Light can be practical: it can illuminate a room, or it can be a metaphor for finding our way, or for blazing a trail.
This week’s Torah portion begins with the instructions for the Ner Tamid, the Eternal Light, “You shall further instruct the Israelites to bring you clear oil of beaten olives for lighting, for kindling lamps regularly. Aaron and his sons shall set them up in the Tent of Meeting, outside the curtain which is over [the Ark of] the Pact, [to burn] from evening to morning before the LORD. It shall be a due from the Israelites for all time, throughout the ages.” (Exodus 27:20-21)
The light is not for practical use, as we read in Midrash Tanhuma, “He does not require your light. It was instituted solely for your sake, so that the world would be illumined in the future,” In other words, the light of the Ner Tamid represents God’s presence.
Light is like God–we cannot see it, but we experience it. God illuminates the world through the beauty of nature, through human love, through our capacity to do good in this troubled world. Each of us can be a Ner Tamid by our actions.
What can we do tomorrow to bring light, to bring God’s presence into this world?
Tetzaveh, Exodus 27:20-30:10, Parshat Ha Shavua for Shabbat, Saturday, February 27, 2021
February 26, 2021 by Dean Kertesz • Drashot
Light can be practical: it can illuminate a room, or it can be a metaphor for finding our way, or for blazing a trail.
This week’s Torah portion begins with the instructions for the Ner Tamid, the Eternal Light, “You shall further instruct the Israelites to bring you clear oil of beaten olives for lighting, for kindling lamps regularly. Aaron and his sons shall set them up in the Tent of Meeting, outside the curtain which is over [the Ark of] the Pact, [to burn] from evening to morning before the LORD. It shall be a due from the Israelites for all time, throughout the ages.” (Exodus 27:20-21)
The light is not for practical use, as we read in Midrash Tanhuma, “He does not require your light. It was instituted solely for your sake, so that the world would be illumined in the future,” In other words, the light of the Ner Tamid represents God’s presence.
Light is like God–we cannot see it, but we experience it. God illuminates the world through the beauty of nature, through human love, through our capacity to do good in this troubled world. Each of us can be a Ner Tamid by our actions.
What can we do tomorrow to bring light, to bring God’s presence into this world?
~Rabbi Dean Kertesz