Preparing the Lamps

Last week’s parshah concluded with the special inaugural sacrifices that were offered by the princes of each Jewish tribe, besides the tribe of Levi. This week’s parshah opens up with the commandment directed towards Aaron, the high priest, to light the holy Menorah (Candelabra) in the Tabernacle. What is the connection between Aaron’s lighting the lamps and the inaugural sacrifices of the princes? Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaqi, 1040-1105, famed as the author of the first comprehensive commentary on the Torah) offers a possible solution:

“…Because when Aaron saw the inauguration of the princes, his mind grew weak, for he was not with them in the inauguration; neither he nor his tribe (Levi). [Therefore] God told him ‘[I swear] by your life! Your role is greater than theirs, for you [will be commanded to] kindle and prepare the lamps’ ” [Rashi; Numbers: 8: 2]

With this comment, Rashi definitely answers our original question and creates a correlation between lighting of the lamps and the inaugural sacrifices. However, Rashi’s words give rise to another question: What is so special about the lighting of the lamps that comforted Aaron!? Furthermore, how is the service of lighting of the lamps considered greater than the inaugural sacrifices?

There have been many answers offered by various commentators to these questions on Rashi, but perhaps we may suggest another. Before solving this greater problem, we may have to ask one more question which arises upon analyzing Rashi’s words. According to Rashi, God said to Aaron:

“Your role is greater than theirs, for you [will be commanded to] kindle and prepare the lamps”

Normally, the preparations always come before the actual act is carried out. Surely, it does not make any sense to prepare for something once it has already been done! So, why did God say that Aaron would “kindle and prepare” the lamps? Shouldn’t He have said that he would first “prepare” and only then “kindle” the lamps!?

The preparations for the lamps, as with everything else in life, were to be carried out before the kindling. However, the ordering of God’s words was not meant to convey the chronological order between the “preparation” and the “kindling”. Rather, the ordering of His words was meant to emphasize to Aaron that not only was he commanded to “kindle” the lamps, but he was also in charge of “preparing” them! Looking back on Rashi’s words, God was telling Aaron: “Your role is greater than theirs, for you [will be commanded to] kindle AND PREPARE the lamps”. It was the commandment of the “preparation”, rather than the kindling, that brought Aaron true comfort! (*See footnote*) As great as they and their service were, the princes were only commanded to offer up the special inaugural sacrifices. However, they took no part in the preparations; they only took part in the service itself. Aaron, on the other hand, was commanded to not only take part in the service of the lamps, but to prepare them as well.

At first it would seem odd that this is what reassured Aaron! Aaron felt anxiety about not participating in the inauguration, so God tells him that he will now be responsible for the extra menial labor that was necessary to light the lamps!? This seems more like a punishment than a privilege! But this is a grave misconception.

The service of kindling the lamps of the Menorah was Aaron’s unique service to God in the Tabernacle. He knew that the act of lighting the lamps brought an immense amount of spiritual light and clarity to the world, for God deemed the service holy. But everything else outside of the simple and almost effortless act of kindling seemed to have no significance attached to it. Whether it was cleaning out the lamps, polishing them, affixing them, throwing out the old wicks, or pouring in the oil — it all seemed meaningless and paled in comparison to the act of kindling itself. But when God told Aaron that all of those tedious preparations were in fact considered meaningful and holy and were an essential factor in the entire service of kindling the lamps, then Aaron was truly comforted.

Just as Aaron was given his own personal and unique religious service to God, each and every one of us have our own personal and unique service to Him as well. Each one of us have our special character traits that make us who we are, and at the same time allow us to serve God in our own special way. Whether it be engaging ourselves in the teachings of Torah, immersing ourselves in intense prayer, or dedicating ourselves to helping others in need — we all have our own unique ability of bringing light into this world. But it goes beyond that. Fortunately, many of us truly care about doing good deeds and serving God. But unfortunately, many of us focus all our attention on reaching the point of fulfilling that good deed, and we get so caught up in the deed itself that we negate everything else! We may end up caring about Torah and prayers so much that cleaning our room or doing the dishes seems trivial and insignificant. We have to understand that it’s not only about serving God, but creating a proper foundation in that service to God as well. All those small and “meaningless” chores are part of the package in our religious commitment to God and they themselves are deemed holy as well.

May we all merit to recognize the necessity and holiness of the preparations for kindling the lamps in our service to God, and bringing a great and spiritual light into the world.

Good Shabbos,

NZL


*If one were to read the next comment of Rashi on the verse, one may see this idea as well. Rashi comments that the verse teaches us that “there was a stair in front of the Menorah upon which the priest (Aaron) would stand and prepare [the lamps]” Rashi didn’t even mention the act of “kindling”, as if to attribute special importance to the act of “preparing” alone.
Furthermore, the verse in the Torah itself uses a seemingly strange terminology; instead of saying, "when you light the lamps", God says "when you bring up the lamps"! This can also be hinting to the fact that the act of "bring up" the lamps alone (i.e. the preparation) merits a special significance!