Rabbi Aaron Goldstein

נֵ֣ר יְ֭הֹוָה נִשְׁמַ֣ת אָדָ֑ם

The lamp of the Eternal One is the soul of humanity

Proverbs 20:27

These four simple words encapsulate at once the simplest and most complex of motifs. It pervades Judaism and any identity or belief-set that encourages thought beyond the individual self.

Next time in your Synagogue for Kabbalat Shabbat, let your eyes attend to the Shabbat candles, the glow that exudes from the Ark and especially the light of the ner tamid – ‘everlasting light.’ From the verses of the Torah (Exodus 27:20-21 and Leviticus 24:2-4) we understand that the ner tamid refers to lights on the lampstand (the menorah as described in Ex 25:31-40). Tamid seems to refer to the fact that they were lit regularly, in other words through every moment of darkness but not necessarily continuous. (Solomon’s Temple had 10 lampstands according to I Kings 7:49; the Second Temple had only 1 according to I Maccabees 1:21; 4:29).

When Rome sacked the Temple and confiscated the Menorah as booty only to be seen again on the Arch of Titus, the Jews lost their lampstand; but stubbornly maintained the light, as the ner tamid physically morphed into the everlasting light we know today: The light symbolically manifest, filling the soul of every Jew who steps foot inside a mikdash ma’at, a little sanctuary.

Whilst one might be tempted to explore the complexity of the motif through anthropological even physiological anthropological eyes, it perhaps even more powerful reflecting on the simple observation of the lights in our mikdash ma’at.

Meshekh Hokhmah (Rabbi Meir Simhah ha-Cohen of Dvinsk, 1843-1926) suggests:

Though our sages have observed (Vayikra Rabbah 1, 13) that Divine communion only took place with Moses in the daytime as indicated by the phrase (Ex. 6:28): “On the day God spoke to Moses”, nevertheless whilst the lamps were lit it was like the day even at night, and then God spoke to him. The text must be understood in the sense of “Take for you” for your benefit. A person’s mind is only clear when it is light and we associate light with joy. Moses required the conditions appropriate for achieving Divine communion and these involved a mood of wellbeing and joy. But (unlike Moses) “it was an everlasting statute throughout your generations for the children of Israel” (Ex. 27:21).

The ner tamid, the sight of the Shabbat, festival and havdalah candles, Chanukah lights and yahrzeit candle (an interpretation of the Proverbs verse), all contribute to a sense of tamid – continuity. The light is for us; to provide us with a sense of wellbeing and joy. There is no need to suppose that God needs it as the rabbis noted:

bMenahot 86b

“Take to you”. Said R. Samuel Bar Nahmani: For “you” and not for Me. I do not require any light.

For we understand that God created light for us to live by, physiologically, technologically and spiritually.

Nehama Leibowitz expounded: Our commentators … sought a spiritual motivation for [mentioning the light], before the Tabernacle’s completion. Light, which constitutes the first of Divine creations (“let there be light”) to which all living creatures are drawn, the opposite of which serves as a symbol of doom and destruction, forms a familiar motif in the Scriptures. The Torah is compared to light: “For the commandment is a lamp and the Torah a light” (Proverbs 6:23) and Israel is destined to be the light of the world: “Nations shall walk by your light” (Isaiah 60:3). The Almighty too is the light of the individual person (“the Eternal is your light and salvation” Ps. 27:1) and also the light of Israel: “arise my light, for you come and the glory of the Eternal will shine upon you”, (Isaiah 60:1). It is therefore not surprising to find that our commentators and ancient preachers regarded the commandment to kindle the lights as symbolising the study of Torah, the observance of the commandment and Divine worship, as a whole.

All of this is contained in the light. It surrounds us during the day affecting our moods and vision yet we rarely see it. Artificial light is used to grab our attention for good and for ill.

Time to notice light is sacred time.

Let us appreciate the lights in front of us. Let them fill us with wellbeing and joy. Let them provide a sense of that which is continuous and everlasting; and let them remain within us until we behold them again, a sanctuary of goodness, a shelter of peace and dwelling-place of harmony:

 נֵ֣ר יְ֭הֹוָה נִשְׁמַ֣ת אָדָ֑ם

The lamp of the Eternal One is the soul of humanity

Proverbs 20:27

Recent Commentaries