Always and Forever
D'var
Torah: Shabbat Zachor
March 6, 2009
We call the Neyr Tamid in English, the Eternal Light. There is one in every synagogue near the Aron Kodesh, the Holy Ark. Even though there have been two occasions over the years when I was showing the Eternal Light to our students and in a storm, aftselookhes, the light went out, the light is to be on permanently. That is the meaning of eternal - always and forever.
The Eternal Light is first mentioned in our Parsha. The first High Priest Aaron is instructed to set up the Neyr Tamid and light it “from evening to morning.” Evening to morning doesn't sound so always. A literal reading of the text shows that the Eternal Light was to be an eternal nocturnal light. With the advent of dawn, the light could burn out. A better translation of Neyr Tamid would then be a regular light rather than an eternal light. Rashi, amongst other sages, takes the text literally and maintains that enough oil had to be used to burn from evening until morning of the longest winter nights but no longer. On the other hand, the early medieval commentator Gersonides reads the text less literally and maintains that the lamp should burn during the day as well as night but since the Jewish day begins at night the Torah reads "night until morning." The classical school of “you’re both right” recorded in the text known as Yalkut Me-am Loez maintains that there were more than one lamp. All of the lamps were lit from evening to morning and one lamp in particular, the western lamp was to remain lit throughout the entire day.
If we take the Torah text as it is clearly written, "from evening to morning," we are lead to ask why the Torah instructs us to light the lamp at night alone. Why not during the day? Of course it makes sense to light a lamp when its dark, but wouldn't it make more sense to have the lamp burning brightly when the Sanctuary was used for public services during the day? What would be the sense in having the lamp illuminate the empty space at night when nothing was taking place? Why a nocturnal eternal light? It is this question that has prompted the following thoughts in me.
The Eternal Light symbolizes G-d’s presence, G-d’s eternal presence. Perhaps when the sun is shining and our world is bright and we are content and happy, we don’t need to be reminded of G-d’s presence. We have reason to be satisfied and naturally say thank G-d. for how bright our lives are. In the light we can see the awesome beauty of G-d’s creation. The light moves us to recite the words from the Sabbath Psalm, Psalm 92 "How great are your designs O G-d!” But our nights are a different story. When our world has gone dark and cold, we are more prone to proclaim G-d’s absence. Following the Holocaust, some rabbis and theologians, with Rabbi Richard Rubenstein at the lead, proclaimed the death of G-d. That was after the longest and darkest night in human history. With all of the explanations I have encountered over the years, I still wonder where was G-d.
It is when our world is dark and we feel no one is listening that we need to kindle the light that reminds us of G-d’s presence. As bad as things are and as much as our hearts ache, we know it could be even worse and in that knowledge we catch a glimmer of light. We recall the good that came before and we see the light a bit brighter. At times there is even some measure of blessing hidden in the darkness, there is at time some beauty within the night. Therein lies the light. It is in our nights that we need to find a way to kindle the light of G-d’s presence.
No one was in the Sanctuary at night. Again, why should we have the light burning when no one was around? Because even in our times of aloneness and loneliness, G-d’s light can shine for us and help us find the way.
Ben Sherwood recently wrote a book that has been called a must read, entitled The Survivors Club. He deals with the personal ingredients that contribute to one persons survival in the face of adversity. On a morning news show, in response to a question from the former speech writer and columnist Peggy Noonan, Ben Sherwood said that the most important ingredient of all is faith. He didn't say whether it was faith in G-d, faith in our selves and our ability to overcome the adversities of life or faith in the future. Whatever the definition of faith, we can equate it with the kindling of the light in those dark nights of our lives.
The Jewish people know about the darkness of night. This Shabbat before Purim is Shabbat Zachor the Sabbath of Remembrance. Before the unrestrained celebration of Purim, we are to remember the too many enemies of our people who have darkened our lives over the ages. The list is far too long, but we are not to repress the reality. Because we remember how we have suffered so severely, Purim’s celebration comes with limitless joy.
One might want to argue that our suffering over the centuries is proof positive that the light that symbolizes G-d’s eternal presence has long been extinguished. There is only one not so small fact that stands in defiance of that critical judgement. We are still here! Many of our tormentors are long gone. We are here. The Jewish community in America is a shining light of achievement. We bask in the light of the strong independent State of Israel. At the same time, anti-Semitism is on the rise in the Middle East, on university campuses here and throughout much of Europe. These European countries got rid of most of their Jews but they did not get rid of their hatred for us. Even the bright light of the present day we enjoy so much is not without some dark clouds which hover over us.
Maybe it is because we know how to kindle lights in the darkness that we Jews are still here today. Maybe it is because we believe that light is indeed truly eternal and is meant never to be fully extinguished. Maybe even in our own personal dark days, we know we are to follow these instructions and search out some light and not be overcome by despair.
And so the Torah reads “You shall instruct the children of Israel to bring pure olive oil to light the Neyr Tamid ......to burn from evening to morning. The days will take care of themselves. It is during our nights we need the light and we need to believe the light will be there always and forever.
Shabbat Shalom - Hag Purim Sameach! Happy Purim
