In Numbers 8:2, as part of the instructions for completing the temple and its contents, we read, “When you kindle light in the lamps…” The description led some to ask why we are to light lamps for God, who is already full of light? Here is a creative response from the midrash, our storehouse of ongoing answers to such questions:
To what is the matter comparable? It is to a Royal One who had a beloved one. The Royal One said to them: ‘Know that I will be dining with you; go and prepare for me.’ The beloved went and prepared a common bed, a common lamp, and a common table. When the Royal One came, their attendants came too, encircling them from this side and that side, with a golden lamp before the Royal One. When the beloved saw all the grandeur, they were ashamed, and hid everything they had prepared, as it was all for common people. The Royal One asked: ‘Did I not say to you that I am dining with you? Why did you not prepare anything for me?’ The beloved replied: ‘I saw all this grandeur that came with you, and I was ashamed and hid everything that I had prepared, as they were common vessels.’ The Royal One said: ‘As you live, I reject everything that I brought, and due to my love for you, I will use only yours.’ Likewise, the Holy One is all light, as it is stated: “And the light rests with God” (Daniel 2:22), (story from Midrash Rabbah 15:8).
At some time, each of us may ask, who we are to offer what we have to another person, a community, a situation, or even to the Source of Life. What could we possibly offer that is needed? The story from the midrash has these moments in mind and answers us. It is not that we alone have the power to create mountains and oceans, nor to snap our fingers and solve a difficult situation, but that we each have light to bring, and that our light is wanted – so wanted that at times another more powerful light might cover itself to make ours visible.
Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Julie Saxe-Taller
B’ha-alot’cha (Numbers 8:-12:16), Torah Reading June 6: Shining our Lights
June 3, 2026 by Rabbi Julie Saxe-Taller • D'var Torah, Julie Saxe-Taller
In Numbers 8:2, as part of the instructions for completing the temple and its contents, we read, “When you kindle light in the lamps…” The description led some to ask why we are to light lamps for God, who is already full of light? Here is a creative response from the midrash, our storehouse of ongoing answers to such questions:
To what is the matter comparable? It is to a Royal One who had a beloved one. The Royal One said to them: ‘Know that I will be dining with you; go and prepare for me.’ The beloved went and prepared a common bed, a common lamp, and a common table. When the Royal One came, their attendants came too, encircling them from this side and that side, with a golden lamp before the Royal One. When the beloved saw all the grandeur, they were ashamed, and hid everything they had prepared, as it was all for common people. The Royal One asked: ‘Did I not say to you that I am dining with you? Why did you not prepare anything for me?’ The beloved replied: ‘I saw all this grandeur that came with you, and I was ashamed and hid everything that I had prepared, as they were common vessels.’ The Royal One said: ‘As you live, I reject everything that I brought, and due to my love for you, I will use only yours.’ Likewise, the Holy One is all light, as it is stated: “And the light rests with God” (Daniel 2:22), (story from Midrash Rabbah 15:8).
At some time, each of us may ask, who we are to offer what we have to another person, a community, a situation, or even to the Source of Life. What could we possibly offer that is needed? The story from the midrash has these moments in mind and answers us. It is not that we alone have the power to create mountains and oceans, nor to snap our fingers and solve a difficult situation, but that we each have light to bring, and that our light is wanted – so wanted that at times another more powerful light might cover itself to make ours visible.
Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Julie Saxe-Taller