Summary: Our portion this week continues with instructions for building the tabernacle for the journey in the desert. It focuses specifically on Aaron and his sons, the priests in the ancient temple. The portion begins with the details of the clothing they should wear and continues with the dedication of Aaron and his sons to the priesthood.
Lesson: I remember as a child worrying that our Eternal Light in our synagogue might go out! I asked my father (the rabbi), “what happens if the lightbulb burns out…will God leave the Temple?” When we built our new sanctuary in Tarzana our architects proposed a solar powered Eternal Light. Again I worried about a cloudy day…if the light went out, would God’s presence depart?
While purely symbolic there is still something very powerful about the Ner Tamid/Eternal Light. Even as a child I sensed that it was a meaningful and powerful symbol of God’s presence in the synagogue and in our lives.
In our portion this week we find the first reference to the light, including instructions for lighting and maintaining the flame. (See Exodus 27:20-21) What is clear throughout the portion is that the light does not exist for practical purposes. The Ner Tamid is sacred. When we see the Eternal Light, we are moved to remember God’s presence in the synagogue and in our lives.
There is a beautiful rabbinic commentary in Sh’mot Rabbah that reads, “Why does Proverbs 6:23 say: ‘For the mitzvah is a light’? Because just as a light is not diminished when a flame is kindled from it, so he who does a mitzvah is not thereby diminished in his possessions” (36:3). The Eternal Light in our synagogue can act as a metaphor for the light that shines within us all —a power that is infinite, shareable, and the source of goodness, for us to bring forth into the world. The light that shines consistently in our synagogues reminds us that we too have an obligation to bring light into a dark world. In another rabbinic commentary, Itturei Torah, we read: “Every Jew must light the ner tamid in his own heart.”
As a child I stared at the Ner Tamid and worried that if the light went out God would depart. Now I realize that the concern isn’t only for God’s presence in the synagogue. The concern is for the light in our own souls. The Ner Tamid can act to link us — from the ancient Tabernacle to the modern-day synagogue to our own world. The Eternal Light in the synagogue can remind us that each of us is responsible for own, internal Eternal Light, an ever-present flame, limitless in its capacity for kindling and sharing, that challenges us to bring mitzvot into the world.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Don Goor