Hashem instructs Moshe to tell the children of Israel to take pure olive oil, “crushed for the light,” to burn a lamp continuously [27:20].

In addition to the straightforward meaning of these verses, the oil is used as a metaphor for Israel itself, a nation pressed down but always radiating light.

The Chashvah L’Tovah, from the Rebbe Chanoch of Alexander, notes that the olives are “crushed for the light,” expecting every person to feel crushed, broken-hearted at his own failings, but “for the light,” in a way that leads to positive growth, rather than depression and idleness. One must strike a balance between awareness of how much Hashem gives us and how little we do in return, and the realization that we can accomplish greatness. It is never time to give up.

There is a joke told of Jewish life in Europe, during the time of the Mussar movement, focused on self-reflection and spiritual growth. In one such school, the teacher had his adult students sit and ponder their own insignificance, sitting at their desks and saying to themselves “I am nothing, I am worthless, I am useless.”

A traveling wagon driver came in, because he, too, wanted to grow. He looked around the room, saw the others sitting somberly, and heard what they were saying. So he acted like them, sat at an empty spot and began telling himself  “I am nothing, I am worthless, I am useless.”

At that point, one of the regular students leaned over to another and whispered, “look who thinks he’s a nothing!”

The truth within that joke is that what is demanded of us is not as simple as looking inside ourselves and seeing how little we are. We must not make too much of ourselves; we must acknowledge that we are really not “all that.” But we must be “crushed for the lighting,” the Rebbe tells us, crushed in a way that leads not to depression and idleness, but to light and brilliance!