This week’s
Torah portion, T’tzaveh, Shmot
(Exodus) 27:20-30:10 starts with a commandment from God for Moses to command
the Children of Israel concerning the lighting of the Menorah (Candelabrum) of the Tabernacle in the wilderness of Sinai. There is a lot to unpack in this opening, in
only two verses of text – a ritual object, the symbols of light and fire, and
first, trying to understand what it means to be commanded.
I’ve worked
with a lot of students and teachers in the last 20 years, and one thing that seems increasingly difficult to understand and accept in the 21st
Century is the notion of being commanded.
It seems that for many people, a long list of electives and options are
constantly available, and the notion of being commanded, that there is an
authority that dictates prescribed behaviors, has become rather quaint or
outdated. We pick and choose our
behaviors, positive and negative, we pick and choose our affiliations, and in
the freedom that is present day America, we even have the opportunity to try on
different belief systems (or at the very least, different paths within the same
belief system).
This sense
of personal autonomy and freedom from commandment, has led to a decrease in
communal activities and shared experiences.
When I was a child, we all watched World of Disney and Ed Sullivan on
Sunday nights, we heard the same songs played on the radio – we had shared
cultural experiences as a community; now everyone has their own playlist, and
everything is available on demand – and we have fewer shared cultural
experiences. It could be, that for those
attending synagogue, the weekly Torah reading is one of few cultural
experiences that the worldwide Jewish community still shares in real time (more
or less) each week.
Moses is
commanded (from the beginning of last week’s portion about the construction of
the Tabernacle and the series of commands continues into this week’s; the name
of Moses is not mentioned in this week’s portion) to command the Children of
Israel to bring pure olive oil for the lighting of a Ner Tamid (most frequently translated as Eternal Light). Of all of the commandments regarding the
building and operation of the Tabernacle, this is actually the only one that is
still kept today with the on-going tradition of having a Ner Tamid in our sanctuaries and chapels.
In the artful
D’rash (commentary) section of the
Etz Hayim Torah Commentary (RA, USCJ, JPS 2000) edited by Rabbi Harold Kushner,
we find on page 503 and insightful explanation of the symbolism of the Ner Tamid:
Why has light been such a favorite symbol of God? Perhaps because light itself cannot be
seen. We become aware of its presence
when it enables us to see other things.
Similarly, we cannot see God, but we become aware of God’s presence when
we see the beauty of the world, when we experience love and the goodness of our
fellow human beings. Similarly, fire has
been used to symbolize God’s presence.
Like light, fire is not an object.
It is the process of liberating the energy hidden in a log of wood or a
lump of coal, even as God becomes real in our lives in the process of
liberating the potential energy in each of us to be good, generous and
self-controlled. If light is a symbol of
God, then fire – the product of human technology—represents human efforts to
bring the reality of God into our world.
Looking at light
symbolically, light in Judaism is also a metaphor for knowledge. Light reveals. We can see what is around us, light reveals
obstacles that might lie before us.
Darkness - ignorance – conceals, keeping us from learning about even
those things that might be closest to us.
We are able to learn with the assistance of light; things hidden by
darkness remain mysterious.
The lesson
of the Ner Tamid is that God wants to
be known by us. God always wants a light
to be lit in the places we go to for seeking God out. It is the task of humanity universally, and
in particular the Jewish people, to keep the light lit, to bring the pure fuel
for the fire, so that God’s light can shine and be seen by our world for all
time.
Questions
for discussion:
1. Can you describe a time when lighting
a light took some effort, but was worth it for helping you learn an important
lesson?
2. Why do you think the Ner Tamid
(Eternal Light) is a symbol that has endured until modern times? Does it provide more than symbolic meaning in
our synagogue design?
3. A synagogue has a Ner Tamid but is not required to have a
mezuzah (reminder of God’s word on our doorpost). A home is required to have a mezuzah but not
a Ner Tamid. Is there a connection between these two
ritual objects that we are commanded to place in different places? Are their purposes similar or different?
