Radiating God’s Light
Bemidbar Rabbah 15:2
讘诪讚讘专 专讘讛 (讜讬诇谞讗) 驻专砖讛 讟讜
讗诪专 诇讜 讛拽讘”讛 诇诪砖讛 诇讗 讘砖讘讬诇 砖讗谞讬 爪专讬讱 诇谞专讜转 讛讝讛专转讬讱 注诇 讛谞专讜转 讗诇讗 诇讝讻讜转诐 … 转讚注 讻砖讗讚诐 讘讜谞讛 讘讬转 注讜砖讛 诇讜 讞诇讜谞讜转 爪专讜转 诪讘讞讜抓 讜专讞讘讜转 诪讘驻谞讬诐 讻讚讬 砖讬讛讗 讛讗讜专 谞讻谞住 诪讘讞讜抓 讜诪讗讬专 诪讘驻谞讬诐 讜砖诇诪讛 砖讘谞讛 讘讬转 讛诪拽讚砖 诇讗 注砖讛 讻讱 讗诇讗 注砖讛 讞诇讜谞讜转 爪专讜转 诪讘驻谞讬诐 讜专讞讘讜转 诪讘讞讜抓 讻讚讬 砖讬讛讗 讛讗讜专 讬讜爪讗 诪讘讛诪”拽 讜诪讗讬专 诇讞讜抓
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to Aaron and say to him, “When you mount the lamps, let the seven lamps give light at the front of the lampstand” . . . God said to Moses, “I have no need for the lighting of candles, or for you to be fastidious in keeping them lit, rather, it is for your merit that I have commanded this. Know that when a person builds a house they make the windows narrow on the outside and wide on the inside so that the light will enter from the outside and illuminate the inside.
When Solomon built the Temple, he made the windows narrow on the inside and wide on the outside so that the light from the Temple would go out and illuminate the world.”
The striking visual image of the ornate golden menorah, constantly lit with pure olive oil, illuminating the Temple courtyard, provides rich fodder for the midrashic mind of the rabbis. In the rabbinic imagination, the light from the menorah represents how God’s presence dwelled in the Temple and, by extension, in the world. The above midrash is quick to point out that God has no need for the light of the menorah.
The idea that God, the Creator of all light, of the sun and the moon and all of the heavenly bodies, needs a relatively small oil-lit candelabra is as absurd to the rabbis as it is to the modern reader. The light of the menorah, this midrash teaches, is solely for our benefit, to illuminate our lives with the light of the divine.
This empowering message suggests that what brings God’s presence into the world is not miracles, or even the exercising of the divine will, but rather the careful crafting of holy objects and holy spaces so that their light is able to reflect outward, transforming the dark cracks and crevasses of the world with soft and sacred light.
While the Temple no longer stands, and the menorah was looted long ago from Jerusalem, we still have the ability to construct holy spaces鈥攊n our synagogues, our homes, and ourselves鈥攊n ways that enable God’s light to radiate out, not for God’s sake, but for our own and the world’s.
