again, with the third crop, only the first oil was fit for the Menorah, while the second and third were for meal-offerings. The Mishnah taught that there was a stone in front of the Menorah with three steps on which the priest stood to trim the lights. The priest left the oil jar on the second step. A Midrash taught that the lights of the Tabernacle Menorah were replicas of the heavenly lights. The Midrash taught that everything God created in heaven has a replica on earth. Thus reports, "And the light dwells with [God]" in heaven. While below on earth, directs, "That they bring to you pure olive-oil beaten for the light." (Thus, since all that is above is also below, God dwells on earth just as God dwells in heaven.) What is more, the Midrash taught that God holds the things below dearer than those above, for God left the things in heaven to descend to dwell among those below, as reports, "And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them." Citing , the Gemara taught that seeing olive oil in a dream portends seeing the light of Torah. A Midrash expounded on to explain why Israel was, in the words of , like "a leafy olive tree." The Midrash taught that just as the olive is beaten, ground, tied up with ropes, and then at last it yields its oil, so the nations beat, imprisoned, bound, and surrounded Israel, and when at last Israel repents of its sins, God answers it. The Midrash offered a second explanation: Just as all liquids commingle one with the other, but oil refuses to do so, so Israel keeps itself distinct, as it is commanded in . The Midrash offered a third explanation: Just as oil floats to the top even after it has been mixed with every kind of liquid, so Israel, as long as it performs the will of God, will be set on high by God, as it says in . The Midrash offered a fourth explanation: Just as oil gives forth light, so did the Temple in Jerusalem give light to the whole world, as it says in . A Midrash taught that God instructed Moses to cause a lamp to burn in the Tabernacle not because God needed the light, but so that the Israelites might be able to give light to