MORE ON THE MENORA AS THE SYMBOL OF JEWISH UNITY
Behaalosecha - Chanukah
The Menorah is one of the most famous symbols of the Jewish people. Its design has been used on coins, mosaics and decorative features since Biblical times. These designs are all based on the form of the Menorah, the 7-branched candelabra that stood in the Mishkan and later in the Beis Hamikdash.
As a symbol of the Jewish people, the mystics teach that the Menorah represents the collective of the Jewish people and that in its construction lies the secret to Jewish unity.
The Baal Hatanya teaches that the seven branches of the Menorah represent the different paths in the service of Hashem. Whilst each individual or each distinct group with in Klal Yisrael will be different, we are all joined together in an overarching oneness. For this reason, the Menorah could not be made by welding separate parts together. It had to be beaten into shape from one single block of gold so that there is never any moment of separation.
Parshas Behaalosecha opens with a description of the Menorah; “This is the making of the Menorah, hammered out of gold, from its base (יריכה) until its flower (פרחה) it is hammered out”.
This verse identifies two of the features of the Menorah, the base (or leg) and the decorative flower. The base represents people of low spiritual stature. The flower represents the Tzaddikim, the spiritually elevated individuals whose service flourishes and blooms with beauty. They are both integral parts of the same Menorah.
In a parallel to the Parshas, in the Haftorah we read the vision that was shown to the prophet Zechariah of “a Menorah made entirely of gold”. The Midrash connects this vision to Hashem’s description of the Jewish people in Shir Hashirim; "You are entirely beautiful My beloved, there is no blemish in you”.
The Midrash teaches that there were 3 prophets who used metals as a metaphor to describe the Jewish people. Yirmiyahu referred to them as ”rejected silver” and Yechezkel described them as “copper, tin, iron and lead… dross silver”.
The prophets Yechezkel and Yirmiyahu who foretold of the destruction of the Temple, castigated the Jewish people for their sins, likening them to the inferior metals of silver, bronze and copper, that were filled with sediments and impurities.
But Zechariah saw the Jewish people like a “Menorah made entirely of gold”. He saw the Jewish people as pure gold, completely beautiful and free from any sediment or imperfection.
Zechariah saw the same people, but whereas Yechezkel and Yirmiyahu looked at the surface and saw their deficiencies, Zechariah looked deeper and saw the essential core of every Jew. This inner core is pure gold that cannot be tainted through sin.
How is it possible to attain such a perspective when we see deficiencies, sin and negativity in others, that make them ppear so different to ourselves?
The Baal Hatanya teaches that the answer to this lies in the action of hammering that had to be employed to mould the Menorah into its shape.
Our sages teach all of the Jewish people are responsible for one another, כל ישראל ערבים זה בזה. The word ערבים can also mean mixed. All of the Jewish people are blended together to create a whole. Because of our interconnectivity on the soul-level, we are all influenced spiritually by the actions of one another.
When shaping the Menorah, the force of the hammer would move the malleable gold. The gold that was lower would be pushed upwards and the gold that was higher would be pushed down.
Like the gold being hammered, sometimes the hidden negativity from above - from a more spiritually elevated individual - is pushed down and manifests itself in the lowly sinful person, subliminally impacting them negatively. Conversely sometimes the Mitzvos and positive qualities of the spiritually lowly person are elevated and subliminally influence the spiritually loftier individual.
With this inner understanding, when we see negativity and flaws in someone who appears spiritually “lower” than ourselves, we should see their negativity as really being a reflection of our own. But we should view ourselves in the inverse. We must take ownership of our negativity, but should view our merits and positive qualities as perhaps coming from the influence of those who we saw as being spiritually lower.
In this way, we reserve judgment and fault-finding for our own personal Avodah and, like Zechariah, focus only the positive in others and their purity. With this Achdus, we create a Menorah of pure gold, that will shine and radiate the inner light and goodness of every Jewish soul.
Based on Likutei Torah ד"ה ראיתי והנה מנורה and Maamar Behaalosecha 5741
As a symbol of the Jewish people, the mystics teach that the Menorah represents the collective of the Jewish people and that in its construction lies the secret to Jewish unity.
The Baal Hatanya teaches that the seven branches of the Menorah represent the different paths in the service of Hashem. Whilst each individual or each distinct group with in Klal Yisrael will be different, we are all joined together in an overarching oneness. For this reason, the Menorah could not be made by welding separate parts together. It had to be beaten into shape from one single block of gold so that there is never any moment of separation.
Parshas Behaalosecha opens with a description of the Menorah; “This is the making of the Menorah, hammered out of gold, from its base (יריכה) until its flower (פרחה) it is hammered out”.
This verse identifies two of the features of the Menorah, the base (or leg) and the decorative flower. The base represents people of low spiritual stature. The flower represents the Tzaddikim, the spiritually elevated individuals whose service flourishes and blooms with beauty. They are both integral parts of the same Menorah.
In a parallel to the Parshas, in the Haftorah we read the vision that was shown to the prophet Zechariah of “a Menorah made entirely of gold”. The Midrash connects this vision to Hashem’s description of the Jewish people in Shir Hashirim; "You are entirely beautiful My beloved, there is no blemish in you”.
The Midrash teaches that there were 3 prophets who used metals as a metaphor to describe the Jewish people. Yirmiyahu referred to them as ”rejected silver” and Yechezkel described them as “copper, tin, iron and lead… dross silver”.
The prophets Yechezkel and Yirmiyahu who foretold of the destruction of the Temple, castigated the Jewish people for their sins, likening them to the inferior metals of silver, bronze and copper, that were filled with sediments and impurities.
But Zechariah saw the Jewish people like a “Menorah made entirely of gold”. He saw the Jewish people as pure gold, completely beautiful and free from any sediment or imperfection.
Zechariah saw the same people, but whereas Yechezkel and Yirmiyahu looked at the surface and saw their deficiencies, Zechariah looked deeper and saw the essential core of every Jew. This inner core is pure gold that cannot be tainted through sin.
How is it possible to attain such a perspective when we see deficiencies, sin and negativity in others, that make them ppear so different to ourselves?
The Baal Hatanya teaches that the answer to this lies in the action of hammering that had to be employed to mould the Menorah into its shape.
Our sages teach all of the Jewish people are responsible for one another, כל ישראל ערבים זה בזה. The word ערבים can also mean mixed. All of the Jewish people are blended together to create a whole. Because of our interconnectivity on the soul-level, we are all influenced spiritually by the actions of one another.
When shaping the Menorah, the force of the hammer would move the malleable gold. The gold that was lower would be pushed upwards and the gold that was higher would be pushed down.
Like the gold being hammered, sometimes the hidden negativity from above - from a more spiritually elevated individual - is pushed down and manifests itself in the lowly sinful person, subliminally impacting them negatively. Conversely sometimes the Mitzvos and positive qualities of the spiritually lowly person are elevated and subliminally influence the spiritually loftier individual.
With this inner understanding, when we see negativity and flaws in someone who appears spiritually “lower” than ourselves, we should see their negativity as really being a reflection of our own. But we should view ourselves in the inverse. We must take ownership of our negativity, but should view our merits and positive qualities as perhaps coming from the influence of those who we saw as being spiritually lower.
In this way, we reserve judgment and fault-finding for our own personal Avodah and, like Zechariah, focus only the positive in others and their purity. With this Achdus, we create a Menorah of pure gold, that will shine and radiate the inner light and goodness of every Jewish soul.
Based on Likutei Torah ד"ה ראיתי והנה מנורה and Maamar Behaalosecha 5741