In this week’s parasha, parashat Tetzaveh, it says in perek 27 pasuk 20: “And you shall command the children of Israel that they shall take for you pure, pressed olive oil for illumination, to kindle the lamp”.

Why did Hashem want Bnei Israel to specifically use pure olive oil? Why couldn't they just use any oil? Rabbi Eli Scheller has a beautiful answer. The oil had to be completely pure and clear from the start. It could not have any added mixture. In order to make oil in its purest form, each olive has to be pressed carefully, until only one drop of pure oil comes out. Afterwards, the olives would be crushed and the rest of the oil was used for the korbanot. An amazing lesson can be learned from the fact that only the first drop of the oil was used for the menorah and the rest of the oil was used for the korbanot.

A normal car can be filled with any type of gas. You can go to any gas station and easily fill it up. Luxury high class cars can only be filled up with premium gas. If you try and fill up the luxury car with regular gas it will ruin and destroy the engine. So too with the Jewish people. We each have the most special, high class, delicate soul that needs the purest and finest wisdom. We need to make sure we are feeding our spiritual soul with things that will help us grow and reach higher spiritual levels. If we feed our souls with all different types of physical and materialistic wisdom, it will break and ruin our souls. The oil for the menorah symbolizes our spiritual intellect. And that is the reason why the oil for the menorah had to be completely pure. We need to make sure we feed our souls with the purest and finest information and not have anything else mixed with it.

Shabbat Shalom