I am very fond of Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik’s analysis of the two personalities of man (from Lonely Man of Faith), as represented by the two Adams in the two different stories of creation. “Adam the First” is oriented towards dominating his environment: he is commanded to ‘fill the earth and subdue it’ and his goal is to ‘harness and dominate the elemental natural forces and to put them at his disposal.’ This manifests itself in the professional, political, and physical side of us. “Adam the Second” is of a more spiritual nature. He needs a faith community where he can have an internal connection with his self, other people in his community, and God. Both of these desires are inherent in all of us and we can only reach our potential if we recognize both.
I am going to focus on our spiritual half, the half that is more of our essence, by focusing on the aspect of candles in Judaism, as the week of Hanukkah is the only Shabbat in the Jewish year that we light two different sets of candles – the Chanukkiah and the Sabbat Candles. I would also like to combine these two lights with a third, always burning light: the Ner Tamid, or Eternal Light that is above every Aron Kodesh (ark containing a Torah scroll). I believe that if we understand the significance of these three physical lights in spiritual terms, we can understand a part of the essence of our religion.
Beginning with the Ner Tamid, it is our modern representation of the continually-burning Menorah in the Temple; this Menorah was traditionally seen as the symbol of Judaism. This light represents the eternal nature of the Torah. While everything in this world fades away or comes and goes in cycles, the Eternal Light communicates to us that the light of the Torah never dies – the Torah has a timeless importance.
But what is the deeper meaning, the true significance, of the Ner Tamid? The majority of our observances are to some extent symbolic, and the Eternal Light is no different. It has a much more important and practical significance.
This significance is highlighted by the lighting of the Shabbat candles. The relationship between the two lights – the Ner Tamid and the Sabbath candles – is simple, yet of deep importance to us as Jews. The Torah is the foundation of Judaism: in it, we can find our beliefs, our values, our lifestyles, our customs, and our traditions. And the Ner Tamid represents the eternality of the Torah. This light is never rekindled because its flame never dies. Shabbat candles, however, must be lit every week and last for only so long. But they represent a beautiful moment when we are transitioning from our hectic week in to the tranquility of Shabbat. And this moment provides us the ability to connect to the Ner Tamid, to the Torah, to our tradition. The Torah is the light of the world, but the way it enters the world is through our mitzvoth, through our deeds. The lighting of the Shabbat candles represents this connection, and is a sign of the power that we have to bring the Torah into our lives, and into the world, through our positive actions.
We have a saying from our sages that says “Ki ner Elokim nistmat adam – the candle of God is the soul of man.” Shabbat is the one day every week on which we get to light candles and physically depict the light of our soul. But this week, we also get to light an extra set of candles for Hanukkah.
The Hanukkah candles call us to remember the miracle of one-day’s worth of oil lasting eight days, but what is the meaning? We are supposed to place our menorahs in our windows to publicize the miracle, but do we really just want everyone to remember that oil lasted longer than expected? Hanukkah is also a story of religious freedom, of the ability to maintain one’s culture and values. I would say that when we reflect upon the Hanukkah candles, we should also be remembering the importance of freedom from persecution and be gratefully for where we are today. (For other interpretations, wait for my next post.) Yet the candles do not merely recall the past. They also call upon us to look inward. They beckon our souls, our own inner flame, to fight against oppression that is going on in the world, in America, and even in our own communities today. I believe the light of the Hanukkah candles can represent our calling to be a “light unto the nations.” At the time of Hanukkah, we are called to remember the oppression we were put through, and have been put through many times throughout history. But we also must use this memory to fight against it happening again – not just from happening to us, but from happening to anyone. When we lead this fight, we will be fulfilling a part of our duty to be a “light unto the nations.”
But what about the rest of the year, other than Shabbat and Hanukkah, when we do not have these candles? As modern Jews, we must struggle to maintain our identity, and many of us even struggle to understand what our identity as a Jew means, or what we want it to mean to us personally. Ultimately, it is up to us individually to decide how we practice and indeed, if we practice. But this struggle that we go through of how to practice our Judaism and how to maintain a commitment to Judaism is our challenge as Jews in the modern world. It is a challenge largely of identity, a challenge similar to a major theme of Hanukkah: are we acculturated Jews or assimilated? Where do we draw the line? How important is Judaism to us? And each of us will probably have a different answer to that question.
But this Shabbat, as we are worshipping in front of all three types of candles, we can understand some of the fundamental values of Judaism which, I believe can help us to better understand and connect to Judaism. Ki ner Elokim nishmat adam – the candle of God is the soul of man. These three lights are meant to awaken our soul. It all begins with the Ner Tamid, the eternal light representing the timeless wisdom and value to be learned from and built upon the Torah. Secondly, we have the Shabbat candles, which in their ideal state represent a culmination of our week. A culmination of all the work we have accomplished and, we can hope, the value we added to society, the tikkun that we took part in during the week. Thirdly, the Hanukkah candles evoke our memory of suffering and joy of religious freedom, while also reminding us of the importance to not let persecutions persevere today.
We are all blessed with a divine spark, a spiritual side. As Rabbi Soloveitchik says, we cannot deny this part of our existence or relegate it to a secondary role, if we are to achieve our full potential in life. In Judaism, when we light candles we are embracing this spiritual side of ourselves by calling God, the Torah, and generations of Jewish teachings into our lives. By embracing this side of us, we transform our otherwise mundane life into a holy life. The candles symbolize the release of our divine spark into the world. Ki ner Elokim nishmat adam – the candle of God is the soul of man. But only we have the power, though our everyday actions, to elevate our soul and to manifest it within the flame of the candles we light.
Shabbat Shalom v’Chanukkah Sameach .
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