Light...Lamplighters...Illumination

A few weeks ago there was a power outage in a parts of Lincoln that lasted only a few hours.  I was with a group of children that found it quite frightening.  They became nervous and needed reassurance that they would be okay.  They asked why there was no battery powered auxiliary lighting that would kick in during such a situation. Having light when it was dark would have made them feel more secure.

In today’s parasha, the first command we read about was that of taking clear olive oil, crushing it for illumination, and lighting a lamp continually. Rashi explains that the clear olive oilis actually the harvest of ripened olives.  I never thought about the fact that the phrase used in the first line of Tetzaveh, lahalot ner tamid, means to light a lamp continually rather than continuously or constantly.  The menorah did not burn by day, but it did burn each and every night.  The oil was measured so it would burn from evening unto morning based on the longest nights of winter.  If there was oil left over, it did not matter.  What mattered was that in periods of darkness there would be light.

In reality the light from the menorah was not for G-d, rather it was for the people.  The text says, “Vayikhu aylecha shemen zayit zach”…take to you clear olive oil…The symbolism perhaps being that as the light was lit in the service of G-d, it was G-d who was providing the light by giving Torah as a path to follow.  It was Rabbi Avraham Sabba, the author of the Torah Commentary, Tzror Ha-Maor, written in Spain in the 1400’s, who said that the Jews are like the olive oil; the Torah which they learn illuminates their way like the light of burning oil.

A story is told in the Talmud (Avodah Zarah 8b) about Adam viewing the sun setting for the first time.  His mind was filled with terror.  So G-d took pity on him and endowed him with the divine intuition to take two stones- the name of one was Darkness and the name of the other Shadow of Death- and rub them against each other to discover fire. Adam then exclaimed, “Blessed be the Creator of Light.”

Divine light is symbolized by the ner tamid, but the essence of the mitzvah is that we are all to be lamp lighters.  There are many ways to be a lamp lighter, but two ways seem increasingly important during these tense times in global politics.

Lamplighters recognize that the world may have large numbers of its inhabitants living in darkness, but that does not mean hope should be dismantled. When tyrants threaten freedom, when lies permeate the media, when hatred is promulgated as if it were truth, lamplighters speak out. They might not write letters to the editor or even stand behind a soapbox on the corner of downtown, but they do try to influence others by speaking to their friends, acquaintances, and children...hoping that the message of light will filter its way into wider and wider circles.

Lamplighters do not forget the collective past of the Jewish people, nor ignore the collective future either. They recognize that Israel has been and is an integral part of our very essence. They know that when young men and women participate in the Israel Defense Forces, they are not just protecting their own families, they are protecting every Jew who has been in need of a safe haven and every Jewish community that has faced adversity.   

Let me end with an excerpt of a prayer written by Jack Riemer and Harold Kushner.  I believe it speaks about our obligation to be lamplighters.

There are no words more challenging than YOU SHALL BE HOLY!

No command more basic than YOU SHALL LOVE!

No cry is more compelling than LET MY PEOPLE GO!

No consolation more comforting than I AM WITH YOU IN YOUR DISTRESS!

There is no vision more hopeful than THEY SHALL BEAT THEIR SWORDS INTO PLOUGHSHARES and no summons more demanding than JUSTICE, JUSTICE SHALL YOU PURSUE!

These words have outlived monuments and empires; We want them to live through us, until the end of time.

We owe it to our ancestors to keep Torah alive; They struggled and suffered to preserve our way of life; They knew this to be their most precious gift to us.

We owe it to our children to keep Torah alive; For why should they be spiritual paupers when the riches of this heritage can be theirs?

We owe it to the world to keep Torah alive; This is a message which the world needs to hear.

We owe it to G-d to continue as a people, to share His dream, to bear witness to His sovereignty, and to live the words of Torah.

Shabbat Shalom