B’ha’alotcha

SERMON   Parashat B’ha’alotcha

June 21, 2024  

16 Sivan 5784

Rabbi David Edleson

Temple Sinai,  South Burlington, VT

THE SPIRIT OF EACH PERSON IS THE LAMP OF GOD

This week’s Torah portion begins:

When you light your lamps, let the seven lamps give light at the front of the lampstand.  (Numbers 8:2)

The word for “light” is an unusual one, and literally means to ‘raise up” or ‘cause to ascend.”   Modern translations often say “when you mount your lamps,” but of course, Jewish tradition has had a field day interpreting the seven lamps of the ancient menorah that stood in the mishkan in the desert and then in the Temple in Jerusalem. 

The Midrash, (Bamidbar Rabbah 15:7) claims it is a reflection of the seven planets visible from earth.

Sforno, from 15th Century Italy explained that all seven lamps will fulfill their function of illuminating and being the conduits of spiritual light descending on to the Jewish people. The mussar conveyed by the lights of the menorah is that only by the “right” side representing preoccupation with eternal values, life in the future, working together with the “left” side which represents the concerns with physical life on our planet, will we be able to attain our purpose on earth

Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liady taught that the branches represent seven middot, or virtues of Mussar, including compassion, kindness, and discipline.

Other rabbis like Rashi were more practical, saying it simply meant that the reflectors around the candles needed to be pointing in the same direction so that there would be light on the offering table.  

And they conjectured that the simplest reason it says ‘ascend’ is because there was a step in front of the menorah that the priests would have to step up on in order to reach the wicks and light them.

We also know that the 7-branched menorah was the earliest symbol of Jewish identity, long before the Star of David emerged as the leader in the early Middle Ages.  On ancient Israelite coins and seals, the menorah is the most common symbol of Jewish national identity, particularly after the Maccabean revolt famously restored the menorah’s light in the Temple.   It is found on early tomb carvings, on synagogue floors, on the lentils over the doors of Jewish homes or houses of study, and of course it is famously depicted on the Arch of Titus being carried away from Jerusalem by the Roman army as a symbol of national defeat.

But as I read this week’s portion about the need to turn all the lamps to shine in the same direction, I couldn’t help but think about what it would be like if they didn’t shine in the same direction. What if one lamp light one spot on the wall of the Temple, and another light another spot on the floor, or across the room.  You would have seven different spots dimly lit, but you wouldn’t be able to really see what was in the center, or understand the general layout of the room.  I can imagine bumping into the incense stand, or the offering table, or knocking over the washing stand.  

And in some ways, it feels like the last few months have been like that.  Right now, it feels to me like in trying to understand what is going on in the world, and here at home, we get lots of little circles of light on one thing or another, but it is very difficult to get a clear picture of what is going on altogether.   The atomization of the media, and the centrality of social media seem to make it so we have more images in our heads, little spotlights, but that seems to make it more confusing to get a sense of the bigger picture. 

Of course, it is our responsibility to metaphorically ‘turn our lamps’, our minds so that we can focus on a larger understanding that puts the various spotlights into some greater context, but that can be hard to do when you are bumping into things you can’t quite see clearly.

So what can we do?   What can help us to see more clearly?  How can we shine our own light into dark places? 

In the book of Proverbs we are taught,

          “The spirit of each person is the lamp of God.”  (Proverbs 20:27)

We are menorah’s, and our own lights are all over the place and moving constantly, so we have to read this week’s portion as advice to us: focus on our own inner light.  Especially at times like these, when there is too much to process, we need to take time for prayer, for meditation, for simply centering ourselves and for a time, let all the noise, all the images, all the lights pointing at different things fall away so we can shine from the inside out. 

The great kabbalist Isaac Luria, “Ha-Ari,” of Sfat has a very interesting teaching about this.   He says that the six outer branches of the menorah represent secular fields of learning, such as medicine, science, history, etc., but the center branch – the one from which the other six emanated – represented the light of Torah.  And of course, Torah means Learning, or Guidance.  In this reading, at the center of all the information and learning we have in our lives, we still must take time to give attention to the center, the spiritual aspect which is  the core of all that we are.   We have to take time to integrate.

Maybe you do that with yoga, or sitting in the woods, or by the lake.

Maybe you take a tallit and wrap it around yourself each morning and chant “ki imcha m’kor chaim, uv’orcha nireh or.  For with You is the Source of Life, and by Your light do we see light.”  (Psalm 36:10.)

Maybe you daven the prayer service three times a day.

Sometimes, we just cry for a while.

But making time to focus our inner lights, focus our spirits and our attention and take time away from all the dizzying lights that spin around us, we will be better able to let our light rise up and show us how to navigate and move forward.

Our portion this week is very concerned with motion, with how the Israelite masses will move together toward their destination, their goal.  They describe elaborate trumpet calls to keep the people moving in tandem.  We don’t have those, and if we didn’t, we probably wouldn’t listen, or would argue about what direction they were choosing.

But what we can do is shepherd our own spirits, take time to tend our own inner flame.

There is a very old Jewish meditation image, like a mandala, that is based on the menorah.   Arising in the 1600’s, and later embraced by Hassidic Jews, The “Shiviti” starts with a line from Psalm 16:  I keep God before me always” and then includes Psalm 67 written in the shape of a seven branched menorah.  It is a quick visual trigger to remind ourselves of what is at the center of who we are. 

To keep God before us always, we need to have our inner lights, like the lights of the ancient menorah, turned toward the Divine Light.

For the spirit of each person is the Lamp of God.

(SING: SHIVITI)

 SHIVITI    Nava Tehila (Psalm 16)

Shiviti   Havaya    L'negdi Tamid  (2x)

Havaya   Havaya Havaya

Ahava Ahava Ahava

I keep God's presence with me always

God (Havaya - Being) is Love (Ahava)

Shabbat Shalom.