be accessed when life is comfortable and smooth. There is a light inside you that only emerges under pressure.

That light is oil.

And once it’s revealed, it doesn’t need to fight darkness.

It simply illuminates.

Chanukah doesn’t ask us to become someone else. It asks us to uncover who we already are beneath the layers, beneath the struggle, beneath the surface.

This is what the miracle was. The Greeks defiled the Heichal (sanctuary) and sought to corrupt the Shemen (oil), our Chochmah (wisdom) and Bina (understanding). With their rational, intellectual worldview, they aimed to remove G-d from the equation of Torah and mitzvahs.

Yet, there remained a jug of oil untainted, representing the deep level of our soul which can never be tainted. It is one with One.

So yes, learn how to flow when needed.

But when life applies pressure, when you feel squeezed or crushed, remember what Chanukah is teaching you:

Be oil, my friend.

Source used:

Baruch Sh’asim La’avoseinu 5743/1983 by the Rebbe