Beha'alotecha: The Menorah & the Burning Bush

Rav Johnny's original thoughts on the weekly parsha

This Shabbat we read Parshat Beha’alotecha where we find the instruction for Aharon to light the Menorah: ‘When you light the lamps, the seven lamps shall illuminate the menorah’ (Bemidbar 8:2).

As we then read, ‘the menorah was made of a single piece of beaten gold’ (ibid. 8:4). Yet, both in the brief description found here in Bemidbar 8:4, and especially in the more detailed description of the Menorah found in Parshat Terumah (see Shemot 25:31-40), there are references to various botanic features of the menorah. Specifically, we are told about its ‘stem’ (Shemot 25:31), its ‘flowers’ (ibid.), its branches (ibid. 25:32), and its blossom (Bemidbar 8:4). The question is: why?

Until recently, I did not have an answer to this question. But I then read Rabbi Meir Soloveitchik’s Providence and Power: Ten Portraits in Jewish Statesmanship, and in his essay about Theodor Herzl I stumbled on a remarkable answer.

In 1897, Herzl wrote a short pamphlet called ‘The Menorah’ where he claimed that the shape of the menorah was inspired by nature:

‘When had the primitive structure of this candelabrum first been devised? Obviously, its form had originally been derived from that of a tree.’

Then, soon after Herzl’s death, Dr’s Ephraim and Hannah Hareuveni – a husband-and-wife team of botanists whose son was to subsequently establish the Neot Kedumim Biblical Landscape Reserve - discovered that the salvia (sage), ‘with its slim, extended branches, their ends adorned with white flowers… does indeed resemble a menorah: a bush ablaze with light’. As Rabbi Meir Soloveitchik then adds, ‘perhaps unintentionally… Herzl, in the midst of his botanical reflections… happen[ed] upon a hermeneutical insight that would have done credit to a rabbinic commentator – namely, that the menorah itself was meant to evoke a burning bush, perhaps even the burning bush’.

Having read this piece, I started thinking about the similarities and differences between the burning bush (sneh) and the menorah. In terms of similarities, both Moshe and the Kohen Gadol stood by these locations barefoot. However, there are also differences: The fuel of the sneh’s flame was inexplainable, while the menorah’s flame was fuelled by oil. The sneh was lit by God, while the menorah was lit by humans. The sneh was kindled by one flame, while the menorah was seven flames. And while the sneh was a one-time event, the menorah continued to be lit every day throughout the period of the Mishkan and the Beit HaMikdash.

This then leads us to ask a simple question: which is of greater importance to the Jewish story? The sneh or the menorah? Personally, I believe that the answer is the menorah because while God inspired Moshe with the sneh, we – as a nation - continue to be inspired by the menorah.

But what then should we do nowadays when we have neither the sneh nor the menorah?

To answer this question, I would like to quote a beautiful teaching of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev who, while reflecting on the blessing we recite when lighting the Chanukah candles, then explains:

‘The central role of a person with respect to their prayers, their Torah study, and their performance of mitzvot is to kindle their heart and soul to be a bright flame to serve God with love … and so, by performing the mitzvot… we ourselves become a flame which lifts itself.’

Perhaps it may not be clear, but the final few words of this teaching of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak is actually a quote from Rashi’s commentary to Bemidbar 8:2 who explains that the word ‘Beha’alotecha’ comes to teach us that we should light the flames of the menorah in a manner that they ‘become a flame which lifts itself’. Accordingly, what Rabbi Levi Yitzchak wishes to convey to us is that to be a Jew is to be a flame who brings warmth & illumination to the world.

Yes, the sneh was a miracle which was once performed by God. However, the menorah was a human deed which was performed repeatedly. And so, what we learn from Parshat Beha’alotecha is that while God is tasked with the work of God, we are tasked with kindling our heart and soul so that we can each be a bright flame that serves God with love.

Shabbat Shalom!

Yoram Raanan, Menorah Fire @Raananart - Shared with permission

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