Parshat Behaalotecha  21 Sivan 5763, 21June 2003

Efrat, Israel - And the Lord said to Moses, saying, 'Speak to Aaron and say to him, when you raise up the candles towards the face of the menorah, seven candles shall be lit.."(Numbers 8:1,2).

Why does the Bible command the Priest-Kohanim to kindle the menorah in this week's Torah portion, one fourth of the way into the Book of Numbers, and not earlier in the portion of Tetzaveh (Exodus 28, 29) which is the initial source for the accouterments of the Sanctuary (including the menorah) and the special function of the priest-Kohanim? The classical commentary Rashi suggests that there is a link between the offerings of the various tribal princes - which did not include the priest-kohanim - at the conclusion of last week's Torah reading, and the discussion of the menorah at the beginning of our reading. 'Your portion is greater than theirs,' explained the Almighty to the disgruntled priest-kohanim. 'Your service is to prepare and light the menorah.' (Rashi, ad loc).

But what is so special about kindling the menorah? It seems to be a rather thankless task which must be performed early in the morning and in a rather private setting, devoid of the ceremony attended by the multitudes which featured the other tribal princes!

I would suggest that the connection does lie in the message expressed by the Priest-Kohanim - but from what I believe is an even profounder perspective. Last week's Torah reading cited the Priestly benediction: 'May the Lord bless you and keep you, May the Lord shine His face upon you and act graciously towards you, May the Lord lift his face upon you and grant you peace' (Numbers 6:23-25). The blessing recited by the priest-Kohanim before they intone these Biblical verses (every morning in Israel, only on Festival mornings in the diaspora) gives praise to the Lord who has sanctified them with the sanctity of Aaron and has commanded them to bless His nation Israel with love.'

The concluding words of this 'pre-blessing' to the benediction has a double meaning: first, the priest - kohanim must feel love for Israel as they intone the benediction, and second, the content of the benediction is that the Israelites love each other, that there be internal peace within our Jewish community. What is there about the nature and function of the priest-kohanim, - descendants of Aaron who was a 'lover of peace and a pursuer of peace, who loved all human beings and brought them close to Torah,' - which gave them the capacity to lovingly bless all of the Israelites with the gift of mutual love? A slightly humorous Hassidic interpretation suggests that the greatest impediment to unconditional love- the desire to bestow well-being on every human being - is basic human jealousy: I am certainly in favor of your being successful, but only as long as you are not more successful than I. However, since the Kohen-priest in Holy Temple times had no portion of land in Israel, and made his 'living' on the basis of a percentage of the earnings of the rest of the Israelites (one fortieth, one fiftieth or one sixtieth), the greater the earnings of the people, the greater the percentage to the Kohen-Priest. Hence the Kohen-priest could indeed bless the congregation with love!

This idea is really a very profound insight. Once I realize that the two of us are interdependent, that I need you for my fundamental well-being, I can never be jealous of you and I will always love you. This is why the Sages of the Talmud initially interpret the verse, 'And you shall love your neighbor like yourself' (Leviticus 19:18) to refer to a husband and wife (B.T. Kiddushin 41a). After all, a couple is flesh of one flesh, bone of one bone, united in the parenting of a child and bound together in the inextricable bond of shared fate and shared destiny. The success of each is the success of the other - because they are both truly one!

What is the symbolism of the candles of the menorah? 'The candle of the Lord is the soul of the human being' (Proverbs 20:27) teaches King Solomon. Every human being is created in the image of G-d, every individual contains within his soul a spark of the Divine fire. And if indeed a portion of the eternal essence of the Divine is in each of us, we are each of us bound together with each other in the total unity of the G-d head. 'You must love your friend because is like you, because he and you contain within yourselves a part of the same G-d who gave you life and spirit;' 'You must love your neighbor like you, I am G-d' (Leviticus 19:18).

Hence the dependency of the Kohen-priest upon the individual Israelites is paradigmatic of the interdependence of every Jew, 'each Jew must see him/herself as a co-signer and guarantor for every other Jew'. It is this message which the priest-Kohen is expressing when he kindles the menorah, the fire of G-d and the spark of every human soul; it is this message extracted from the kindling of the menorah which has far greater value than the animal gift-offerings of the tribal princes.

The story is told that when the young Trisker and Voorker rebbes, two great Grand-Rabbis of Hassidic dynasties who had studied together as children, were about to leave their heder and establish their respective congregations, they decided to give each other a picture of themselves as a momento. But each did not give the other a picture of himself; each tore his picture in half, and each departed from the other with two half pictures. The message was clear: one without the other was only half an individual, as each Jew is only a partial being when set apart from the rest of the Israelites.

Shabbat Shalom.

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